Going Green: 4 Ways to Achieving Sustainable Construction

Construction is essential for the growth of societies all over the world. Without construction, there would be no new roads or buildings, which are incredibly important for growing or connecting areas. As you could imagine, the construction in the USA is massive. In fact, it is responsible for just over 4% of the countries GDP, which equates to billions and billions of dollars.

So there is no doubting the size of the industry. But just like every industry, there is a lot of pressure to go green and be more sustainable. While this is happening throughout the industry, the pathway to sustainable construction isn’t always clear. With that in mind, this article is going to look at 4 different ways to achieve sustainable construction.

Using Sustainable Materials

If a construction site or company is looking to become more green and sustainable, the first thing to do is consider the materials you use. You want to ensure these are sustainable materials. This could mean using materials made from recycled sources, using bamboo, wood from approved sources and many others. With sustainable construction being a concern for years, it shouldn’t be hard to find sustainable providers in your area.

Also, don’t worry, many of these renewable or recycled materials can be used in the same way as traditional ones. For example, you will still be able to work with third-party molding services to get prototypes of molds made of the things you need. All that will change is that they are more sustainable and thus better for our environment.

Reducing Waste

Unfortunately, one of the biggest problems with construction is just how much waste it can produce. Everything from glass, to concrete, to wood and even metal is often thrown away. Places like the USA and Europe are producing millions of tons or construction waste, and this unfortunately is not expected to slow down. Not only that, but it is expected to get worse. In fact, experts predict that by 2025, worldwide construction waste will total over 2 billion tons every single year.

As a result, something has to be done. Reducing waste is all about making sure to avoid the landfills. Sure, it’s simple to just throw all of the waste in a landfill, but the environmental impact of that is incredibly negative. Recycling (even sometimes on site), not ordering excess materials and identify what can have a dual purpose are all good ways to reduce waste.

Have an Energy-Efficient Setting

In addition to your materials being sustainable, you also want to ensure that your construction site is as well. One of the first things to do is to use renewable or efficient sources of energy. If you can incorporate solar energy, hydro or wind into your site, you will not only save money, but also do your part to save the environment.

Of course, there are other ways to make your site for efficient or sustainable. This could be using space more effectively, having a more lean manufacturing style or even using more natural light to reduce the need for electricity at all at certain points. Point is, there is a lot that every single team can do to have a more efficient setting or workplace.

Ensure the Entire Supply Chain is Sustainable

While your site and materials need to sustainable, so should your entire supply chain. There are many practices and processes after different steps of the supply chain that may not always be the most efficient. As a result, this should be changed so that every process has sustainability in mind. Of course, this won’t happen overnight, but an effort should be made.

One of the biggest culprits of this is transport. Transport is an incredibly important part of the construction industry as large and heavy equipment or materials or often used. Switching to more efficient vehicles or reducing the amount of transport time needed can both have positive impacts. The ultimate goal is to ensure everything from the manufacturing of the materials, to the eventual disposal and removal of the waste is all done sustainably.

In conclusion, we hope that this blog post has been able to help you learn about some of the many ways to have more sustainable construction projects.