Whopping 42% of Australian landfill waste is from the building sector. During its life cycle all this building waste had consumed energy and once a building gets demolished all this embodied energy goes waste, as well.
The ‘three Rs’ of waste minimisation — reduce, reuse, recycle — should be applied throughout the design and construction process: reduce (or avoid) demand for materials by renovating rather than demolishing and rebuilding, and building smaller homes that are better designed for your needs; reuse existing materials or building components; and recycle materials rather than sending them to landfill.
Until unless its necessary, we advise our clients to prefer renovation over demolition. It has been found that the most of the houses built 40-50 years ago are more energy responsive and sustainable than new construction. To help renovation, a design team including a structural engineer and builder can provide an analysis of the structural integrity of a house for a long lasting solution. An architect and energy/sustainability engineer can contribute for the existing and resulting house passivity including house design and selection of the material.. This exercise gives multiple benefits including saving time, money and reducing environmental footprint.
Its always a good idea to replace any redundant material but a thoughtful consideration must be given for any recycling opportunities. There are builders who guarantee environmental friendly disposal of the building waste.
For new green materials selection, Eco-product selection databases such as Ecospecifier enable you to access information on the sustainability credentials of a broad range of materials and products. Product assessment schemes, many of them based on LCA, allow you to make even more informed comparisons. These include Ecospecifier Verified, BREEAM’s Green Guide and Global GreenTag. Linked to such assessment schemes is a range of ecolabels including Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA), Global GreenTagCertTM and the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council).
Also, by choosing durable, low maintenance materials, you can minimise the need for new materials and finishes over the building’s lifetime. Before material a judicious decision making, thinking about the material life-cycle will help this includes, extraction, manufacturing, transportation, installation, operation and recycling.
Its not only the operational energy of your house impacts the environment, its also about the embodied energy that affects your house carbon footprint.
