Efficient Home Planning and Sustainable Design
Climate changes have been a significant factor in utilizing sustainable energy in relevance to the constant battle of our dear planet Earth. Creating efficient homes that are able to utilize renewable resources throughout the course of development is necessary to support life in the present and future. Changes to the environment are integral towards the sustenance of life. This affects everyone which includes the economy, communities and societies.
One of the significant trends in this arena is the use of sustainable energy in building office buildings and even homes. This importance is cited in the study of Fesanhary et al. (2012) in which they uttered that the “ improvement of energy efficiency and environmental performance of building is considered a major priority worldwide.” Added to this the authors have also mentioned that in the United States alone residential and commercial buildings consume 39% of the total primary energy and 70% of the electricity. It is in this stage that the European union have made a major policy in regards to the energy usage as seen in the European Union. In this policy there have been new building orientation that exudes an explicit orientation towards a low –emission and energy efficient designs (Fesanghary et al., 2012).
Likewise in the state of Florida there have been an energy efficient housing program , this is commonly known as the Energy Star home program as this is implemented in Gainesville , Florida as to gage on the reduction of energy use and there fore will be more cost-efficient (Smith & Jones, 2003). Moreover, the literature shows investigated that these home program have indicated that the energy consumed a mere $ 180 per year this is significantly capitalized to indicate a value increase of the average housing unit of $4, 500 and the ability to afford a mortgage of $2,255 more than in the absence of the energy savings.” ( Smith & Jones, 2003) In the same way, the authors have also illustrated that financial implications of these savings would commend that the affordable housing policy needs to factor in continuing ownership cost in addition to the cost of the structure as this is associated with purchasing a home ” ( Smith & Jones, 2003).
While there are significant efforts amongst government officials towards establishing efficient home design, the responsibility must also be implemented in other areas. In this project a sustainable home will be defined in terms of its energy consumption, features and attributes that would yield the maximum benefit for renewable energy system implementation. Significantly this also is linked that energy in relative to the technological innovation has been an on-going debate in the mid nineteenth century and the economist then have cited that this is not relevant in the case of the efficiency of energy using products that can lead to lower the energy consumption, in this case there is the presence of the direct rebound or also known as the take-back effects that is caused by energy efficiency improvements that lower the implicit price of energy that is often lead to greater consumption ( Herring & Roy, 2007) .
With this we can tell that even the energy efficient products and systems may be dependent on the extent of the “rebound” which is difficult to measure on a national or macro scale (Herring & Roy, 2007) this innovation have been the effects of the decades long strides in reducing some types of pollution as this brought in the consequence of legislation with the stronghold of environmental activities have spurred the introduction of pollution control technologies (Herring & Roy, 2007) .
Scholars have also pointed out that the need to combine innovative technology with a sustainable lifestyle as to ensure a future economy with a high “ quality of life”. This have also been in coincidence with the study of Shaikh (2015) which epitomizes that building energy efficient have turned out to be a multi-faceted problem when provided with the limitation for the satisfaction of the indoor comfort index. The author further states that the comfort level for occupants and their behavior have a significant effect on the energy consumption pattern. For this part , it is seen that there is an on-going perception in regards that energy unaware activities can also add one-third to the building energy performance (Shaikh, 2015) , in this way we can say that in building sustainable houses is not just a matter of giving the in for the materials that is used or the financial endeavors that an individual could face up but what is seen in here is the change in the behavior of the individuals. As Herring & Roy have stressed in their study that the people- centered –eco-design project have found that changing behavior is often not simply a matter of regulatory sticks and financial carrots but understanding people’s lifestyle” which is inherent to everyone who wants to adapt this change of process since to seek a sustainable principles as well as an individual and it is seen that not all people are quickly to adapt to these changes.
In conclusion, to adapt a green house should also meter to the lifestyle of an individual though there have been an on-going green siege as to converse our environment there are still policy-makers that needs to have more teeth to firmly implement this, apart from this from the literature that is presented in this paper there is still further development needed to sense this as to recall the local environment as to implement this program in based to the local culture as to stick to the lifestyle of the people .
Building an energy sustainable home or building is still in the progress for some developing country as mentioned in the recent concluded Global assemblies, we all know that we do need to protect our environment with the latest innovation of technology but what is missing from this point is the fact that not all countries in particular developing countries can afford and subject the local citizens in this lifestyle.
Clean Energy
The energy generated through renewable energy sources is known as clean energy. These sources emit no or negligible air emissions like solar and wind systems.
Environmental friendly Home Design
The environmental friendly homes trend is getting famous at a rapid rate. The concept of eco-friendly homes is that they are designed to better fit with the environmental structure by using environmental friendly products and methods. They are energy efficient and suitable with local environment.
The green houses are built by using conserved resources and energy efficient construction material which ensure a healthy environment. One key feature of these homes is that they use 20 percent less energy than the usual homes because of water conversation and recycling principles which are applied during the construction of these houses. The water wise landscaping provides cooling shade in summer eliminating the need of air conditioners.
Local Environment implementation in Homes
The local environment includes all the physical and biological surroundings and everything that effect an organism during his lifetime. The environment belongs to everyone and everybody is affected by the environmental issues like ozone layer, global warming etc. So we all need to take some steps and create some standards for a safe, clean and ecofriendly environment. With the ever increasing development and education people are moving toward ecofriendly homes which are not only good for environment but also for our own self. With an ever increasing demand a whole new industry of ecofriendly or green house building has grown up.
Effect of Environmental friendly homes on Local Environment
The effect of environmental friendly homes on our local environment is very positive as they use materials which are not dangerous for our environment.
Less Carbon Emission
As the construction industry is increasing everyone can feel the climate changes across the globe. The construction industry is responsible for 40 percent of carbon emission in local environment. As since the start of construction industry carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere increased by 30 % and forecasts say that it would double by 2100. All these facts emphasize on the need of greenhouses which use environmental friendly construction material in the overall design and development process resulting into less carbon emission.
No Climate Changes
Increase in constructions and building can also result in climate changes and the main reason is that the construction material used is not environmental friendly. In future there may be risk of decline health, collapse, increased water level, bad indoor climate, snow damage and stronger storms. To protect our self from all these dangers we need green houses that use recycled and environmental friendly material in design and construction.
Good Human Heath
All the climate changing factors like increase in temperature, rising sea level etc effect the human health directly. These impacts threaten our health and can result into various diseases which include fever, asthma, vector borne diseases and water related illness. These things not only affect our physical health but they also affect us mentally. The biggest cause in climate changes is construction and buildings which are using material dangerous for our environment. So to protect our health we need to switch or remodel our homes to make them environment friendly. A complete ventilation system is installed in green homes that provide you fresh and clear air for a healthy environmental.
Environment Friendly
An ecofriendly or green house is considered to be very environmental friendly home where installed heating and cooling systems provide a balanced temperature eliminating the need of air conditioner which damages the ozone layer. There are numerous environmental impacts that are influenced by these types of development. The changes to contemporary living situations as well as the demographics of urbanization impact the use of efficient housing at large. Regardless of the economic standards there are significant benefits towards city and urban development planning. Decision-making and the entry process at large are conducive towards change in multiple aspects.
Planning further and monitoring is needed to create the best cities of the future. The way that these efforts are used currently is depicted in exhibit in a decision-making process entry. Smart buildings are a core requirement in cosmopolitan areas because of the lack of living space. Efficient planning can limit the way that resources are used and augment the balance between economic factors and the environment. Further, it is possible for newer technologies and innovation to promote holistic patterns of well being and building construction in itself.
Less Cost
The environment friendly homes are usually not expensive due to the reason that all the material used in construction is recycled material so they can help you to save money as well as environment.
A multi objective optimization model based on harmony search algorithm can be used to building designs that decreases the emissions as well as life cycle costs. It can help designers to understand the relationship between the economical and environmental performance (M. Fesanghary, S. Asadi , Zong Woo Geem, 2012)
Conclusion
Increased construction and buildings are directly damaging our health and environment. We need to protect our mother nature from these risks otherwise we all will face serious issues. A particular landscape design should be considered within the large ecological context of the region (Dramstad, et al, 1996). The government, businesses and individuals should promote green houses or environmental friendly houses.
The quality issues related to ecology and environment should be made at design, development and construction phases. The local government should also provide financial assistance to people to build green homes or upgrade to green homes. In fact everyone should take step at individual level to spread awareness about environmental friendly homes to protect out Mother Nature or Earth from environmental changes. By addressing energy efficiency within housing development it is possible to create lasting results that are both effective and attuned to the specific needs of consumers. Therefore, further research and understanding of these concepts will benefit society and the use of energy efficient technologies at large.
References
Fesanghary, M., Asadi, S. and Geem, Z.W., 2012. Design of low-emission and energy-efficient residential buildings using a multi-objective optimization algorithm. Building and environment, 49, pp.245-250.
Herring, H. and Roy, R., 2007. Technological innovation, energy efficient design and the rebound effect. Technovation, 27(4), pp.194-203.
Kamran. (2013). Why eco friendly homes are important? Available at http://envirocivil.com/environment/eco-friendly-homes-important/
Shaikh, J.M., 2015. Energy efficient House. History, 1(3), pp.222-236.
Smith, M.T. and Jones, P., 2003. The impact of energy efficient house construction on homeownership costs: a comparative study in Gainesville, Florida. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 32(1), pp.76-98.
Wilkinson, P., Smith, K.R., Beevers, S., Tonne, C. and Oreszczyn, T., 2007. Energy, energy efficiency, and the built environment. The Lancet, 370(9593), pp.1175-1187.
Wilkinson, P., Smith, K.R., Davies, M., Adair, H., Armstrong, B.G., Barrett, M., Bruce, N., Haines, A., Hamilton, I., Oreszczyn, T. and Ridley, I., 2009. Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: household energy. The Lancet, 374(9705), pp.1917-1929.
Wood, G. and Newborough, M., 2007. Energy-use information transfer for intelligent homes: Enabling energy conservation with central and local displays. Energy and buildings, 39(4), pp.495-503.
