The construction of homes with environmentally friendly designs must continue to be promoted intensively, to reduce the impact of environmental damage such as global warming and climate change. If this is not done, people will build their dream home without environmentally friendly principles, as long as it looks nice and beautiful. What is the fate of the next generation who will not enjoy a natural and healthy environment?
Therefore, some of the principles that need to be known, became an important feature of a dwelling to be categorized as an environmentally friendly home. Check out the following discussion.
Being in the Right Location
A home may not be built in an area that is regulated by the local government as an industrial area, protected forest area, or in a green open area belonging to a city. Apart from that, its development must also pay attention to the prevailing land-use plan. The home must be in an area that is regulated as residential land. Therefore, environmentally friendly homes must first be ascertained to have a valid construction permit.
Making an environmentally friendly home must begin with the selection of the right construction location. Eco-friendly homes are not suitable if they are built-in locations such as riverbanks, water catchment areas, or in locations that are too close to waste disposal areas.
Residential development in the area of riverbanks and water catchment areas will interrupt the cycle of the water cycle that could result in a natural disaster – flooding. While the construction of homes near the area of waste disposal will result in occupancy is potent with air pollution and groundwater contamination.
Choosing an Efficient Location
Another characteristic is in choosing a location to build an environmentally friendly home is the distance from the location of the home to certain places that are needed by the residents of the home almost every day, such as shopping centers, schools, and offices. The closer the location of the home with these places, the carbon footprint generated by the activities of the residents will be smaller.
Carbon footprint is the number of carbon emissions produced by an organization, product, or individual from a variety of daily activities, from the use of electrical devices, diet, and ways of traveling. High carbon emissions will increase the risk of global warming as well.
Had Green Open Area
An important feature of eco-friendly homes which in turn is the presence of green open space in the home area. To meet the standards of eco-friendly homes, at least 30% of the total area of land to be used as open space, incorporating a variety of herbs.
Green open space not only be created in the area around the home, but the roof of the home could also be used as the site of the open green spaces such as rooftop gardens that of skyscraper buildings.
Eco-friendly homes are fitted with green open space will be instrumental improve air quality in the surrounding environment. This is because the plants will suck carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.
To further increase the function of improving air quality while making the home cooler, some environmentally friendly homes also arrange plants vertically on the fence or outside wall of the home to form a vertical garden (vertical garden).
Green open spaces around environmentally friendly home buildings can also function as water catchment areas. Soil that is overgrown with plants will certainly absorb more water. To maximize water absorption function, land on the green open spaces in the area of the environmentally friendly home can also be provided with holes biopori.
Good Air Exchange
Eco-friendly homes must possess the characteristics of a healthy home, which is good air circulation patterns in it. The exchange of fresh air from outside the home with air from inside the home should always be conducted smoothly. One characteristic of Eco-friendly homes with good air exchange is the presence of sufficient ventilation and windows. Ventilation has many benefits for a home.
Eco-friendly homes usually also have a few bulkheads in them. This is so that as much as possible the air circulation is evenly distributed throughout the home. So that an environmentally friendly home can certainly not have a stuffy room in it.
Energy saving
Feature eco-friendly homes are no less important is energy efficient. The step to save energy consumption in environmentally friendly homes is to maximize renewable energy such as sunlight. Eco-friendly home designs are made in such a way that sunlight can be a sufficient source of the main lighting for all parts of the home.
On the roof of the Eco-friendly home, there are solar panels installed that absorb energy from the sun to be converted into electrical energy. The use of glass that produces electrical energy in the windows, aka solar windows, has also been applied to several Eco-friendly homes.
Sun exposure can also have the effect of increasing the room temperature to become hot. Eco-friendly homes usually get around this by installing an insulating layer on the roof. This insulator layer functions to reduce heat.
Roofing materials such as zinc or asbestos, which are at risk of making the home even hotter, are not used in Eco-friendly homes. By choosing the right roofing material and installing insulators to reduce heat, an Eco-friendly home certainly does not require air conditioning which is wasteful of energy and instead produces gases that destroy the ozone layer.
Eco-friendly homes also use homehold appliances that are efficient in energy use, for example, stoves with low gas consumption, LED lights that are more energy-efficient, to bathrooms that use showers that tend to be more water-efficient.
Good Waste Management
Eco-friendly homes must also have a good waste management system. One of the simple things that are usually applied to Eco-friendly homes in managing waste is the availability of a closed temporary storage place so that it minimizes the risk of air pollution from odors produced by homehold waste. Garbage collection bins are also usually made into at least two parts to separate the placement, namely organic and inorganic waste. For organic waste, you can use it again as a way to make organic compost.
In Eco-friendly homes, water waste from bathing and washing activities is usually channeled to infiltration wells, which are a layer of palm fiber, a layer of gravel, and a layer of sand as a natural water purifier. Wastewater that has been purified through infiltration wells will then be absorbed by the soil around the home so that it is not wasted.
