Whether because of changing lifestyles or simply because houses are becoming outdated, millions of North Americans are renovating their homes every year, spending more money annually on renovation than on new-home construction. But renovations can be fraught with unintended consequences like indoor air pollution. How do you remodel in a healthy, environmentally friendly way?
Green Remodeling is a comprehensive guide. It first points out the advantages of remodeling. Buildings are responsible for 40% of worldwide energy flow and material use; so how you remodel can make a difference. Upgrading furnaces, cabinets and toilets means less fossil fuel pollution, reduced resource depletion and fewer health risks. Green remodeling is more energy-efficient, more resource-conserving, healthier for occupants and creates buildings that are more affordable to build, operate and maintain.
The book then discusses simple green renovation solutions for homeowners, focusing on key aspects of the building, including foundations, framing, plumbing, windows, heating a...
Focusing on green building as it applies to larger commercial, institutional buildings, Sustainable Construction provides a complete introduction to the design and construction of high-performance green buildings. By providing a thorough grounding on the subject, this insightful guide encourages you to realize the ecological and economic benefits of green building.
Author Charles Kibert uses the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) suite of standards to explain the best practices in building procurement and delivery systems. Providing a detailed overview of the entire process of green building, he covers the theory, history, state of the industry, and best practices in green building.
Whether you're an industry professional, building owner, or real estate developer, you'll gain the knowledge you need to test any of the myriad decisions that have to be made in design and construction -- from materials selection to considering the use of natural systems for wastewater processing.
