Green Real Estate Tips You Can Easily Implement

Green real estate refers to a house that was made to be eco-friendly. These houses are not only built to minimize carbon emissions but also reduce the carbon in the air. A lot of people are already using eco-friendly houses because they are getting better value for the money that they are spending. Aside from this, you can also play a great role in our fight against global warming. The problem is that it is not very easy for someone to renovate their houses and some would cost thousands of dollars. In this article, we will be discussing some of the things that you can easily implement to make your house eco-friendly.

When building green real estate, the first and easiest thing that you can do is to repaint your house. This is something that we do on a regular basis and all you have to do is to add a small amount to use carbon-absorbing paint. Although this would cost more money, if you are repainting your house regularly, you don't have to spend a lot. Just make sure that you are going to use the right type of paint because this will be your first step towards having an eco-friendly house. You can also seek for professional help whenever you are planning to paint your house to be sure that you are going to get the results that you are expecting.

If your house has a rooftop, then you can start building your own garden on top of your house. You don't have to spend a lot of money on it because you can start building it gradually. Simply add a couple of plants on a monthly basis and you'll be surprised with the results that you have after a year. What most people do is that they are planting vegetables on top of their houses, making their efforts more efficient and productive. This will not only make your house eco-friendly but will also give you produce that can be taken whenever you want to. This is something that not everyone will do, but those who will, can expect great results overtime.

Another very easy tip that you can implement is to start installing solar panels on your house. You don't have to install a lot just to support your need for energy. You can try to install at least 1 every six months to reduce your electric consumption. Once you've started implementing this step, the next thing that you need to do is to start investing in low-power-consuming electronics. This will not only help you fight global warming, but will also help your solar panels to keep up with your electric consumption. This is something that everyone should have, but due to the price of these panels, we cannot expect everyone to have it.

These are some of the most simple tips that you can implement to be successful in making your house more eco-friendly. Keep in mind that you don't have to spend a lot of money, and you are not required to do it immediately.

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BREEAM - A Good Start Is Half The Job Done

For many development projects achieving a certain BREEAM rating is mandated through a planning requirement. Where in the past the planning requirement was often to achieve a "Very Good" rating, the current trend is for local planning authorities to ask an "Excellent" rating to be achieved. Where careful planning was already necessary to achieve the 55% score required for a "Very Good" rating, BREEAM "Excellent" puts the bar considerably higher at 70%. To avoid significant additional cost, hassle and programme issues it is critical to allow the early consideration of BREEAM and sustainability measures.

This article discusses three good reasons to consider the BREEAM requirements of a project at a very early stage in the project cycle.

One of the core aims of BREEAM is to drive the development and implementation of good and best practices in sustainable design and construction of buildings. Early consideration of BREEAM enables the cost-effective adoption of sustainability measures within the design of a building. During the feasibility study stage and the early design stage full integration of sustainability measures into the total design solution can be achieved. During construction any sustainability improvements will be isolated, add-on measures. The ability to control the cost of design is therefore highest in the early stages of a project and is inversely correlated with the cost of design changes.

BREEAM recognises the importance of early consideration of the sustainability performance of a project and includes a number of incentives to do so. There are a total of 12 credits available only if certain actions have been taken in the early stages of the project, equivalent to the RIBA stage A to C. Half of these credits would require action before adopting the design brief and should therefore be completed at RIBA stage B. These credits can make a significant contribution to the final score and losing the opportunity to achieve these can put a project at a disadvantage right from the start.

Both the BREEAM assessment and the planning application require a number of very similar studies to be carried out during the design and planning stages of the project. These include for instance a flood risk assessment, travel plan, ecology report and a renewable energy feasibility study. The requirements are often slightly different between the two processes. Adequate specification of the study requirements based on both the planning needs and the BREEAM targets can avoid doing the studies twice.

In summary: the benefits of considering BREEAM early in the project cycle are:

1. Allow sustainability measures to be integrated in the whole design
2. Qualify for a greater number of BREEAM credits
3. Align planning studies and BREEAM studies to avoid double work

David McGregor is a sustainability consultant with Planning for Sustainability. His specialisms include BREEAM and environmental impact assessments.