Commercial Construction Goes Green: 6 Ways to Increase Sustainability in Construction
By Evelyn Long, editor-in-chief of Renovated
Climate scientists have issued strong warnings to governments and businesses about the need to take more stringent measures to protect against climate change. The commercial construction industry can make a sizable impact by going green, and sharing ideas to increase sustainability in the built environment helps all builders adopt more eco-conscious processes. Doing so is vital to protecting humanity’s future.
What impact does commercial construction have on the environment? What can contractors improve about present processes to make their builds more sustainable, and what innovations might they adopt to green their practices? Tweaking procedures in six vital areas minimize waste and emissions during construction and throughout a building’s life cycle.
Construction’s Impact on the Environment
The commercial construction industry is a considerable climate change driver, contributing 37% of total greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN Environment Programme. The damage stems from multiple sources, including:
- Raw material extraction.
- Energy used in converting raw materials to usable goods, such as planing timber into wooden beams.
- Emissions created during transport.
- Disruption of the ecosystem around job sites.
- Waste and emissions created during the construction project.
- Energy and water loss from inefficient designs.
- Renovation and demolition of existing structures.
Although the problem of construction’s impact is complex, it also offers multiple opportunities for procedural improvements and mindful decision-making to minimize its effect on the natural world and increase overall sustainability.
The Life Cycle of the Built Environment
To understand construction’s environmental impact, it helps to look at the life cycle of a building process. Commercial building projects go through seven distinct stages, many of which occur before crews break ground:
- The development and planning stage: Includes selecting an appropriate location
- The pre-design stage: Involves deciding the number of rooms and their purposes, estimating costs, and selecting materials
- The design stage: Creating detailed blueprints and schematics to ensure code compliance and ensure structural integrity
- The pre-construction stage: Entails pulling required permits and taking vendor bids
- The procurement stage: Purchasing materials and hiring subcontractors
- The construction stage: Prepping the site and erecting the structure
- The post-construction stage: Covers a detailed inspection and walkthrough where contractors can explain sustainability features and how to use them
Opportunities exist at every stage to make sustainability improvements. The question of, “How does this design choice affect the planet?” should carry equivalent weight to “How much does it cost?”
For example, contractors and architects might ask questions about utilizing passive solar or geothermal energy during the development and planning or even the pre-design phase. The pre-construction phase may entail evaluating various subcontractors’ commitment to sustainability and possible material choices for their environmental impact.
Additionally, many building projects involve renovating or demolishing old structures. Those involved in such projects also have opportunities to increase sustainability. For example, they can conserve mantle pieces and beams for use as reclaimed wood, recycle steel, copper and glass, and ensure hazardous materials receive special handling to avoid contaminating the surrounding air and waterways.
Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainability Improvements
The biggest challenge many construction firms face when making sustainability improvements is staying within budget. The price of building products depends on multiple factors, such as the health of the supply chain and demand.
However, these factors can sometimes work in favor of — not against — sustainability improvements. For example, the price of many solar products has dropped dramatically in recent months thanks to a healthy supply of equipment and installation personnel. Installing solar power from the get-go significantly reduces a building’s carbon footprint across its life cycle, assuming future owners maintain the system.
Contractors have opportunities to set themselves apart as green builders, which may help them grow. Even amid today’s inflation, four-fifths of consumers surveyed stated being willing to pay nearly 10% more for sustainability. The majority of the public takes climate change seriously, and gaining recognition as a green builder can help a firm score impressive contracts, including with government entities.
6 Ways to Increase Sustainability in Construction
Understanding budgetary realities and the overall construction process helps builders make more sustainable decisions at each step of the game. Here are six specific areas where commercial construction firm owners can go green and ideas for doing so.
1. Site Selection and Layout
Selecting a site can significantly affect sustainability. First and foremost, people must have easy access to facilities like restaurants and medical specialist’s offices. Otherwise, lack of use can lead to abandonment and demolition, with the associated negative environmental costs.
Here, contractors can coordinate with city planners to make accessibility greener. For example, if construction involves widening roadways, they can urge such officials to include bike and pedestrian pathways and provide bicycle racks. Wide, smooth sidewalks increase access for wheelchair users, promote emissions-free commuting and increase foot traffic to the building, potentially driving sales.
Furthermore, determining a building’s layout lets architects and contractors take advantage of passive solar to increase energy efficiency. For example, east and south-facing windows get the most sunlight, decreasing light and heating needs in the winter.
Site selection may determine the feasibility of using geothermal energy to decrease a building’s heating costs by 30% to 70%. Architects and other planners must evaluate the land surrounding the proposed build, the availability of a body of water nearby and the thermal conductivity of the soil to determine the feasibility of such a system within budget. Although such systems have a higher initial cost, they last longer than traditional systems and decrease fossil fuel reliance.
2. Sourcing and Materials Choice
Deciding what materials to use and where to source them also impacts how sustainable a commercial construction project is. In general, it’s best to use materials readily available nearby, as shipping them from far away increases costs and emissions. It’s one reason adobe-style homes abound across the desert southwest, but you don’t see many log cabins until you head to the forests north of the Mogollon Rim.
Determining the most sustainable material means evaluating its environmental impact across its life cycle and various weather conditions. For example, clay tile roofs are an excellent choice in hot climates. However, they don’t hold up to hail and high winds, and frequent replacement increases a building’s environmental footprint. Additionally, they’re heavy and may absorb water, increasing weight further and leading to structural damage.
Recent innovations make selecting sustainable materials easier and more accessible. For example, plant-based plastics release far fewer microplastics than ones made from fossil fuels.
3. Energy Use and Conservation
Switching to renewable energy can substantially reduce a building’s carbon footprint across its life cycle. Fortunately, the falling price of solar makes incorporating it into blueprints more feasible than ever, and improved panels mean increased independence from fossil fuels. For example, solar panel windows could transform many commercial buildings into self-sustaining power stations.
Conserving electricity also reduces emissions, as does saving water. Improvements in insulation give contractors more choices for low-carbon footprint choices such as Iycnene and aerogel. Some choices demand stricter air quality standards, which lets all future occupants of the building breathe easier.
Low-flow fixtures in bathrooms minimize water use. Additionally, builders can incorporate ideas such as rainwater and greywater collection and purification systems to prevent waste while using the precious fluid to care for facility landscaping.
4. Lighting
Efficient lighting is part of a building’s overall sustainability, and today’s LEDs do a far better job than earlier incandescents. In addition, upgrades such as installing motion detectors that provide illumination only when necessary instead of keeping a building lit all night long reduce power consumption.
5. Green Roofs
Green roofs combat the urban heat island effect and can conserve energy use within a building while providing a valuable resource for its residents. Retrofitting old buildings with such structures could reduce high-temperature areas by 52%.
Green roofs entail planting gardens on commercial rooftops. Such spaces can grow crops for farm-to-table restaurants located within or provide a peaceful sitting and break area for residents to get a nature fix without leaving the building.
6. Reducing Demolition’s Environmental Toll
Construction crews must often demolish old structures before erecting new ones. In the past, such procedures involved explosive use, which created substantial particulate pollution and risked leaking toxic chemicals into the surrounding soil and water. Half of all construction pollution comes from a building’s creation and destruction, but improved chemical processes make the latter more sustainable.
Chemical demolition processes use various oxides to break down concrete structures. Additionally, crews must collaborate with city officials, other planners and even the general public to arrange for scrap disposal . For example, allowing the public to purchase these materials for their projects creates a circular economy that many financial leaders consider essential for safeguarding life on Earth.
Accountability for Sustainability in Construction — What to Look for
How can members of the public evaluate how green a construction firm is? How can contractors set themselves apart as sustainable crews? While there’s no one path, perhaps the most respected and well-known route is to seek LEED credentials and certifications.
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The U.S. Green Buildings Council developed it to recognize sustainable building construction and provide consumer guidance.
LEED certification applies to individual structures. Therefore, a builder can embark on certified projects by consulting with outside parties to increase sustainability throughout the building process. LEED credentials refer to individuals trained in green building techniques.
Those in the market for homes can seek LEED-certified models to reduce their carbon footprint. Contractors interested in improving their sustainability expertise can evaluate upcoming builds for their suitability for LEED certification and follow the necessary steps to certify their projects.
Going Green With Commercial Construction
The construction industry is one of the primary drivers of climate change. However, that also means it has the greatest opportunity to make an impact through sustainable upgrades.
Each project offers unique opportunities and challenges. As contractors shift their mindsets toward circular economy thinking that considers the environmental impact of their choices throughout a building’s life span, they’ll continue to innovate, making the daily lives of inhabitants cleaner and greener.
About the Author
Evelyn Long is a writer and the editor-in-chief of Renovated. Her work has been published by NCCER, Build Magazine and other online publications.