The Staggering Savings Green Building Offers on a Large Scale

As a civilization we are fast approaching a breaking point of ideology concerning resource consumption and sustainable energy. Ramped up resource use because of population spikes and increased technology have spiraled civilization down a dangerous path of consuming more than we can hope to reuse. The earth by itself is not a renewable commodity, action is needed before we cross the unthinkable point-of-no-return.

But can simply installing a few HVAC systems with a higher SEER value create the impact that’s needed to reverse the inevitable race to the edge of the cliff? And, doesn’t the purchase of new systems and green building materials cost considerably more than their less environmentally friendly alternatives? Well, the truth is that the answer to both of these questions is “no.” Simply purchasing a new environmentally friendly product is helpful, but what is needed is a ground-up, holistic approach to truly see a positive impact. And, a little knowledge of modern green building techniques and methods disproves the fallacy that sustainable energy is more expensive.

The trend that needs to be bucked is that technological innovation will come at a higher cost in terms of sacrificed ecosystem and quality of life. In fact, green building is an instance where environment impact and cost are both minimized through utilizing the newest technologies and innovations; where the financially beneficial choice is also the morally sound one. Even in the case of some retrofits, renewable energy upgrades will prove to save money in immediate and measurable ways.

One of the most common examples of this is an environmentally friendly roof cover installation. Such a retrofit onto an already existing, large scale commercial building will create enough renewable energy in just the first year of use to more than pay for the upgrade. Other resource friendly systems and methods will save money as well; on everything from decreased resource consumption (lower bills), to government tax incentives and rebates for green building projects.

As mentioned above, any contribution will help; but, to see the real payoff, building from the ground-up is where a renewal of environmental attitudes will come. The benefits to the holistic approach of using renewable energy methods and materials, which can be designed and implemented by a sustainable energy consulting firm, are truly epic in scale.

Ground-up Eco City consulting is based on the understanding that nothing in civilization operates in a vacuum; that is, nothing runs alone and independent of everything else. If one home on a street uses solar energy, that will be slightly beneficial. However, if all the homes on a street utilize the same solar energy methods, than not only is their impact compounded, but their combined output of solar energy can even contribute to the local energy grid for a truly positive impact on resource consumption.

To put it in more tangible terms, Chinese urban planners are currently planning to build over 4,000 Superblock residential neighborhoods in the next year. If the developers adopted an energy sustaining development plan (along the lines of what would be offered from an energy consulting firm) on just a quarter (25%) of the neighborhoods, the results in savings would be staggering in terms of decreased construction cost and renewable energy. The build would eliminate the need for:

• 13 drinking-water plants
• 11 wastewater treatment plants
• 8 landfills

In simple dollars and cents, that’s a savings of $9 billion in construction alone; with long term savings compounding to dwarf that in terms of reduced resource usage and bills on electricity, waste management, and healthcare costs.

With so much at stake and so much to gain, green building cannot be ignored for much longer. When planning a master built community or large scale commercial property, sustainable energy consulting will decrease your bottom line cost and save you money for years and years to come, while maintaining the positive environmental impact that can steer civilization off of this crash course of consumption.