Four Ways to Make Your Building Projects More Eco-Friendly

From commercial construction to home DIY projects, there is often room to make your building process more environmentally friendly. Whether you’re hoping to save on your electricity bill, reduce your waste, or find ways to benefit from recycled materials, in honor of Earth Day, here are four ways to make your building projects more environmentally friendly.

Find purposes for extra materials (or find them a good home)

If you have a workshop where you often build things, you’ve probably got a few tricks up your sleeve for building creative solutions. One way to make your projects more sustainable is taking that one step further, and finding creative solutions to reducing your waste. If you have excess wood or other materials, think about repurposing them into smaller solutions such as stools or shelves (or even better, giant Jenga). If you do need to get rid of your excess materials, find out if they’re recyclable before putting them into landfill.

Maximize natural light and energy

Another way to cut back on electricity spending and be more environmentally friendly is to simply use less. Working earlier in the day to make use of natural light and opening windows and doors instead of using cooling systems are easy ways to maximize use of natural resources and minimize electricity consumption. If you’re really looking to step up your environmental responsibility, you can go even greener by implementing solar power in your workshop.

Change your light bulbs in your workspace

If natural lighting and temperature control won’t work for your space, consider changing your light bulbs to Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFL’s) which use significantly less energy than typical models. These solutions will give you bright light in your space but consume significantly less electricity, ultimately saving you money and benefiting the planet.

Choose sustainable materials

Another area you can increase your sustainability is when you’re choosing your building materials. While wood is a renewable resource, not all woods are sourced equal. From choosing non toxic termite control solutions, to ecologically sourced wood, there are purchasing building materials that are sustainably sourced is an easy way to make your building projects more environmentally friendly. Opting for sustainable solutions within your home or workplace such as hand dryers instead of paper towels and energy saving appliances are also easy ways to implement sustainable practices.