Green Interior Design

Posts Tagged ‘green design process’

One of the hardest parts about deciding if you want to go green with your new home is the initial design process.  With so many choices of materials, layouts and options, picking the right items to truly make your home or office “green” can be tough.   However, one of the most often overlooked processes that takes place is the actual amount of paper that goes into the design process.  If you are really seeking to go green, then you should consider having a green design architect assist in the design process.

When you first start the process of selecting materials and layouts for the structure itself, there can be lots of changes to get things the way you want them.  One of the byproducts of all of these changes is the countless amount of paperwork, design specifications and drawings that are generated.  With so much paper and other materials going into the effort, there is often a large amount of waste that can contribute to the amount of trash in the environment.

Whether it is the inks from printing, excessive energy use for computers or other items, when you decide to build green you should consider using an electronic design process.

The electronic design process will use some paper, there is no way around it due to signatures that must be gathered for official documents.  However most, if not all of the actual design and specification process can be completed electronically.  When this occurs, changes are made easily in a CAD or other design program.  Those changes can be sent electronically via email or other methods that will help reduce the use of paper.

Consider this.  If you make only 5 changes to your plans that are drafted traditionally on paper and printed out, that is at least 5 sets of plans that have been printed and disposed of in the garbage.  Unless your firm uses recycling for waste paper products, those plans usually end up in a landfill someplace.  Over time that can be a large amount of waste!

One big change that has recently begun in the building industry is putting the plans, specifications and work flow of the construction process online for you to see at any time.  A recent building experience I am going through uses this process and it is really nice!  We have one set of the final plans on paper, but all other work has been done electronically and is filed online for me to see easily and quickly.

The nice aspect of using an online work flow system for building is that I can make changes electronically to certain things, see when specific aspects of the construction process are going to begin and follow along with the process from the application of the building permit to the final walkthrough before closing.

When you decide that you want to build a green home or office, don’t overlook the initial phases of the design process.  You can help make your home or office truly eco-friendly by eliminating or reducing waste that are often not even considered in the process.