Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

by Betsy Hooper, CDT

Less is more - Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe

A building has a life cycle of its own. While the initial building process is a major event in that cycle, a building continues to consume resources over its entire lifetime, both in daily operating demands on the environment for energy and water, and future use renovation costs. The three “R”’s of environmental responsibility are best applied to a building beginning at the conceptual design stage of the process.

What is there to reduce in building? Few people would accept a reduced standard of living, so we must look at how to reduce building size and resource consumption while maintaining living standards. Work closely with clients to determine the best fitted building to their needs. This is a complex task, requiring extra time and effort on the part of the Architect. We can educate our clients to understand that this money spent in the beginning of the process will result in substantial savings over the life of the building.

Reducing the size of a building usually results in a reduction in the amount of material used in construction. However, because of the complex nature of construction, not all size reductions are of equal merit. Designing to standard material sizes can reduce waste. For wood frame construction there are reduced framing methods that can result in from ten to thirty percent savings in the amount of wood required.

Reducing the size of a building can also result in a reduction in the amount of energy required to light, heat, and cool it over the lifetime of the building. Energy efficient design and construction choices including super-efficient heating and cooling systems, appropriate levels of insulation, tight building, and daylit design can significantly reduce the energy usage of a building over its lifetime.

Re-use of construction materials has always occurred when the materials were scarce or precious. In today’s world, old brick and heart pine beams from old buildings are routinely mined for new construction. Re-use also occurs at the level of the building as when an old factory or warehouse is refitted as an upscale boutique shopping mall, or an old school building is turned into condominiums. If we design our buildings for flexibility, we can accommodate facilitate re-use as needs change.

Finally we recycle. We can choose materials that are recycled or can be recycled easily. We recycle materials from demolition. By specifying recycled materials in our buildings we help to create a market for recycled materials and help to keep them out of landfill. However recycling has hidden environmental costs - the additional energy required and pollution produced in the process of remanufacture make recycling a choice of last resort.

Within ten years more than half of existing landfill operations will no longer be in service. We are using up non-renewable resources at record rates, and renewable resources faster than they can be replaced. We are robbing our grandchildren to support our current lifestyles. Applying the three “R”s of environmental responsibility to the building process is one way we can move towards a Green building practice.