Posts tagged "construction"

Eco Friendly Property Construction

Eco friendly property in Spain.

“Go Green” – “ECO friendly” – “save the planet” – “Global Warming”. All words we are very familiar with unless you have lived on the moon for the past 5 years or so. Now everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and offering green products and services. But how green are they and is it just a token gesture to be popular? We have been researching the possibilities of building eco friendly and economical green villas in Spain after I inadvertently made the mistake of asking my wife how she would like her new house built. “Eco friendly” she replied.

Those two words began a journey of thousands of miles across Europe and countless hours researching the web to find out how “eco friendly” I could build her dream home. Initially I found that an eco friendly home was just a cave house…I didn’t fancy living in or building a cave house, or they had thicker lagging on pipes or they offered solar water heaters…BIG DEAL, I expected that as standard, in fact it is law in Spain now to have alternative water heating supply, one company even classed a home as eco friendly because the heating had a thermostat.

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Two years later and after securing the sole rights to build with a German quality ICF system we are beginning our first two new eco friendly villas in Spain for clients and have several scheduled to begin next year. The interest has been amazing; unfortunately this means my wife’s dream home has been put on hold for a while but our business and our attitude to all things green is being transformed. We are offering geothermal heating systems, solar power, grey water systems, water saving systems inside and outside the home, wind turbines, appliance advice, lighting systems I never knew existed and even water less toilets (the jury is still out on that one with me) all this to make our eco friendly villas in Spain as economically friendly as we can. The fantastic thing about the Eco friendly build systems is the speed and insulating values they offer. A traditional styled villa of a 100m2 villa can be erected within 10 days! Saving weeks of labour charges thus bringing the cost of these new eco friendly properties on par or even cheaper than traditional block and beam villas. The insulation values are amazing and they even have fantastic sound insulation (great if you have noisy teenagers like me).

When we first introduced this system to an architect he looked blankly at the proposal and smiled that smile you see in Spain when you know they think you are mad and after experiencing this manic suppressed grin over a lengthy period of time with a lot of old – maybe not old but my age – ok old Architects! We finally came across a young enthusiastic architect who believed and embraced the system as we did. We drew up a set of plans and submitted them to the local town hall and put the project forward to the bank for a valuation. The town hall was thrilled with the idea and the bank valued the project over 40% higher than we charged the client! Now this could have a lot to do with the fact that we are inexpensive builders but the manager did tell us they are valuing homes with eco friendly factors higher than traditional homes.

We are not jumping on the bandwagon … we’re driving it!

All the information can be found on our web site.http://www.1st2spain.com

Meet the people who build ecological settlements to live in harmony with the natural environment. Are they just escaping big city life for a short break, or rejecting modern civilization altogether? And are such ecological settlements a refuge for misfits and outcasts, or a place for the independent and strong-minded?

How to Make a Construction Environmental Management Plan

If you have been involved in the construction industry for a relatively long time, then you would have come across a Construction Environmental Management Plan. If you haven’t, then you will be very soon. The reality is that nowadays society has become more conscious of the impact that human activities have on the surrounding environment. Governments have responded accordingly by passing legislation that obliges construction contractors to detail the expected impacts of a project on the environment and how they hope to successfully manage them.

Unfortunately, despite the increased use and importance of such plans, there are still many out there that have no idea how to prepare a Construction Environmental Management Plan. This short article hopes to outline some of the important components of a plan so that you can get a good head start the next time you need to write one for a project.

Here are just some of the components that need to be included in an environmental plan:

A description of the project The objectives of the environmental plan Environmental responsibilities Legislative requirements Approvals, licenses and permits Procedures for managing communication and complaints Procedures for emergency responses Environmental training to be undertaken Environmental protection measures to be taken

In Australia, from where I’m from, the main environmental legislation is what is known as the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The legislation in your country will be different and it would be a wise decision to study it to make sure that environmental plan complies with it.

There is certainly no room for complacency when it comes to a Construction Environmental Management Plan.

Piezoelectricity, a Form of Green Energy

Piezoelectricity is the word for a transducer association between electric energy and mechanical oscillation. The piezoelectric effect is situated in certain materials which have the ability to produce electricity when put through mechanical stress. This material stress-rotating, distorting or compressing-has to be barely enough to deform the crystal framework without fracturing it.

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Construction Environmental Protection Plan

Being involved in the construction industry within the UK calls for detailed understanding of the various construction environmental protection plan regulations put in place by the UK government. In particular, you are required to develop an environmental protection plan that will ensure that you will be able to handle all construction maters likely to affect the environment negatively.

Two of the most important construction environmental protection plan strategies that you need to have before commencing any construction project are Waste Management and Soil Manage Strategies. Your environmental protection plan should show how you will handle all the waste produced during a construction project and ensure that soil is not interfered with adversely.

In order to develop an effective environmental protection plan, you will first need to carry out an environmental impact assessment study. It is from such a study that you will be able to capture all the damages, risks, hazards and pollution that your construction project will likely cause and determine before hand how you will handle the same.

An efficient environmental impact assessment study should cover the following:

Outcomes of soil extraction works – The study should capture all the possible results extraction works will present. You should be capable to device means of handling such. Such handling may be proper usage of raw materials to decrease wastage and safe disposal of soil produced.

Loss of vegetation cover – Your plan should ensure proper demarcation and delineation of the construction site to be affected by construction works. You should be prepared to re-introduce proper and suitable vegetation cover at the end of then project.

Air pollution – Your plan should ensure that open areas used by construction vehicles are kept wet using wet suppression technologies to decrease dust.

Solid waste – Your construction project will yield substantial amount of solid waste. Your construction environmental protection plan through the study should indicate how the same will be sorted, recycled or safely disposed.

Noise pollution – The level of noise should be to ideal limits and your study should identify the types of construction machinery to be used and noise remedy measures.

These are just some of the problems that you need to consider while undertaking environmental impact assessment study. Depending on a construction site, you may opt to consider some other environmental issues such as how you will be able to protect water bodies that may be around a planned construction site.

It is only by undertaking an environmental impact assessment study that you will be able to classify all factors that will negatively affect the environment in the course of your construction project. This will assist you a great deal in developing a functional construction environmental protection plan.

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Guide To Construction Environmental Education

Among the many industries, construction is one of those that actually gives contribution to the gradual damage of the environment. Hence, the members and staff of a construction company could be more effective in its entire endeavor if they will consider the pride of the environment by having an Environmental Education.

What is Environmental Education? From the root words environment and education, you can understand freely how Environmental Education would like to explain. It is simply developing awareness and inculcating consciousness to the people about the environment so we could have more ideas of how we could help preserve it, protect it and enhance our participation in promoting all means of positive ways that could benefit us and our environment. Thus, Environmental Education is a process which could instill to each and every human who will be continuing this learning up to the future.

The Scope and Aim All the people who are involved in the construction industry are given the chance to learn and participate in the Environmental Education. There will be no exemptions because no one is going to have immunity in the environment’s unpredictable fall back to the humans. He or she may be having the highest rank in the company or the lowest contributor in the construction site. The fundamental aim of the Environmental Education in construction industry is to offer added information to the contractors about the various environmental issues. In addition, through Environmental Education, the familiarity with Environmental Legislation (as what Asutralian Federal Government legislation for environment has) for environmental compliance will be considered. Therefore, every worker in the construction site shall be called “environment literate woker”. Therefore, there will be anticipation for the creation of sense of Environmental Responsibility in each worker in the worksite.

How to accomplish it? Environmental Education in the construction industry will never be successful if not everyone will cooperate and see the real purpose in it. The two must be considered:

- First, in the work site, there must be an educator (whether contractors, environmentalists, trainers) who will play a vital role in introducing and in giving guidelines in promoting the environmental education which must be achieved according to its objective. They will be the role models of the workers in implementing rules if there will be any. Furthermore, the teacher must have non-obsolete updates about the present happenings pertaining to the environment so as to relate with the workers in pushing through activities which could promote in saving the environment. Finally, the Environmental Education must be part and be synchronized with the Construction Environmental Management Pan.

- Secondly, the workers are the major components in the process of learning regarding with the Environmental Education. They are the ones who need help in enhancing environmental responsibility to be good stewards in taking good care of the environment. However, to make the process more effective, everyone must participate and contribute in achieving the goal. Hence, everything that will be made and promulgated in the Environmental Education is what everybody in the work site have agreed upon.

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