Currently more than half the world’s population live in towns and cities, often without having ever considerer their impact on the environment around them. It’s only been recently that politicians have started becoming aware of the importance of living in accordance with nature, and using streams, rivers, and trees for our overall health and well-being and notably in combatting urban pollution.
Eco-building (or eco-construction) creates homes and buildings that are as sustainable and ecological as possible, in accordance with their environment and harmonious with nature.
Know your environment and adapt to it
Eco-builds adapt to the environment in a healthy way, by using natural and recyclable materials, such as wood, straw and even hemp for insulation, while abandoning toxic and damaging materials. This building method provides living conditions that allow its inhabitants to thrive.
Most ecovillages build for summer and winter with the aim to fulfil their basic human needs while considering their natural environment. In accordance with the surrounding environment, the climate and the communities’ need of electricity, they use mostly renewable energies such as solar, hydraulic and even geothermic energy (harvesting the heat from the earth) in order to live more autonomously.
Zero impact on the environment
As such, these building tend to have as little impact as possible on their environment. They often live off the principals of permaculture farming. Managing waste is one of the aspects taken into consideration so that everything can either be recycled or composted in order to achieve zero waste. Dry toilets are another essential characteristic of this way of living as they are used to save on the 10 to 12 litres of water lost after every flush, as well as systems that treat water so that it may be used again.
To discover concrete examples of eco-builds like Tiny house or even Earth Ship, click here.
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