When it Comes to Green Home Building, Europe Takes the Cake
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by: hugatree
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Word Count: 397
Green home building is all the rage in America today, and many people do not realize that green home building practices have been in play for decades in Europe. We have many technologies that are just emerging in the United States that seem to be new and innovate...they are not. Green home building is usually discussed in such a way that people marvel about these new technologies, but they are really only new to us.
For example, in Europe, a substance called Autoclave Aerated Concentrate, or AAC for short, has been used in constructing buildings for over two decades. According to GreenHomeBuilding,com, this substance is fire proof, highly insulating, and lightweight. It can be easily transported in large quantities, which will conserve fuel. Also, the AAC is made of very simple ingredients: water, sand, cement, lime, and aluminum powder. The main ingredient in AAC is air, which makes up over eighty percent of it composition. An important factor in the greenness of this substance is the fact that its production causes no byproducts. This material has been used by builders in Germany for almost one hundred years, but was only introduced in the United States in 1996, and it is not yet widely accepted.
An additional green home building material that is used widely in Europe but not in the United States is the Wood Fiber Board. These boards are made from wood chip waste produced by sawmills. According to GreenHomeBuilding.com, these boards are free of allergens and they do not emit any toxins during their manufacture. They are cheap to make, durable, and totally compostable. They are not used much in the United States. We like to cut down new trees to make new boards. It seems as though we prefer not using something we already have, but rather wasting to create new products.
Europe is way ahead of us when it comes to green home building practices. They have been doing these things for about one hundred years, so for Europeans, there is nothing new or innovative about green home building; it is a way of life. We have a long way to go, but we are finally in the right frame of mind here in the United States to begin conserving resources... I just hope it is not too late.
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