The noise of construction sites disturbs wildlife, disrupting feeding and breeding patterns. Sedimentation from construction can choke out waterways, damaging ecosystems that house fish, amphibians, and other aquatic species.
Using eco-friendly building materials can make the difference between a healthy habitat and one that’s unhealthy for animals. Here are some of the best options for sustainable buildings:.
Bamboo
Bamboo is a fast-growing plant that can reach high heights in a short amount of time. It is also a very strong material that can withstand heavy loads without bending or breaking. The woody stems of the bamboo plant are used to make furniture, flooring, walking sticks, fencing and thatch cladding for walls and roofs. It is an excellent alternative for timber building as it requires minimal machinery to harvest.
A bamboo plant can be tapped for its energy potential, as it produces up to three times more biomass than a comparable tree and emits significantly less carbon dioxide into the air. It can also be processed for a variety of purposes, including producing biofuels, such as ethanol and butanol.
The tensile and compressive strengths of bamboo are higher than those of true wood, and it can withstand high loads without bending or breaking. Additionally, it does not need pesticides to grow, as it is a fast-growing plant with an insect-resistant surface. It can also improve soil structure and bind to soft ground, increasing the resistance to erosion. In one study, bamboo was found to decrease soil degradation and nutrient depletion when planted in sloping fields.
Sheep’s Wool
Sheep’s wool is a popular fabric choice for clothes, bedding, and carpets. But it’s important to understand how sheep are raised before making a purchase, especially when considering wool fabrics from unsustainable sources. Unsustainable wool fabrics are associated with farming systems that promote overgrazing and land degradation. In contrast, organic and recycled sheep wool are more environmentally friendly.
Sheep wool must undergo a rigorous process called scouring to be made wearable, and this is a major source of pollution. A single scouring facility produces an organic effluent load equal to the sewerage from a town of 30,000 people, and it releases endocrine-disrupting surfactants into aquatic ecosystems. In addition, scouring facilities are often powered by fossil fuels.
To minimize pollution, look for a wool product that is Cradle2Cradle certified. This standardized assessment considers five critical categories: material health, materials reuse, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness.
A few other steps you can take to minimize your impact when using wool are to maximize the number of lifetime wears, air your clothing and machine wash it on a low temperature. A recent study showed that wool garments thrown out after only 15 wears cause six times more pollution than those worn over 100 times. Additionally, you can avoid the need for a full wash by reusing your garments as mufflers or by removing their sleeves to keep them warm.
Metal
Metals are shiny, hard, and opaque, but they can also be malleable—that is, they can be shaped into different shapes or hammered flat without breaking. This malleability, combined with ductility (which allows them to be stretched into long thin wires), makes metals essential in high-rise buildings, bridge construction, cars, airplanes, railway lines, tools, machinery and other devices.
The toxicity of metals is determined by their environmental persistence and bioaccumulative potential, which means that they are persistent in the environment and accumulate at higher concentrations in organisms that eat them. Because of this, toxic heavy metals can be transferred from one trophic level to another in aquatic food chains/webs. Different species of plants and animals are used as biological indicators or biomarkers for assessing and monitoring the presence of these metals in water bodies.
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, which has been used for centuries thanks to its tensile strength—the ability to withstand large amounts of force without tearing or breaking. Today, steel is a critical component of high-rise building and infrastructure, automobiles, ships, machines, tools, railcars, and weapons. However, its recyclability and sustainability are under threat because the mining industry depends on cheap, low-quality ore. This ore is often extracted in environmentally irresponsible ways, such as open-pit mining or cyanide leaching, which exposes the environment to contaminants like mercury and arsenic.
Aluminum Bubble Wrap
Aluminum bubble wrap insulation can be used to add a layer of thermal protection to walls, ceilings and other areas of a building. It’s also a great choice for metal buildings, pole barns and basements to prevent condensation, heat loss and noise. This type of insulation is a good alternative to foam and cellulose insulation that can be more expensive.
The insulation is made from a sheet of aluminum with a layer of plastic bubbles on either side. It can reflect 97% of radiant energy while resisting conduction, convection and vapor transfer. It also reduces moisture and provides a barrier against air currents, reducing the need for air vents.
Afsaneh Rabiei, an engineering professor at North Carolina State University, invented the new material by using a studded roller to dot the surface of a sheet of aluminum with small indentations. She then added a foaming agent to the indentations, sandwiched it with another sheet of aluminum and ran a roller over the two sheets to bond them together. Then she put it in a furnace, where the heat caused the foaming agent to change to air pockets. The result was a metallic version of the classic plastic bubble wrap that weighs 20 to 30 percent less and is 50 percent stronger than bulk sheet metal.
Unlike other rigid plastics, such as high-density polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate, bubble wrap is classified as a soft plastic (RIC code #4). Therefore, it’s not recycled with other hard plastic recyclables and will likely be sent to landfill where it may decompose within 10 to 1000 years. Thankfully, it’s easy to find drop-off recycling locations where you can bring your used bubble wrap for safe disposal.