When you are planning to build a home, you should consider how it will benefit the environment, and if it will also be a good value for your money.
That is the gist of a new report released this week by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The study, published in the Journal of the American Society for Testing and Materials, analyzed the environmental benefits of building wooden houses and found that the materials are “recyclable, safe to use and can be recycled at a much lower cost than concrete and steel.”
Wood structures can be built on reclaimed land and are generally much more environmentally friendly than concrete structures because of their lighter weight, the report found.
The wood is often stacked, so it is a good alternative to concrete structures when they need to be pulled down, but they also take up less space.
In addition, wood structures also require less water than concrete, which means they are a good way to reduce the amount of water that enters the ground.
A few examples:
