Bringing eco-living to the next level
As a current global rising trend, eco-living has won the heart of those seeking comfortable and healthy living. The increasing trend is due to not only the strong element of green property, but also the use of energy-efficient building as well as sustainably produced furniture and interior made from renewable raw materials.
In other words, eco-living is an attempt to carry out our life in an environmentally friendly and responsible manner that include the conservation of resources, recycling, sustainability, green building, alternative energy and other environmental issues. Eco-living is also a means of minimizing the size of our ecological footprints.
Eco-living is on the rise. In many cities and regions throughout the world, recycling and energy conservation have become part of a lifestyle.
To green up our life, many eco-friendly cleaning and pesticide products have been developed for use in homes and offices. More natural ingredients are used in the cleaning agents and bug-killing aerosols, to replace chemical-based aerosols.
Organic gardening is also gaining popularity. The practice of organic gardening can give the ecological benefit to the community we live in. Eliminating the dangerous chemicals released into the air and soil can make the environment healthier.
In big cities, eco-living is often associated with the needs of having green urban spaces which are essential for human and environmental benefits. It has been documented that green urban spaces offer numerous benefits such as improving human health; reducing carbon footprint; safe-guarding harbor, bay and ocean waters; providing habitat for city wildlife; connecting neighbors and communities; growing local food; and improving the quality of life and desirability of urban living.
No one in this world can deny that today’s biggest challenge is the threat of climate change. And a myriad of issues related to the global warming has urged worldwide property developers to tackle the issues by practicing green property.
Correspondingly, the needs of comfortable places for living and working evolve with the time. In response to the increased global warming, a convenient living is where people can contribute to the energy savings.
The wide presence of inverter technology, for instance, leads to the energy conservation. The use of this technology can reduce power up to 50 percent of appliances such as air conditioning and refrigerator. This efficiency means that you pay less electricity bill. But more importantly, the use of efficiency energy will stop the planet from further increasing in temperature.
Preventing global warming can also mean choosing the right green building concept. Realizing green property also means having the construction built by environmentally friendly materials. The use of the construction materials contribute to curbing global warming.
In big cities, like Jakarta, people spend a great deal of their time at work. Therefore, an office should not be designed as a place for only work. Today’s offices should be environmentally oriented.
Green office buildings are designed to optimally catch sunshine as the main source of lighting. In many buildings implementing eco-living concept, glass walls are installed around in order to make it unnecessary to turn on electric lights during the day, therefore saving on the use of electricity. To enable cool air to freely enter through the windows, it is recommended that an office building or complex build park. The presence of a green park around the building can filter the air.
The efforts in making offices green should be supported by the environmental awareness from the building’s owner, management and tenants. The awareness is indeed the spearhead of the campaign noting that an eco-office can preserve the environment, which often takes on doing small things that may appear trivial but have big impacts, such as recycling, reusing the usable used materials and so on.
In many countries, the application of green building concept increases property value. Countries such as India, China and the United Arab Emirate, for example, have applied the standards of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
In Indonesia, there is still gap to fill in, as much education on this issue is needed. Nevertheless, the government’s positive response has taken the country to the next step. With more and more residential and commercial buildings applying green property concept, eco-living has also become the rising trend in the archipelago.
Text: The Writerpreneur. Published in SSS Newsletter (Sampoerna Strategic Square), March-May 2011.