How Real Estate Becomes A Sustainable Industry

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These days, all businesses must embrace social responsibility: a duty that involves learning about the environmental impact of the properties you're administering or investing in.

Real estate generally conjures up images of a construction and development business. But the market has grown to include other aspects like rental, leasing, and land ownership.

Constructing or renovating a building is no easy feat, and the process causes quite a bit of damage to the environment. It's estimated that the construction and building industry emits 38% of all energy-related CO2 globally.

That is why many real estate firms are starting to take action in helping our environment by reducing our carbon footprint every day. In this article, we will look at the positive impact real estate can have on the environment, such as recycling and reducing landfill waste.

How Property Developers Can Help the Environment

Listed below are five ways real estate developers can positively impact the planet, one house at a time:

1. Building LEED-Certified Smart Homes

The US Green Building Council has developed guidelines for developers who want their buildings to be green and environmentally friendly, known as "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design," or LEED.

If you're building an office space, shopping mall, warehouse, or any other type of commercial property, we suggest looking into applying for this certification through LEED.

In addition, these buildings typically use less water than others due to their recycling process, reducing their water footprint.

According to Kimo Quance of The Kimo Quance Group: "The US real estate market impacts the environment in a variety of ways, from the materials used to construct commercial buildings and homes, building operations and maintenance practices, water use in landscapes and recreation facilities, commuting patterns in residential developments."

"Our team has been working closely with The US Green Building Council (USGBC) that seeks to address these complex issues by providing LEED certification for green high-performance buildings that reduce waste and energy consumption," he added.

2. Adaptive Reuse

Renovating a building can have a positive impact on the environment if done correctly. When you reuse an existing building, you preserve its value and keep it from becoming waste. With all the resources wasted in demolishing a building and starting from scratch, it's no wonder why this is an effective way of reducing waste.

How Real Estate Becomes A Sustainable Industry
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Developers may dismantle old warehouses or commercial buildings to replace them with larger ones. Still, if they choose to keep the original structure, they can turn it into something else-a condo complex or even another type of office space. Generally, this can work well with existing properties because most of the materials are already there.

3. Material Efficiency

Using materials that are manufactured and developed locally keeps transportation emissions down. The less we have to transport our products, the more sustainable and environmentally friendly we can become.

Developers try to reduce what they call "life cycle impact," or the measurement of how an item will affect the environment from its conception through its entire lifespan.

When you invest in real estate, you want to make sure that your properties look great inside and out, which is why you should use materials that are durable and long-lasting. In addition, long-term durability reduces waste because people won't need to replace their carpeting or repaint their walls every year like they would if their materials weren't as long-lasting.

"Even construction debris such as wood scraps and nails can be recycled into new materials. To do this, we partner with local recycling companies to reuse or recycle construction material so that they won't end up in landfills," said Quance. This is great for the planet as it means we're using fewer resources overall.

4. Using Renewable Energy

How Real Estate Becomes A Sustainable Industry
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Investing in renewable energy is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are certificates from the government that prove you have purchased a certain amount of energy from a renewable source.

These sources can be anything from solar panels, geothermal systems, and wind turbines-anything that isn't traditionally used as a power source but has become one through technology advancements.

Acquiring RECs helps to reduce our dependence on traditional forms of electricity generation, such as coal-fired power plants. In Canada, the use of solar panels has been increasing from year to year.

According to Jordan Scarpino of West Coast Real Estate Hub: "Canada's real estate industry has been adopting the use of renewable energy sources as part of their sustainable development plans as both consumers and real estate professionals are more interested in the performance of a building's environmental footprint."

"This is because we need energy to power our homes, businesses, and cities. Energy comes from many different sources including coal, natural gas, uranium and renewables like sun and wind. Most forms of energy on the market today (except for renewables) release greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere when being used," he added.

5. Protecting Native Habitats

It's vital to ensure that native habitats aren't affected by development projects or building renovations, especially if historical buildings are being changed or demolished. Native habitats often support native fauna, so if we develop properties without considering this, it can permanently damage the environment.

In addition, it's also essential to evaluate the impact of what you do when developing around water. Developers usually hire an environmental impact research firm to ensure that their project positively affects the surrounding area.

How Real Estate Becomes A Sustainable Industry
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"Building in floodplains is something that costs municipalities billions of dollars each year, not just in infrastructure repairs but in insurance rates," says Scarpino. "Pedestrian areas are often unlined, which would allow floodwaters to easily seep into city streets."

"We're seeing more developers being aware of environmental concerns and proactively taking steps to reduce the life cycle impacts their projects have on the environment," he added. "Developers are including plans for energy-efficient buildings with green roofs, solar panels, rainwater collection systems, and native landscaping."

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Why Is Real Estate Sustainability Important?

As sustainability becomes an increasing priority for businesses, the real estate industry has begun to make strides toward becoming more resource-efficient.

The real estate industry's interest in achieving sustainable practices has primarily been driven by consumer preference. Consumers are increasingly interested in housing options that promote reduced environmental impact and reduced costs; additionally, they seek housing choices that enhance their quality of life.

For these reasons, it is important for the real estate industry to promote environmental stewardship and responsible development.

Along with ethical responsibility to the environment, there are many other benefits that ecological initiatives provide.

Sustainable practices can boost a company's return on investment (ROI) by increasing staff motivation, improving organizational culture, and improving sales. These initiatives can also protect a company's reputation as they can demonstrate environmental leadership.

Final Words

The times we live in require even more responsibility and care for Mother Nature. It's evident that we can't keep doing what we've always done and expect a different outcome.

We're fortunate enough to be living in times when green initiatives are becoming integral to the real estate industry, and it's promising that this is becoming the standard.

As the industry continues to grow and evolve, we'll see even more improvement in sustainability as developers and consumers become increasingly aware of their impact on the environment.

Change in social conscience leads to changes in behavior, so it's up to us to work together to build a sustainable future.