New Green Building Trends For 2021
The construction industry has had a tough line to walk over the past year. Not only did building trends shift their focus to improving and protecting occupant health, but they also continued to make progress toward greater sustainability, even when those goals were at odds with each other. Now, as more people get used to living in a post-COVID world and the imminent danger of the pandemic subsides, architecture is turning more of its attention back to green building. This has resulted in several emerging trends for 2021, including:
1. The rise of green materials.
Green materials have existed for some time. Some of them, like wood, are traditional. Others, like volatile organic compound(VOC)-free paint, have been available for years as a specialty product. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification promotes the idea of using fewer resources. One of the ways that the construction industry can do so is by using LEED-certified construction equipment and materials. Some new VOC-free paints actually include compounds that can remove additional VOCs from the environment, improving building health. So far, 2021 is seeing an uptick in the use of these sustainable building materials.
2. An upcycling revival.
Back when shabby chic was an interior design trend, "upcycling" became chic. This is the idea of taking an old object and giving it a new purpose -- garden gates became wall decor, and rain boots became planters. Now, the damage done to supply chains by the pandemic is sparking a new interest in DIY. While largely confined to home remodeling, DIY trends and aesthetics are likely to spill over into the construction industry, including the use of repurposed building materials.
3. New ideas in stormwater management.
Building trends have been pushing for water efficiency for a while now. Interior plumbing fixtures come in high-efficiency and low-flow varieties, and some toilet models even re-use hand washing water to fill their tanks. However, one area of water management has consistently been overlooked: stormwater. Stormwater is, as its name implies, water from precipitation. Some projects are expanding the use of rainwater-catching basins for landscape irrigation. Others are incorporating porous pavement and other materials that reduce flooding. One interesting landscaping trend involves rain gardens -- a method of using layers of plants, sand, gravel, and other natural filter media to treat stormwater without chemicals. This helps remove some of the paint, pesticide, moldicides, bird feces, soot, and other pollutants that rainwater can pick up as it runs off of roofs, pavement, and automobiles before the stormwater returns to the environment.
4. A shift toward greener construction equipment.
It's easy to focus entirely on the buildings themselves when it comes to creating more sustainable construction, but the building process is also a source of pollution, noise, and dirt. Large construction equipment needs a lot of power, and that power traditionally comes from diesel-fueled generators. Unfortunately, this machinery dumps nitrogen oxides and particulates into the air, drastically lowering air quality in nearby areas. Now, however, there's an alternative: lithium-ion batteries. Powering construction equipment with electricity instead of diesel has the potential to drop machinery-related carbon emissions by as much as 80% -- from 140 tons per year to just 25.
5. "Living" building materials.
Fungi have gotten a lot of attention lately. Not quite plants and definitely not animals, they've been a source of food and medicine for ages. Now, experts think they may also form the basis for the next generation of building materials. While most of us think of mushrooms when we picture fungi, the mushroom is just a very small, specialized reproductive organ. The bulk of a fungus is its mycelium, a cottony, weblike substance that grows through the fungus' substrate. Mycelium is lightweight and completely biodegradable, but remarkably durable, mold, water, and fire-resistant. One experimental project from 2014 combined crop waste with a mycelium binder to form bricks. The project team used these bricks to construct a 13-meter tower. While this project wasn't intended to build a functioning building, the idea of using fungi as a building material continues to receive more attention.
6. Green energy generation.
Rather than rely on the traditional power grid, more building projects are incorporating renewable energy from the get-go. Architects are looking for ways to either use or create solar, wind, or hydropower, as well as tightening up building energy efficiency overall. Part of the problem with some renewables is their inability to meet the total energy needs of a building, forcing that building to tap into the grid to make up the difference. With energy-efficient construction, coupled with the means for a building to generate its own electricity, the need for extra power from the grid decreases. Some buildings can even pipe their extra electricity back into the power grid, earning income for their owners. Occupant health and sustainability can go hand-in-hand. Many new, green building materials and construction trends reduce environmental pollution both indoors and out, creating sustainable buildings with healthier occupants. With green materials, LEED certification, green energy, battery-powered construction equipment, and better stormwater management, 2021 is shaping up to be a big year for sustainability in architecture.
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