Constructing house plans in Kenya that are green and sustainable is a great strategy that any home developers should embrace as they construct homes in Kenya.  The whole issue of sustainability has to do with a holistic mode of development of buildings that take care of many faucets of living, including care for the environment while ensuring maximizing of the economical, physical and social resources.

What green building strategies can one employ when constructing house plans in Kenya?

Strategies of green architecture that one can employ when you dealing with house plans in Kenya can focus on several salient areas.  These include

  • Energy management
  • Water conservation, management and recycling,
  • Enhancing Indoor Environmental Quality
  • Construction using environmentally sustainable materials and techniques.
house plans in kenya

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Some of these areas sound a bit difficult to be included within regular house plans in Kenya, and may seem rather daunting for the ordinary individual interested in building a home.  However a builder can take simple steps in constructing a home that can make it quite sustainable in many ways.

Energy management steps for creating house plans in Kenya

Mitigation of wastage of energy and prudent usage of power is the pillar of energy management in the context of building house plans in Kenya. There are several products that have been constructed for the Kenyan market that deal with energy supply and management. Developers should not shy away from aggressively employing these products and equipment in their construction projects so that they can be sustainable with regard to their energy usage.

A building that has been created to make use of simple power saving methods can be a whole lot less expensive to run during its lifespan that one which does not. Provision of simple energy saving devices in constructing green house plans in Kenya will result in better economy of the building with regard to energy consumption which is a huge element in the building’s running expenses.

For example, if a building has been designed in a manner that its activities can be run successfully without undue disruption and without artificial intervention, then such a building is likely to be more sustainable than the one which is unable to operate like that.

Case in point, if a room has been designed with poor natural lighting, then one will need to have artificial lights on to be able to live or work within that space. However this can be avoided by taking care to ensure that all the habitable rooms have windows to the outside which receive adequate levels of lighting, hence ensuring better energy efficiency through better day lighting.

Ensuring that the building has a good level of natural lighting means that there is a greater sense of airiness and space within, and is likely to be better appreciated by an individual as being a more healthy space, rather than a dark dreary room. Most of all, such a building will result in less energy spending, and great savings during their lifespan with regard to their energy bills.

Invest in energy saving fittings when constructing house plans in Kenya

Having simple provisions such as energy saving bulbs means that one is able to save power compared to the use of incandescent lamps, which have higher energy consumption for a given amount of light brightness. The use of other smart fittings that can adopt themselves to a particular setting can also result in major savings in the cost of light energy. Likewise, having lights with automatic switches and movement sensors will ensure that lights can come on automatically when someone enters the room, and turn off automatically when no motion is detected.

Smart fittings today have traversed every type of utility in the home, including enhancing of water fittings and the like. Even the use of light fittings that are wired parallel to the windows and isolated in this manner can enable one to selectively switch on lights in darker areas of a room away from the natural window light source, which will light up one side of the room.

Solar energy is a constant source of natural energy that can be relied upon almost daily. Having solar power harvesters built into a building and properly integrated with the heating systems of a home will ensure that a home has power constantly, in a cost friendly manner. The use of solar heating may be largely limited to heating of water in a home, though even this can result in quite some savings in the home.

A home can also have its energy efficiency enhanced by the use of inverters, which can convert normal power current into direct current that is stored in batteries, and can be used in the case of a blackout. These are great alternatives which when harnessed with solar power, can give even a home in remote areas relatively good power output.

The use of well-ventilated rooms having sufficient cross ventilation can reduce on the need to have mechanical ventilated spaces. Ensuring that each room has windows that open up to the outside will ensure fresh air can be able to get into spaces inside the house. Permanent ventilations on openings also assists to achieve this.

 

When such provisions have been made within a residential building, one is able to achieve a good level of sustainability with regard to creating green house plans in Kenya.

 

 

 

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