A green community is a neighborhood or building in which environmentally-friendly tactics are used in every way feasible. Green communities may feature buildings made and insulated with recycled or biodegradable materials, community gardens and composting, and general attention to using earth-friendly products, appliances and features. Unlike the comparatively inexpensive but unsustainable practices of the 20th century, green communities offer not only a healthy living environment but can be of great benefit to residents, the surrounding areas and even the planet.
One of the advantages of a green community is tremendous potential for savings on energy spending. Green buildings a variety of tactics to provide superior insulation to residencies, making it less necessary to use a heater or air-conditioning system. Green apartments and homes typically use recycled material as insulation, install double-paned windows, and feature appliances certified to be energy efficient. While the initial cost of these materials may be higher than regular building costs, the benefits are tremendous and can continually save money on electricity and gas bills.
Some new green communities in sunny locales, such as the Gatsby Hollywood in Los Angeles, use solar paneling as a main source of energy. When power is not in use in a given, the panels store energy in a main grid, which can be used by other homes or in times of heavy usage. The low cost of solar energy is a great benefit in a green community, and can reduce not only energy bills, but the use of natural gas and power plants, thereby benefiting the environment.
Many green communities focus heavily on the need for community gardens and green spaces. Studies have shown that trees benefit the environment greatly, producing clean oxygen and reducing the effect of city smog and pollution. By growing an organic community garden, residents are provided with fresh, pesticide-free produce and flowers year round and will see a dramatic reduction in grocery bills.
In concert with community gardens, community compost heaps are another benefit of a green community. By tossing food and plant scraps into a communal heap, you create a fertilizer that will help you raise your next crop of produce, flowers, or trees. This feature cuts down on waste and uses biodegradable materials to cultivate crops rather than chemically-enhanced fertilizers.
Recycling programs are another feature of a dedicated green community. By setting up community or household bins for plastic, glass, paper and cardboard goods, you can help reduce the amount of waste in overflowing landfills and prevent the use of more natural resources by recycling old goods into new products. Some green communities also use recycled or recyclable goods for area maintenance and property upkeep.
Although some of the benefits of a green community will appear in your pocketbook, a number of highly critical advantages are more difficult to measure. By building and participating in a green community, residents can change the way humans interact with the earth. Instead of an approach which has lead to a dangerous destruction of the Earth’s natural resources, green living promotes a low-waste lifestyle that not only can stop human damage to the environment, but can actually help the planet’s ecology. Living in a green community may be a new fad, but with help and support it may grow to become the new, environmentally-conscious standard of living and building.