Sustainability And Energy Efficiency In Housing Essay

Sustainability And Energy Efficiency In Housing - Essay Example ceiling insulation; area of north-facing windows; floor insulation; amount of thermal mass; wall insulation, etc. (Healy, 2004) Traditional and current practice in relation to health and safety issues in energy efficient and sustainable housing Housing and health outcomes have been related for many years, but only recently this interrelation has acquired sufficient support through changing construction techniques. 'Housing sustains and supports human life and thus housing environments directly and indirectly impact on health, social support, absence of disease, quality of life and well-being'. (Givoni, 1976) This is why housing and energy-efficient sustainable housing should be looked at as one of the fundamental parts of the society as a whole. There has been conducted serious research as for the practices in housing and health outcomes. Promoting construction worker and home occupant health is a strong component of sustainable design. Sustaining the health of construction site workers involves choosing less-toxic material alternatives and providing worker training in specialized installation procedures. There are several strategies that are important for addressing the health of home occupants over the long term. These i nclude designs that provide for foundation radon venting in areas where radon is a concern. (Sunnikka, 2000) Energy-sufficient sustainable housing is the notion which includes the role of health of the future residents; for example, in the energy-efficient housing indoor temperatures are stabilized through the use of the adequate thermal mass (Williamson & Bennets, 2002), which ultimately leads to the decrease of the diseases which are directly connected with the rapid changes of temperatures (it is especially relevant... This essay stresses that the interrelation of housing, energy efficneicy, sustainability and health outocomes have acquired additional meaning in the recent years through understanding that the threats of energy and ecological crises should be reduced in every area possible. Housing has become the means of teaching people how to save finances through building and adjusting houses to energy-saving technologies, thus making the environment suitable for living. This paper makes a conclusion that many European and other countries have developed a number of policies in relation to energy efficiency in housing; making it state program and priority for the aims of general health improvements as well as with understanding that energy efficiency should be promoted at the state level to make it work effectively. Such policies include basic requirements to each type of construction and housing stage, starting with the siting of the house, finishing with the position of windows and level of wall and ceiling insulation. Design of sustainable houses is acquiring more popularity; despite stating that new houses are becoming less affordable, and energy saving technologies are too expensive to be implemented across all layers of society, it is understandable, that with the help of various state policies the realization of these aims will become real and will lead to the improved design of houses in general, as well as to higher energy efficiency which is achieved through following basic housing and construction requirements.