The Future of Green Building
By Steve Bielinski
At Bielinski, we believe that companies like ours have a duty to take on a larger role in protecting the environment. So for the past 11 years, we’ve done just that. Here are some of the ways we build green as well as a look into the future of green building.
GREEN CERTIFICATIONS
Bielinski Homes is a certified green builder with the Wisconsin Environmental Initiative’s Green Built Home program. Having an independent, third-party verification of our green building practices shows customers that we don’t just talk about green building, we do it.
As customers become more and more environmentally conscious, these certifications become more and more important. As energy efficiency and green building techniques move higher on customers’ list of priorities, it’s important for us to continue going above and beyond and securing these certifications.
GREEN MATERIALS
You can’t build a home without using a lot of materials, but you can make sure that you’re using materials efficiently and sustainably. That’s why we use engineered wood products in the floor joists, OSB sheathing, and roof trusses in Bielinski homes. Engineered wood not only uses about 50% less wood fiber than dimensional lumber, but are often stronger and more reliable, too.
We also only use lumber certified by the Sustainable Forest Initiative, which promotes the sustainable growth and harvest of trees and the protection of wildlife, plants, and soil and water quality.
In the future, we hope that building materials and techniques will become even more sustainable. And when they do, we’ll be eager to adopt them.
GREEN TECHNOLOGY
Technology moves fast, and new technologies that make sure your home is running efficiently come out every day. At Bielinski, we stay on the cutting edge with tech like high-efficiency LED bulbs in all electrical fixtures, and programmable thermostats that allow you to regulate your energy consumption.
It’s not only limited to the homes we build. Over that past 18 months, the Bielinski Homes office has moved to digital file sharing, digital home plan distributions, and digital scheduling software to stop relying so much on paper. In 2018, we reduced our paper use by 60%.
In the future, technology will play a larger part in making homes green. We’ll see more accessible smart home technology, and quicker and easier ways to monitor and control energy use.
Green building is important to us, that’s why we always keep our ear to the tracks and are constantly improving our techniques and adopting new technologies. Learn more about our green building practices here.