How We Use Environmentally Friendly Building Practices

At Santana Construction, Inc. we are highly committed to Green building, which is an approach toward design, construction, operation, and removal that seeks to reduce human impact on the environment while fostering healthy and comfortable communities. We employ strategies and technologies that improve energy efficiency or otherwise reduce the overall environmental impact at the building site.

In this effort, our concentration focuses on areas such as:

• The use of natural light to provide interior illumination.

• The dismantlement of a building with the intention of salvaging and recycling materials, while reducing waste generation, used as an alternative to full scale demolition.

• The generation of power using solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity.

• The use of solar power generated by sunlight to heat water.

• Covering a roof fully or partially with vegetation, preventing storm water runoff and absorbing carbon dioxide from the air

• Using a deep roof overhang that can shade the windows on the northern side of the house, in addition to different types of shade trees and bushes.

• Design buildings with small footprints that take up less land. The added green space absorbs excess nutrients in rainwater that can contribute harmful runoff to nearby watersheds.

• Design exterior spaces such as patios and driveways with permeable materials to let water soak in, and landscape with native plants that ideally need no chemical treatments such as fertilizer or pesticides.

• Choosing Energy Star equipment for heating and cooling systems, water heaters, appliances and light fixtures.

• Whenever possible, use alternative varieties of paints, plastics and plywood labeled “low VOC,” which means low volatile organic compounds.

• A rectangular house’s ridgeline should run east-west to maximize the length of the southern side, which should also incorporate several windows in its design. For this reason, fewer windows should be located on the northern side of the house, where the summer sun can be intense.

• Stopping drafts with spray foam insulation, which seals to the surfaces in walls and attics and prevents air gaps.

• Using high-efficiency low-E windows and Sealing all gaps around windows and doors.