Step up recycling, clean energy in new buildings

Solar panel and turbine with sunset background. clean energy power in nature concept. [Getty Images]

Starting life after the campus was baptism by fire. Several challenges aside, getting an affordable rental house, was the starting point.

Some comrades opted to share apartments (we called them flats then) for obvious reasons.Their proximity to the city centre, guided by bus fare rates, was crucial. And so, many had to contend with poorly ventilated and barely lit rooms. It was always night in the houses even during the day.

Such residences exist today and house a larger urban population. It pains to know that such buildings are approved by individuals at counties, the National Environment Management Authority, Public Health offices as well as the National Construction Authority. You do not want to mention constructions that have collapsed and claimed lives. If this is not corruption, then we should review the standards of houses allowable in our urban areas.

Meanwhile, those building now can think of cheaper and more environment-friendly constructions, away from the conventional designs, considering the health and safety issues that abound.

Experts have the guidelines of the ratio of windows to walls, which if followed correctly will allow natural light, even for the not so complicated houses and enable adequate ventilation.

The good thing about well-lit and ventilated houses is that you enable occupants to live longer by minimising illnesses resulting from in-house pollution. This kind of pollution, also depending on how clean the energy used to light and cook in there is, can cause respiratory problems, including non-communicable diseases such as lung cancer and pneumonia, according to the WHO.

Besides, poorly lit houses are not easy to properly clean, creating room for insects and dust. It is also easier to have accidents in houses when vision is compromised because of poor lighting.  

And so for today’s builder, considering renewable energy would be one way to save the environment, besides spending less in the long run. You can start small, by having solar lighting for the common areas. Also key is ensuring water recycling is maximised. The government, especially in the cities, can work with local and external stakeholders to improve waste water recycling infrastructure that would minimise wastage in the most densely populated parts of the city. With proper regulation, advertising and political good will, recycled waste water can be sold to industries, and the returns channeled to other green projects.

In urban areas, several people are considering renewable energy, trees, beautiful landscaping, waste segregation and waste water recycling already as they construct commercial and residential houses. These same people are the ones likely to have less energy consuming buildings in their rural areas.

But many an average builder today is not sensitised enough on the benefits and the available opportunities in thinking green and health while constructing. This calls for proactive advocacy, even by the likes of Architectural Association of Kenya.