There is a push to make housing much more eco-friendly from the interior to the exterior to reduce our environmental footprint. A lot of attention is paid to cars and other transportation, but the real problem lies in housing. Many houses are simply not efficient enough and a lot of global warming is caused by that.
If you are looking to live in a place where sustainability is important and taken seriously, then you should be looking at Spain. Besides the fact that there are a lot of natural resources that can be used to make housing that is sustainable, there is a burgeoning industry ready to take on the challenge.
In this article, we will go over several of the ways that you can live a sustainable life by moving to Spain.
Using the right material
Unfortunately, back in the 1970s, there was a lot of property built using very cheap materials. Even luxury homes were built with cement blocks and inefficient materials. Luckily, there are a lot of new materials on the market that are being used by construction companies in Spain and all over the Mediterranean that helps houses retain heat and cold depending on the season.
For instance, property developments in La Quinta are pioneering the use of sustainable certifications by using new and even old material that allows a house to be more passive in its energy use. Not only do these types of properties save money by using fewer resources, but they can also put less pressure on the environment by using fewer resources.
Positioning the house in a way that it can utilize the sunlight in the winter to heat the house and also to block the sun during the summer months to keep it cool is essential.
Use what’s available
Instead of looking to exploit natural resources that damage the environment, there are ways to harness what an area has to offer in a sustainable and gentle way. The Costa del Sol has a natural resource in abundance that should be used to live sustainably.
Namely, the sun. There is an average of 320 days of sunlight in Southern Spain so it should be used to power homes with plenty of electricity. It can also be harnessed to heat water and is perfectly renewable.
As was already mentioned, the position of the house can exploit the sunlight without the need for solar panels or batteries to heat the house. With plenty of windows facing South, you can heat the home passively just be the sun entering. And in the summer, you can make sure that eaves or even curtains block the sun and the materials used for the walls will keep the cool inside.
Situating the house to take advantage of the cool breezes from the sea and also from the mountains can help prevent the need for an air conditioner to run all summer long.
In Spain, many of the new developments are made in such a way that they fit into their environment perfectly without detracting from it.
