Path to green buildings (Part 1)

“Green building”, “Sustainable development” are common phrases which we are so familiar that we even don’t feel strange to hear. It seems to be a far-fetched theory with some sparking spots in our country (with the emergence of some green buildings), just like the stars which are the essence of the sky that we cannot easily touch. Strikingly, one different point that can be seen is that stars are out of reach but many physical things existing around us such as our house, our office can be touched and fixed. So why you don’t try to grab them and transform these “impossible” concepts into the direction you aim to.

You might wonder why we have to be “green” when thousands and thousands of people talk about it. Actually human beings tend to wish for the best thing to happen. That’s why basically we all want to but whether we can do it or not is another issue. Below are some suggestions to be applicable to turn your “green” ideas into reality, just by changing your thoughts and actions

The first and simple step is to try greening your house and office. Planting trees not only helps improve the indoor air quality but are also beneficial for occupant’s health and psychology. The current demand of green landscape witnesses a dramatic increase, followed by the appearance of vertical garden, various kinds of trees, fruit trees and vegetables, etc. especially in the temporary context of air pollution and food safety. This natural remedy can aid in alleviate the “stress” load and bring more added profits.

Selection of trees in the garden or outside will be a bit easier. You can choose a diversity of trees and vegetables provided that its quantity and types of tree are suitable to the pedology and can meet the occupant’s demand in order to maximize the positive effect on their health and emotion. During the adoption process, please avoid to have trees withered or adhered to dust because it will then become a perfect settlement for insects, resulting in some types of allergy diseases. Therefore, to protect our family please keep your plants clean-lembed without any pests.

In case you want to have a tree planted inside your house or office, you must be more cautious about a few types of trees. Normally, you need to investigate elaborately their functions beforehand because trees have both inherently good features and considerably bad impact on us in several habitats. Especially if you want to adopt a flowering plant indoor, please choose any trees with less or no pollen to prevent from dust and allergy.

Here are 10 trees recommended to clean the indoor air in the condition of insufficient lighting and air circulation.

	Chlorophytum comosum This type of tree absorbing carbonic and hazardous gases at night without lighting is suitable to put in the bedroom for cleaning 85% of formaldehyde within 24 hours.			Areca catechu This tree is most favoured for growing indoors to filter hazardous substances because it is easily harmonized with indoor environment and able to absorb all toxic chemicals, especially xylene.
	Dracaena fragrans Dracaena fragrans in white or purple brown flowers with scent can absorb formaldehyde.			Nephrolepis Exaltata Suitable to indoor spy baskets this tree is regarded as one of the most effective air filers but requires relatively high humidity. It functions well as formaldehyde removal. Researches have proven that it can remove toxic chemicals such as mercury and arsenic.
	Snake Plant or Sansevieria Trifasciata This plant grows well in the condition of low light. At night, it absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) and emits oxygen. You should situate 2 pots of tree in the living room or in rooms with many printers and computers. Besides the advantage of reduction in carbon dioxide, this plant can deduce formaldehyde and benzene in the air.			Rhapis excelsa Rhapis excelsa is the one with a function of air quality enhancement at the best, filtering ammoniac – the main component in cleanser, textile and dye. Moreover, it is very easy to plant and adopt.
	Phoenix dactylifera Phoenix dactylifera can tolerate low light but need a wider space, getting rid of nearly all of pollutants.			Bamboo Bamboo can remove benzene, trichloroethylene, formaldehyde, creating a peaceful and warm feeling at any environment with resilence to the attack of insect.
	Hedera helix Hedera helix is listed as the best air filter by NASA scientists. It can absorb hazardous gases effectively and be easily adopted, requiring not much time for caring. With its soft and slender shape, it can be used for decoration.			Aloe Vera It is known as a remedy for beauty and some diseases. Furthermore it has another unknown features of purifying the polluted air and identifying the air pollution level. In particular, when brown spots appear on the leaves, it warns that the toxic level in the air exceed the permitable limit.

Beside these types of tree, there are some other trees of the same functions such as Pandanus amaryllifolius, Rhapis excels, peace lily, anthurium andraeanum, phaleanopsis, crassulaceae, wax begonia, red-edged dracaena.

Moving to the next step is to replace existing equipments with energy-efficient fixtures or green-label products. In the upcoming part, the focus theme is to introduce green products certified in the market that you can trust in.