Deconstruction : Is it economically viable ?
It is a falsely-held notion that any environmentally sound proposition is bound to increase costs. On the other hand, deconstruction has enormous economic benefits. It provides a green solution to the demolition of buildings and dumping of existing materials in landfills, which increase the carbon footprint.
- Cost-effective – Deconstruction of a building can prove to be cheaper than just demolishing it along with all the valuable materials in it. Additionally, it also offers many valuable materials that can be reused by the builders for building the new projects.
- Training for laborers – A deconstruction site is the perfect ground for training labor on the best methods of dismantling of structures and also how to replace it again. In addition to this, they will also learn more about safety methods in building and proper handling of machinery and tools. Such a trained labor force can be infinitely useful in construction sites. With the increasing demand for such a workforce, there is no need to provide separate training, which might prove more costly.
- Reduced training costs – Training costs are usually funded and hence by such training mentioned above, the costs of training are reduced and employees become income generators while learning.
- Community Development projects – Most government projects that benefit the community can avail of deconstruction methods. This reduces waste generation and makes disposal of the waste material minimal. Environmental waste is reduced and by fulfilling certain environmental mandates, many companies are able to obtain contracts from governments for deconstruction, which might not have been available in the case of demolition.
- The burgeoning industry of deconstruction has the potential of creating thousands of jobs. The trainees are usually availed from the low-income groups, thus improving their standard of living. This is because most government housing and urban deconstruction programs take trainees from the lower levels of the community. They can thus earn a high wage and avail full-time jobs. With the experience gained in such deconstruction sites, they can progress to becoming supervisors at a later stage.
Additionally, producing new building materials from virgin materials consumes more energy, as compared to recycled and reused materials.
