Is An Asphalt A Sustainable Option For A Parking Lot?
Parking lots are something that is often unavoidable. You need a place for your customers and employees to park their cars. However, when constructing a parking lot, you'll also want to make sure that your new construction is as sustainable as possible. Fortunately, asphalt is a highly sustainable material.
Why Sustainability?
A parking lot that is sustainable will serve its purpose while having the smallest impact possible on the environment. In other words, your parking lot will not hurt the local wildlife, will not release an excessive number of pollutants, and will be as green as possible. Being more sustainable is often more cost-effective, can improve the image of your business, and is the right thing to do.
Asphalt Uses Less Energy
Asphalt is a common material used in the construction of parking lots and is an alternative to other materials, such as concrete. Asphalt requires less energy when being created compared with other types of parking lot construction materials.
Asphalt Is Recyclable
Asphalt is also reusable and is recycled at a much higher rate than many other materials. Asphalt can be recycled and used to create more asphalt parking lots; the recycled material performs better than freshly made asphalt.
Save Money On Maintenance
Your asphalt parking lot will be faster to construct than other types of parking lots and is also less expensive to maintain. This will make it easier to keep your parking lot in good condition and customers won't have to drive to look for a different place to park.
Asphalt doesn't have to be replaced completely because you can remove the top layer and replace it while leaving the bottom layer behind. Other materials require more energy to fully replace a worn-out surface.
Highly Porous Asphalt Is Superior
There are several ways to make asphalt parking lots even more sustainable. For example, the parking lot can be designed to be highly porous. Water plays an important role in washing away pollutants. Porous asphalt allows for the water to pass through and carry pollutants away.
Warm-Mix Asphalt Is Energy-Efficient
Another way to make your asphalt parking lot more sustainable is to use warm-mix asphalt during the initial construction. Creating asphalt at a much lower temperature reduces the energy used to create the material. This reduces the number of greenhouse emissions released through the process of creating the asphalt parking lot.
Contact a local construction service to learn more about asphalt construction.