It is not common for us to consider turning a parking lot into a sustainable space. After all, all we need is a space where we can park our car.
But what if there is a way to extend sustainability in parking lots?
Are you curious how you can have an eco-friendly parking space? Keep on reading.
Use Pervious Concrete
A great way to make a sustainable parking lot is by looking at the materials you use to make the parking lot.
One of the best materials to create an eco-friendly parking lot would be passable or permeable concrete. Pervious pavers made from asphalt or concrete are better alternatives than an impervious surface.
What’s excellent about pervious concrete is that it will improve the drainage of your parking lot. Nonetheless, you need to know its disadvantages compared to other greener options.
Permeable concrete is more expensive to maintain. Aside from that, it’s not as durable or strong as other options as well. Although it has these disadvantages, it’s still better than not having a green parking lot.
It can filter rainwater and reduce runoff filled with pollutants.
Use Eco-friendly Paint
One of the reasons you should paint your parking lot is to make it visible, even at night. The painted marks around your parking lot will ensure that your parking lot has a sense of order.
With that said, that means that you’re going to need durable paint that will be able to withstand the constant friction from the car tires. Aside from that, you want to make sure that it’s eco-friendly since you’re going to be using it a lot throughout the parking lot. If you want to avoid paint that releases air pollutants, use those that don’t have VOCs.
Volatile organic compounds or VOCs are toxic chemicals found on paints. If you’re looking for an earth-friendly alternative, you can opt for biodegradable paint made from natural materials. That way, you’re not harming the environment if the paint is washed away.
Minimize the Dimensions
Let’s face it: Parking lots are not the most eco-friendly structure there is out there, even with eco-friendly materials. That’s because you need to use quite a bit of paved land to make room for the vehicles.
If you want to be more eco-friendly with your parking lot, you should try and minimize the dimensions of the individual parking slots.
Minimizing the dimensions of each parking slot will help reduce the paved land that your parking lot needs. Aside from that, you can get more vehicles in your parking lot.
You can use the local parking codes to dictate the minimum dimensions that your parking slot should have. These are more than helpful in ensuring that you can accommodate even the bulkiest of vehicles like SUVs.
Share the Parking Space
Another way you can make the parking lot more eco-friendly is by being more efficient with parking space usage.
Consider sharing it with other residents or those who are working in nearby commercial areas. Sharing the parking space allows you to make use of the lot instead of letting it empty.
What you can do is make arrangements wherein one car owner can park during the day and another one at night. And then you can ask them for a nominal parking fee.
Switch to Alternative Pavers
You can use alternative materials to make up your parking lot that are not asphalt or concrete. For example, you can use gravel, wood mulch, natural stone, and many more instead, which are all more eco-friendly materials.
Concrete is impervious to stormwater, which means there is no chance for stormwater to get absorbed in any way. Instead, it just runs off. However, use alternative paver materials. They can help reinforce a normal ecological life cycle by absorbing the water rather than letting it flow off and other pollutants.
Use Direct Rainwater Runoff
Have a plan on what you want to do with the rainwater. For example, you should install direct drainage channels around your parking lot. That way, you don’t create pools of water all over the parking lot as rainwater goes wherever it wants.
Planning will help you find a way to deal with rainwater in a better way than letting it sit in your parking lot.
Consider Pedestrian Safety
The world is very car-centric, and if there’s any structure that’s very focused on cars, it would be parking lots. So if you want to make your parking lot sustainable, make sure you have sidewalks to keep pedestrians safe.
You want to make sure that pedestrians can quickly move to and from the establishments even when they walk through the parking lot.
The sustainability tips listed above should help you have a safe and eco-friendly parking space. That way, you can have a place to park your car safely without adding damage to the environment.
