GreenBuild Blog
Water Efficiency
Subjects dealing with water conservation, water efficiency, water reuse
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Blue is the New Green
Read Jerry’s interview in Skanska’s Green Urban Development Report No. 3, November 2011, an entire issue devoted to Water Sustainability. Jerry makes the point that water efficiency will be the next big issue for sustainability, as water is not a free resource anywhere on the planet.
Download the Skanska interview with Jerry Yudelson
Download the complete issue (4.4MB)
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Saturday, March 19, 2011
Pyramid of New Water Sources
A conceptual breakthrough for thinking about how to meet our future water needs. Check out the Pyramid of New Water Sources, Jerry Yudelson’s new tool to show future water supply sources, a pyramid with ten steps of increasing cost and complexity.
Download the Pyramid of New Water Sources
(PDF 175KB)
The Pyramid of New Water Sources ranks the following measures:
- Changing behavior, with better information and codes
- Low-cost/no-cost measures, such as fixing leaks and lower water-using fixtures
- Irrigation measures, including native plantings and drip irrigation
- Hygiene, such as water-free urinals and low-flush toilets
- Appliances, such as water-conserving dishwashers and clothes washers
- “Extreme Makeovers” that include composting (no water) toilets, hardscape landscaping and onsite blackwater treatment and reuse.
- Water heating, one of the biggest energy users in the water cycle, including hot water recirculation loops and solar water heaters
- Onsite reuse, including rainwater collection and graywater for irrigation
- Offsite reuse, using reclaimed water from “purple pipe” systems and even “sewer mining”
- Desalination and new water sources, such as creating potable water with reverse osmosis treatment of reclaimed sewage
I think this is a great new conceptual tool. I’d like your thoughts.
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Saturday, August 21, 2010
Ten Steps to Prevent the Next Urban Water Crisis - Part 2
Originally constructed in 1979 and renovated in 2000, the 18-story Park Tower office building at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA, remodeled its restrooms over several years and installed efficient flush fixtures to replace all the original toilets. Along with other measures, indoor water use was reduced 31 percent from the LEED-EBOM baseline levels.
Courtesy of The Offices of South Coast Plaza.
6. Water agencies should focus on conservation measures first; these usually reduce water use by 15 percent or more and are far more cost-effective and immediate than developing new sources of supply. Water agencies should provide cash rebates for efficient technologies and continuing public education to shift behavior.
7. To accommodate new water technologies, building codes need to be changed, without losing their essential focus on protecting public health and safety. Adopting the new IAPMO Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code Supplement (2010) provides an easy way to do this.
8. The entire plumbing industry, more than 40,000 plumbers in the US, needs to be trained in green plumbing practices. By working with water agencies and community colleges, many new jobs can be created by introducing new efficiency technologies.
9. Rapid adoption of new WaterSense(R) home labels and other green building labels such as LEED(R) and ENERGY STAR(R) will directly and indirectly reduce water use. This means every new home and building should secure a rating from a nationally accepted third-party certification program.
10. Meter and measure every aspect of water use. “What gets measured, gets managed.” As technology becomes available, plan to use the Internet to get real-time data about your water use at home, work and school. Knowing your daily, even hourly water use, in a simple readable format, can affect behavior, so that you can water use practices quickly without waiting for monthly (or in some cases, even quarterly) water bills to provide the data.
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Thursday, August 19, 2010
Ten Steps to Prevent the Next Urban Water Crisis - Part 1
Some of these five actions are immediately possible; others are long-term fixes that will depend on the water issues in a specific region, as well as local political and economic factors.
1. Design, construct and operate non-residential buildings to reduce water use, including reducing energy use (in large buildings, this also reduces water use in cooling towers).
2. Reduce household water use, starting with water audits, installing efficient technologies and changing behavior. Do the easy stuff first: shower heads, faucets and toilets. Then look at dishwashers and laundry water use. Finally, look at reusing graywater and rainwater for irrigation. Home water audits include an analysis of personal behavior as well as the efficiency of fixtures and appliances in the home.
3. Recycle, capture and reuse water more than once; this is the basic principle behind graywater, rainwater and blackwater recycling technology and practice. The key is to match water quality from the supply with required water quality at the point of demand.
4. Reduce water use in landscaping both homes and buildings, with effective irrigation technology and revised plant choices, emphasizing native and adapted vegetation. For more information on home landscaping water conservation, contact any local Extension Service, typically associated in each state with a land-grant (public) university.
5. Water pricing should be structured so that rates rise steeply with use, resulting in significant economic penalties for water waste and excessive water use. Bringing the marketplace into the picture and avoids having to institute severe restrictions on individual choice and employ “water cops” during drought emergencies.
Systematically applied these five steps begin to move us away from the cliff of future water shortages. Next post, I’ll add the final five steps.
At the €2 million DEUS 21 research project in Knittlingen near Pforzheim, Germany, the Water House not only cleans rainwater and recycles wastewater from the connected households, but it also produces biogas and electrical power. Courtesy of Klaus König.
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