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This article outlines 10 ways that engineers can save water across both mechanical and plumbing systems within commercial buildings.
Commercial buildings are made up of many systems that rely on water. With today's desire to design green systems, the engineer's goal has become not only to provide a functional design, but also to keep usage and energy savings in mind. With or without the need to achieve U.S. Green Building Council [http://www.usgbc.org/] LEED points, water conservation can be incorporated into a design, even if it is just at the fixture level. Providing a system that reduces water usage will not only lower energy costs, it will also ensure future availability of resources and convey a corporate message that the environment matters.
For the purposes of this article, we are categorizing commercial buildings as office buildings, hospitality, institutional, sports complexes, and retail. Some of the solutions presented also apply to single- and multi-family residential buildings, but they are not the focus of this article. Additionally, the article does not directly reference water usage costs because the costs vary significantly around the country.
One of the best ways to identify suitable water conservation measures is to establish a water savings plan to create a benchmark with which to rate and prioritize them. However, before we can determine and incorporate a water savings plan, we must first look at where water is used within a building. Water conservation will vary in a commercial setting depending on the building type. While hospitals and office buildings require a large water volume for mechanical systems, hotels and restaurants require high usage in laundry and food service applications, respectively. In sports complexes with large playing fields and stands, the usage is driven by large public toilets and the irrigation system. Determining the applications that have the greatest water consumption is critical to prioritize the overall goals and budget. Once the systems have been determined, a water savings plan can be developed.
Water savings opportunities
1. Low-flow plumbing fixtures
Many breakthroughs have been made in building water systems. These results have led to the replacement of large water-consuming fixtures with low-flow water fixtures (see Figure 1-3). Aerators for faucets, reduced-flow shower heads, and high-efficiency toilet and urinal flush valves are available with an...