Green Options » water efficiency

Water Heaters Get Energy Star Status and Reduce Bills, Emissions

Michelle Bennett — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:42:21 +0000

They’re not sexy, and the Department of Energy estimates 13% of your home energy consumption goes into a big tank of hot water. I’ve seen other estimates that go higher, and a larger or older tank will burn more energy. So your water heater may be one of the more boring appliances in your home, but it’s a leading load on your energy bill. Fortunately, there are easy ways to fix that.

First let’s talk about how to improve a water heater that you already have. For less than $20, you can hit your local DIY hub/ home improvement store and buy a water heater blanket with quick and easy assembly instructions. If Internet testimonials are true, it will probably take more time to drive to the store and buy one, than it will to install it. If your water heater already has a blanket, bravo! Just keep in mind that the big sticker on the front of your water heater has some important information. You might want to tape it to the blanket for easy reference. While you’re at it, you could also consider insulating some of your pipes or ducts (see first link in this paragraph) for even more savings.

As for the yawn-factor on water heater tanks, check out my favorite Myth Busters episode from the Discovery Channel. (Please don’t try at home, duh)

Make your Water more Efficient: Faucet Aerators!

Michelle Bennett — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 19:27:15 +0000

This story contains additional media. Click here to view the media.

Reducing the amount of water you use is good for the environment, and good for your wallet. Better yet, you don’t have to sacrifice water pressure to do it. Check out the best water faucet aerators of 2008.

Source: MetaEfficient.com

Video Courtesy of Google Videos

Water Crisis: Clean Tech to the Rescue?

Sarah Lozanova — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:27:11 +0000

Water shortages are on the rise, from Mexico to the Andes, northern China to southern India, and Spain to Pakistan. Drought, soaring populations and population densities, changing diets, and increasing living standards are all factors. Is this an issue that technology can fix?

Judging by investors’ responses, the answer seems to be yes. FourWinds will invest up to $4.7 billion in water treatment and desalinization and companies that make meters, pumps, and pipes.

BlueWater Bio is a player in the wastewater and sludge treatment arena. Their claim to fame is a treatment technology called Hybrid Bacillus Activated Sludge (HYBACS). It uses proprietary bacteria that eats waste, saving on chemicals. The high quality treatment effluent has reuse potential for commercial or industrial applications, but I wouldn’t recommend drinking it.

Monsanto’s top 20 experts have been examining how climate science will affect the company, with drought being the leading problem to solve. New drought-resistant crops are being created.

“The most advanced of these is now a drought-tolerant corn product … commercializable within several years,” said Monsanto’s head of technology strategy and development David Fischhoff . “We expect this to be the first generation of an ongoing stream.”

4 Things to Consider Before Going Solar

Sarah Lozanova — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:57:49 +0000

Solar thermal technology provides space heating and hot water and is a frequently forgotten member of the solar family. These highly effective systems are popular in many parts of the globe, from China to Greece to Zimbabwe. They displace the use of the existing hot water heater and heating equipment, typically saving either natural gas or electricity.Solar thermal is a more mature technology than solar photovoltaic systems that produce electricity. It has been used for centuries for water heating. In fact, even Leonardo Da Vinci owned one.

When considering the installation of such a system, it is important to consider the following items.

LEED Gold Costs an Extra… Nothing

Philip Proefrock — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:34:24 +0000

Advocates of green building, and specifically of the US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED program, have maintained that green building does not have to mean extra cost. An exceptional case for this argument is found in a recently completed multi-purpose university building. The less-than-poetically named Education Building III (SG III) at the University of Maryland’s Shady Grove campus was built with the intent of attaining LEED Silver certification and ended up being certified as LEED Gold, but without an increase in the budget.

The Universities at Shady Grove (USG) is a collaborative effort by eight institutions in the University System of Maryland, begun in 2000. Due to its popularity and convenience, the demand for classes and services at the Shady Grove location grew quickly and necessitated the construction of a new, multi-purpose building with classrooms and services.

The SG III building is a 5 story multi-purpose educational building. It incorporates 41 classrooms (including 10 computer classrooms and 2 distance ed classrooms), 81 faculty offices, a 20,000 sq. ft. library and media center, student lounges, 2 open computer labs, a bookstore, administrative offices, and a recreation center/gym.

The building incorporates a green roof and native plantings to help control site runoff. Water conservation was a key concern for the SGIII building, and the building even earned a credit in the LEED rating system for innovation for achieving savings 44% below LEED baseline models for potable water use.

Energy conservation measures for connectivity included providing bike racks, designated car pool parking spaces, electric vehicle refueling locations, online carpool coordination, and easy access to bus and metro systems. And the building utilized high-efficiency HVAC systems and demand ventilation control so that mechanical systems only provide conditioned air where it is needed. Natural daylighting is also incorporated into the building. These measures enable the building to offer energy savings of more than 25% below the LEED baseline.

The building also makes extensive use of recycled materials, including insulation, recycled glass in the atrium, and the exterior blue panels. Other sustainable materials used in the building include wheat board and cork wall coverings, bamboo and linoleum floors, and tables made from banana fiber.

The building was able to be built in this way without incurring any additional cost by incorporating planning for green features at the outset of the project. Energy modeling, to calculate how the building would perform, and cost modeling, to predict the construction costs for different options, were both used to develop the building and evaluate the design for the most efficient and cost-effective solutions. More than 90 percent of the energy saving options proposed by the design team were able to be carried out with no cost increase to the building. "Through the use of sunscreens, improved glass, improved wall U value, improved roof U value, reduced lighting (watts per square foot) level, added daylight control in classrooms, VFD in chillers, and CO2 sensors, the design/engineering team projects a total net-energy cost savings of 29 percent."

Even though its name isn’t much, with the wide array of green features it posesses, and the manner in which it achieved these goals without any added cost, the building is going to make a name for itself.

Building Information:
Size: 192,000 sq. ft.
Location: Rockville, Maryland
Architect: Cannon Design

via: Environmental Design + Construction Magazine