Posted by William Vander Plaats on Thu, Dec 03, 2009 @ 01:42 PM
The seventh annual report on the Green Building movement was released in November by the publishers of Building Design+Construction magazine. Co-sponsors include the Department of Energy, the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), and the U.S. General Services Administration, among others. This time the focus is on water, and how its growing scarcity is creating special challenges for sustainable design and construction. The challenges are many.
Among the findings:
- Virtually every state and region in the USA will experience some degree of water shortage in the next 10 years
- Landscape irrigation and cooling towers use much more water than all the household plumbing fixtures like toilets and faucets combined
- Although there have been great efficiency improvements in plumbing products the past 20 years, older plumbing systems and waste caused by other components of water systems still lead to considerable waste
- The entire report can be downloaded here
Despite the length (48 pages) and the publisher's well written Action Plan list of 21 detailed recommendations for the building industry and government agencies, there appear to be several glaring shortcomings in the report:
- Neither California, New Mexico, or Michigan completed surveys that provided the data for the report.
- Several water usage benchmarks cited in the report might be questioned by industry professionals, including typical water consumption of cooling towers.
- One of the most effective methods to make water and the equipment used in "water handling processes" more efficient (eg HVAC, irrigation, residential water supplies, process cooling, etc) is effective FILTRATION. By keeping the water in "water systems" as free of troublesome solids as possible, the components can work at their highest efficiency. However, when dirt and silt and scale or other solids are in the system, nothing works as well as it should. Yet, the word "filter" was only used twice in the 48-page report, and that was not related to cooling towers or irrigation at all -- the two biggest uses of water.
Cooling Tower Filtration Omitted
Nothing was mentioned in the report how cooling tower filtration prevents the need to shut down the system for manual basin cleaning, or how blowdown is reduced as a result, or how proper filtration can reduce the spread of Legionnaire's Disease and other diseases. And filtration using centrifugal separators is even more effective, since it eliminates the need to replace cartridge and bag filters that absorb water and lead to water waste. Not to mention the waste of the bag/cartridge itself.
Want to see examples of how different filtration solutions can be applied to cooling towers?
Download our Cooling Tower Filtrations Brochure and see the many ways in which effective filtration can maximize the efficiency of cooling towers and other key components in an HVAC or process cooling system. And yield many other benefits as well.