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What About Water?

by Adam Neugebauer
July/August 2009
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Article Link: http://www.exchangepress.com/article/what-about-water/5018874/

“When talking about ‘efficiency,’ how important is water compared to gas and electricity?”

In my industry, when you talk about improving the efficiency of buildings, water only sometimes enters the picture. And when it does, it’s third on the list behind attention-hogs electricity and natural gas. Even when the discussion is about ‘green’ efforts, where water will assuredly come up, it still doesn’t receive the same consideration and respect as the aforementioned energy resources. And we’re in California! A state where water resources are so limited (especially with our current streak of yearly droughts) that we are largely supported by water from the Colorado River . . . which is promptly used to turn our deserts into gardens and golf courses.

California clearly needs to make water conservation a solid part of the day-to-day business (and the currently-voluntary California Green Building Standards Code is a step in that direction). But what about places with sufficient water resources? Do they need to worry that much about conservation? YES! Not only because ‘plentiful’ doesn’t mean ‘limitless,’ but also because water is in many ways another energy resource, just like gas and electricity. The reason for this is because so much energy goes into capturing, treating, ...

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