Western Real Estate Business magazine covers the multifamily, retail, office, healthcare, industrial and hospitality sectors in the Western United States.
Issue link: https://westernrealestatebusiness.epubxp.com/i/566807
46 • September 2015 • Western Real Estate Business www.REBusinessOnline.com I t's been a couple months since the California water ra- tioning laws went into efect, and thousands of buildings across the state have been expected to reduce their water consumption by 25 percent. Have you been successful in your water-saving eforts yet? To be honest, it almost feels like this law is setting everyone up for failure. How could we possibly reduce water consump- tion by that much? I bet your tenants haven't quite gotten on board with the idea of eating lunch of dirty dishes because they aren't allowed to use the dishwasher. I come bearing good news. I think we may have cracked the code. Buckle your seatbelt and hold on tight - I'm about to share the one simple trick that will help you actually cut your water consumption by 25 percent this summer. Ready? Let's go! Scheduling, Scheduling, Scheduling Yes, that's the answer. A water scheduling adjustment will not alter how much water your tenants are allowed to use, nor will it decrease tenant satisfaction or cost you a penny more to implement. Scheduling adjustments will, however, help you reach the water rationing goals set forth by the State of California. Here is an example of a building with a standard cooling tower. The cooling tower is set to consume water whenever the amount it has stored dips below a certain point. The blue sections are the building's normal operating hours, which are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. There are spikes dur- ing working hours, but water is consumed consistently throughout the week and the weekend. After seeing the real-time data for this cooling tower's consumption, the building's owners made a scheduling change using the Building Automation System software, which tells the cooling tower to only consume water during weekly operating hours. Now, the building is only consuming water when it is being used by tenants. Far less water is being wasted. This scheduling change saved 15 percent of the cooling tower's water con- sumption. That's more than half the battle toward a 25 percent reduction! Up to 29 percent of water consumption can occur during non-operating hours in some buildings. In the graph below, the blue sections are operating hours, while the pink sections are non-operating hours like nights and week- ends. Areas of unnecessary consumption are highlight in blue boxes during non-operating hours. With these visuals in mind, it seems California's goals may not be so unreal- istic after all. What Water Metering Means This information is from a small sample of properties, since so few buildings have real-time water metering with data that is accessible remotely at any time. We have also used water submetering to identify cooling towers that were consuming 60 percent to 65 percent of the building's water, when they should have only been consuming 25 percent to 30 percent. Once you identify prob- lems, the solutions are simple. Just as we have been metering electricity for several years, it is fnally becoming a standard to monitor water in the same manner, because as we have learned, we can only manage what we measure. What Now? There are two strategies you can now employ after reading the above-men- tioned examples: 1. Meet with your team to discuss your cooling tower's scheduling, and change it so water is only being taken in during operating hours. 2. Make the decision to invest in water sub-metering and real-time water data. Water sub-metering is the most practical solution to accurately and perma- nently reduce your water consumption. It is also a far better option than telling your tenants you're not turning on the building's air conditioning this summer because the HVAC uses too much water. Real-time monitoring allows you to keep your equipment running efciently and keep your tenants happy — while reaching the California water rationing goals faster than your neighbors! Logan Soya, CEO and Founder, Aquicore, a real-time energy system management software company REACHING CALIFORNIA'S WATER REDUCTION LEVEL ISN'T AS HARD AS IT SEEMS Gov. Brown's recent mandate that buildings must reduce their water consumption by 25 percent may seem daunting at frst, though it's entirely possible, upon second glance. By Logan Soya Soya 600 500 400 300 Gal 200 100 0 Wed Occupied Thu BEFORE Fri Sat Sun Time Mon Tue Wed AFTER 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 Gal 500 0 Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 Gal 500 0 Wed Occupied Thu Fri Sat Sun Time Mon Tue Wed JUN 10 2015 05:00PM – JUN 17 2015 05:00 PM Working Hours Non-Working Hours 40,670 Gal STATE WATER 12,160 Gal 29% of consumption is during non-working hours Eliminate weekend and off-hours consumption $10,915 Estimated Savings Trend Opportunity $