Ultimately, good business comes down to simple benefits and costs—how much is earned or how much is saved. “Sustainability” can be overused to mean anything from helping a neighbor to building energy-efficient facilities to simply recycling. What we, at Balfour Beatty Communities (BBC), think it means is making smart decisions about today to make sure the company thrives in the future. As natural resources, such as water, become scarce, they create larger economic risks for property owners and managers.
Bringing nearly 30 years of experience in the building industry, BBC has collaborated on several special projects, such as the smart-tech “Living Buildings” program demonstrated at the White House last year. This article will outline several principles of water savings that BBC has used to consistently manage risks within its multi-family housing communities portfolio. In his time as a project director for 3,368 single- and multi-family dwellings near Denver, Colorado, Bob Mooney, LEED ID&C, PMP, constantly received environmental and budgetary pressures to conserve water. Faced with regional droughts and skyrocketing water costs in Colorado, project management felt compelled to explore water-saving initiatives.
Over time and through many trials and lessons learned, the team determined the three key steps to reducing water consumption and reducing expenses. They are as follows:
1. Consider xeriscaping: Whether you are creating a new landscape or refreshing an existing one, opt for native species of plants, which require 30 to 50 percent less irrigation than standard landscaping. Plants are typically chosen based on widespread popularity, but they should be selected for hardiness, durability, and natural adaptability to climate variations.
Here are a few quick tips to follow:
• Trees and shrubs often are selected for their size, shape, and popularity rather than natural water and heat requirements; therefore, they end up requiring high maintenance or, worse, dying. In the Nashville area, for example, white pine trees were used to line roadways leading to the international airport; however, nearly all have perished within a period of less than a decade because of warming climates for extended seasons in the area.
• Varieties of grass will make a significant financial difference. By changing sod specifications for new housing areas at Balfour Beatty’s Colorado-based multi-family site, overall water demand was reduced by 64 percent, resulting in a reduction of 946,555 gallons of water per month—equivalent to the average household daily use of 3,640 households.
• In extreme climates, such as desert areas, using low water-tolerant plants is critical. As an alternative, replacing plant life with natural stones in creative ways is becoming widely acceptable in these areas and beyond.
2. Say “yes” to conservation: Behavioral change is critical to reducing water usage. Up to 10 percent of water consumption for landlords is reliant on resident habits. Balfour Beatty Communities has an on-going LifeWorks program that brings together residents for activities centered on energy and water conservation. Tabitha Crawford has worked with more than a dozen multi-family communities to conduct resident behavior change conservation programs, yielding results of 15 percent for energy savings (without retrofits). Education truly is the first step in changing habits in the home, and each decision residents make to conserve adds up. For example, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, simply turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth can save up to 2,400 gallons each year.
3. Waste zero water: By deploying smart water irrigation systems, property owners and managers can eliminate the redundancy of timers and maximize savings. When one of Mooney’s managed communities installed smart technology to reduce water consumption, the benefits were quickly realized. With the push of a few buttons, the property management team could shut down the system during heavy rains and save thousands of gallons of water in the process—as opposed to having to drive around the property and manually turn off and on more than 100 timers to accomplish the same task. This initiative both saved manpower and reduced wasteful watering during significant weather events. Within one watering season, the system paid for itself, and it continues to deliver savings today.
Local rebates also contributed to the quick return on investment. When choosing a system, one should investigate all potential local and federal rebates to reduce the cost of the investment. “Our company leverages innovation to reduce the consumption of waste, water, and energy within all of its military housing privatized communities,” said Chris Williams, president of Balfour Beatty Communities. “It’s the right thing to do for both the preservation of resources and to run our business wisely.” Since these “XYZs of Water Savings” were implemented at Fort Carson Family Housing in Colorado, Mooney has moved on to lead the Fort Bliss Family Housing in Texas.
Forts Carson and Bliss are considered the Army’s only two net-zero installations, meaning that by 2020 they aim to produce as much energy as they consume and reduce waste and water use while recycling as much as possible.
Article by: Tabitha Crawford, CEM, CDSM, and Bob Mooney, LEED ID&C, PMP, employees of Balfour Beatty Communities, LLC. Article published in Defense Communities July-August 2015 Green Issue.
(Downloaded file: Defense Communities 2015.JulAug.DC)