Water Wizardry: Real and Immediate Solutions to California's Drought
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Transcript of Water Wizardry: Real and Immediate Solutions to California's Drought
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Water Wizardry:Real & Immediate SolutionsTo California’s Drought
JERRY YUDELSON • APRIL 2015
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Key Take-Aways
Water concerns are now the next big (green) thing
International experience and technology can be adapted for U.S. use
Major opportunities & challenges: building owners, tech innovators, businesses, contractors, project designers, etc.
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Why Water Concerns?
Water: 21st Century oil
Freshwater supply limited
Population/urban growth: large water footprint
Climate change & water
Major droughts more frequent
Water conservation & reuse are vital
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Water Is the Oil of the 21st Century
Resource conflicts will intensify
Existing water sources fully allocated
Next urban/rural battleground
Water scarcities in the US increase
Businesses may wind up “high and dry”
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Water is the Oil of the 21st Century
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Freshwater is inherently limited
No more water since Adam & Eve
Usable freshwater a tiny fraction
Much is too polluted to drink
Aquifer depletion for water supply widespread
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Cool Water:Blue Is The New Green
JERRY YUDELSON • YUDELSON ASSOCIATES • TUCSON, ARIZONA
Our Watery Planet
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Freshwater is Really Limited
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Water Footprint of “Stuff”- “Virtual Water”
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Impacts of Climate Change
Much of world supplied in summer with snowmelt
Changes in climate = smaller snowpack, larger spring runoff, greater flooding, reduced summer stream flows, higher evapotranspiration, reduced agricultural productivity, more droughts, etc.
Water pricing to get conservation will be huge issue
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Water/Energy Nexus
Hydropower still important
Water supply energy use
Energy supply water use
By mid-2020’s: Not enough water for energy, or enough energy for water!
Lake Lanier, Atlanta, GA, 2007
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Major Droughts Since 2006
In the U.S.
Atlanta
South Texas (Austin/San Antonio)
California
Murray-Darling, Australia’s Largest River
In Australia
Every major city
Murray-Darling basin
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Water Conservation vs. Water Efficiency
Conservation means less total use
Efficiency does not guarantee conservation
Behavior modification equally important
Some water conservation: unintended consequences
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Water Conservation vs. Water Efficiency
A better idea
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Water Conservation Requires Good Pricing
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Australia
20 million people
Most live near the coasts
Except for tropics in the north, Oz is quite dry
Biggest drought in 117-year recorded history 2005-2009
o Global warming moved storm tracks south to Antarctica
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Australia
Coordinated response by national/state governments
$13 billion plan ($600 per person)
CA needs $24 billion, not $1 billion!
Water restrictions: all urban areas
Product innovations
WELS product ratings mandatory
Product innovations from labeling
Rainforest in Tasmania, Australia
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Australia
Plumbing industry front and center
Large water utilities begin to recycle water
Public is cooperative
Desalination seen as viable option & acted on
Water-free urinals
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Australia: Extreme Examples
“Sewer mining”
One Bligh Street in Sydney – 30 Story LEED Platinum
Makeup water for cooling towers/toilet flushing
Take water from city sewer, treat on site, reuse, return
Onsite blackwater treatment gaining adherents
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Australia: Lessons Learned
In a crisis, everything’s on the table
Easier to do big things politically
System favors (big) long-term solutions
Don’t neglect public participation
New technology can be mandated in crisis
Exotic solutions can be tried and evaluated
Murray-Darling — Australia’s Largest River
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Blue/Green Issues
Water shortages/droughts will re-occur forever
Financial incentive programs work, but slowly
Green certification programs promote water conservation, but not fast enough
Rising costs for water supply & sewage treatment will induce conservation over time
Stakeholder concerns; political/regulatory changes
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Inhibiting Forces
Water is still cheap
High-water-use lifestyles preferred
Unintended consequences to reduced water use (drain lines & public health)
Codes – need to change for water reuse
Develop “whole systems thinking”
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What Should the Public Sector Do?
Promote conservation
Price for reduced use
Incentivize retrofits
Regulate new buildings
Educate the public
Provide technical help
Develop new supplieso Water reuse
o Desalination
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Business Risk: Water Use vs. Climate Change
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Near-Term Business Opportunities
Building-level retrofits
Need financing at times
Building systems
Rainwater harvesting
Graywater reuse
Building applications
Cooling towers
Dual plumbing systems
Integrated systems
Match quality to end- use requirements
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Longer-term Possibilities
“Low-water system design” & water auditsHousehold fixture retrofits – massive scaleNEWater reuse/direct recycling systems (Singapore)New sub-specialties:o Fully integrating The Cloud:
daily water use, irrigation & immediate leak detection
o Monitoring, sub-metering & reporting via SaaS platforms
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Where Does This Leave Investors?A very dynamic (and profitable) future
Water shortages now, growing and permanent
New laws/regulations
Increasing block rate structures raise prices, reduce use
Mandates/restrictions coming
Favor distributed design/build/operate systemsLarger questions:
Should we abandon centralized model?
Should we still flush toilets with potable water?
Do we need testing and certification for new tech?
Can we take advantage of the current crisis to change?
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Where Does This Leave Business?
A very dynamic future: opportunities/challenges
Learn new technologies, systems, approaches
Develop new products
Address consumer concerns about water use
Address larger questions of supply security/cost
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What Can Leading Businesses Do?
Supply chain vetting for water-sustainable raw materials (cotton)
Supply-chain vetting for reduced water use in production of goods
Reduce water use in operations
Help consumers conserve water via education
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Tips for Business
Facility remote audits
Benchmark & learn from peers
Reduce, reuse, recycle
Adopt Cloud technology for monitoring water use
Educate associates
Cut landscape water use
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The Future is Green (and Blue), But…
If you want to score, run to where the ball is headed, not where it is now.
Water woes – permanent!
Ask yourself: how green (and blue) will the built environment be in 2020? 2025?
Will you pay penalties for lack of attention to water?
Germany Wins FIFA World Cup 2014
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Water: Dry Run
Urban water crises can be prevented, through concerted actions; in this book, we show you what to do, how to do it, wherever you are.
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THANK YOU!
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VIDEO
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