The power of water in achieving green building ratings

Articles

By Rebecca Jinks, Director, ESG & Sustainability, and Dwayne Kaan, Program Manager, Taronga Ventures

With buildings responsible for the consumption of more than 15% of global fresh water every year, it is incumbent on the industry to ensure that water efficiency is a key feature of our assets. As such, most green building ratings systems and frameworks look to tackle water consumption, efficiency and innovation as a key performance metric.

Green building ratings are becoming increasingly important in signalling building credentials, linked to the realisation of the green premium, and in some cases even mandatory to regulations in specific jurisdictions. To protect against a brown discount or the risk of stranded assets, understanding how to tackle water efficiency and obtain additional green ratings points is a key consideration of the market.

As such, we have considered how thoughtful water management, consumption and control can contribute to improving many global green building ratings.

Rating Comparison

Each of the leading green building rating and assessment frameworks differs in their purpose and approach. Below is a high-level summary of these differences with a specific focus on the weighting of water performance and innovation across the schemes.

RatingMarketWater points# of indicators# of water
NABERS WaterAustralia, UK to comeYFull assessmentFull assessment
LEEDGlobalY556
BREEAMGlobalY525
GreenstarAustraliaY343
DGNBGermanyPartial1412
CASBEEJapan, ChinaY1017
GRESBGlobalY10012
MiljöbyggnadSwedenN
BCA Green MarkSingaporeY224
Green-SLSri LankaY10018
PEARLUnited Arab EmiratesY868

Opportunities to improve water efficiency

There are many opportunities within existing and new build designs to improve water efficiency and reduce consumption to improve the environmental footprint of the asset. Although not an exhaustive list, these may include:

  • Utilising intelligent technology to identify and intervene with leaks
  • Re-capturing and utilising grey water
  • Capturing and utilising rainwater
  • Implementing high-efficacy solutions, such as low flow tapware
  • Upgrading older water using appliances to more water efficient alternatives
  • Considering a cooling tower solution to reduce bleed requirements
  • Consider xeriscaping techniques

How technology can help unlock water efficiency outcomes and green building points

To unlock the opportunity for improving water efficiency ratings, customers and regulators can look to pilot and install smart and easily implementable technology solutions within their buildings. These technologies can help in multiple use cases, including the provision of evidence-based installation, performance reporting, and rating-compliant efficiencies.

An example of a solution is WINT Water Intelligence, which uses AI and data analytics to identify anomalies in water consumption patterns. Its intelligent, real-time monitoring capabilities identify sources of water waste including potential leaks, sending alerts when water waste is identified. WINT’s solution can automatically shut off the water supply to limit water loss when leaks are detected. The system’s real-time monitoring identifies the sources of leaks and water wastage, mitigating damage, reducing consumption and cutting the associated carbon emissions.

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CASE STUDY – WINT WATER INTELLIGENCE

The WINT product has been proven by clients and their consultants to achieve meaningful additional green rating points at the asset level. These examples include:

Microsoft – LEED: 1 credit

Installed WINT at their state-of-the-art, 45,000 square meter campus employing. Resulting in a 46% reduction in water consumption and saving over 8 million gallons of water, avoiding over 300 tons of carbon emissions annually

Meta – LEED O&M: 15 credits

Installed WINT in a 13 floors office space totaling approximately 32,000 square meters. Meta reduced water consumption by 31%, saving ~900,000 gallons of water, avoiding over 90 tons of carbon emissions.


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For organisations and asset managers looking to incrementally improve their green building ratings, considering water-focused technologies is a must. Overall, there are many opportunities to gain green building points through conscientious water utilisation. Emerging technology solutions are offering substantial new and smart means of doing this.

As our cities develop further, demand for water will increase, and an integrated approach to water conservation becomes important in managing any additional social and economic implications related to water supply, wastewater removal and flood damage. By implementing a combined suite of measures, not only does the likelihood of successful sustainable water management improve but the unit cost of water saved becomes cheaper and the options more attractive to investors.

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About Taronga Advisory

Innovation and technology play a crucial role in the way buildings are built, sourced, managed and occupied. With technology and ESG sentiment evolving at a rapid rate, it is important for organisations to stay at the forefront of innovation, technology and ESG, and drive transformation to achieve better outcomes for their communities and stakeholders.

Taronga Advisory’s services range from ESG and innovation strategy development through to research, technology and program implementation support and results monitoring. We support Real Asset corporates, tenants and service providers in driving better business practices and efficiency.

Led by experienced former top-tier management consultants and real estate experts, Taronga Advisory has deep relationships with the world’s largest developers, owners and operators for real estate infrastructure, market insights, and extensive experience across all sectors.

For more information, visit tarongagroup.com/advisory.

To contact us, please email [email protected].

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