Water may seem like a renewable resource in places where there are no water restrictions, where people are able to use as much water as they want while not having to think about the implications.
Many Americans water their lawns needlessly, use inefficient appliances, and don’t even bat an eye at the fact that the average American uses about 100 gallons of water a day directly in and around the home, according to Greyter. This can break down into 65% in the bathroom, 35% for showering and bathing, and the last 30% for toilet flushing.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, however, in the next five years, 36 states are expected to experience some degree of water shortage. During that time, Metrostudy’s Chief Economist Mark Boud forecasts close to 1.3 million new-home starts each year, for a potential total of 6.5 million new homes in that five-year period.
The addition of that many homes could continue to put a massive strain on the resources available to Americans. It’s time to start thinking about how these homes will use water and how to improve the efficiencies around water use, which is exactly what Meritage Homes is doing with its reNEWable Living Home project.
This home, being designed by BSB Design as the BUILDER 2017 concept project, will be certified by the EPA’s WaterSense program. Although all of the homes that Meritage builds have the option to be certified by the WaterSense program, this home goes beyond the certification in a process that CR Herro, vice president of environmental affairs at Meritage, says is necessary to continue to innovate.
The reNEWable Living Home takes a new look at home design to be more efficient in every aspect of water usage, therefore saving up to 50% of water compared with a typical home. Improvements in landscape design, irrigation control systems, plumbing design, and better fixtures and appliances add up to these huge efficiencies.
Thinking Outside the Box
On average, water used on landscaping can be attributed to a whopping 50% of the demand of the home, Herro says. In many cases, with good landscape design and better water programming, this number could be reduced by half. For the reNEWable Living Home, Meritage is partnering with a landscaper and the EPA to choose drought-tolerant plants that are less dependent on irrigation water. Also, by following the best practices of the WaterSense program, the amount of turf will be limited and naturally local grown plants will be used.
EPA WaterSense
After the specific landscape is in place to lower the irrigation demand, Meritage Homes also will practice zoning, or the practice of irrigating landscaping with different root depths, to better control the use of water. The irrigation system also will have better emitters so less water will spill across sidewalks or be blown by the wind.
The home’s smart irrigation control system will be able to react to the weather. It will have the intelligence to reduce water demand as temperatures drop and also following precipitation. The smart system is designed with smart controls so that plants aren’t overwatered. Taking these steps in proper landscape control can reduce water demand by up to 50%. With a total of 9 billion gallons of water each day going to residential outdoor use in the U.S., cutting it in half will have a massive impact.
Going Indoors
With landscaping taking a disproportionate use of household water, where does the other half go? It’s divided into a number of categories that are influenced by the plumbing design. The plumbing design therefore needs to be regulated in three important ways.
First, leaks need to be controlled, so plumbing needs to be outfitted with a material that is durable over time and can deliver pressurized water throughout the home. In the reNEWable Living Home, the plumbing will use PEX, which is an improved alternative to metal piping that is less prone to splitting, is more durable to freeze/thaw, has fewer connection points, and isn’t prone to corrosion or scaling.
Next, the construction of the plumbing needs to be considered. In the past, the design really only considered how to get water from here to there regardless of the temperature. Now, trunk and branch layouts use resources more efficiently. The plumbing design in this home will run pipe branches to main areas and include dedicated hot water returns to reduce the amount of plumbing materials need.
The third plumbing consideration is how close the hot water heater is to the outputs where it will be used. The closer the heater can be installed to where hot water will be used, the more energy will be saved. The WaterSense code requires that no more than a half-gallon of water can come out of the fixture before the water is hot, which equates to roughly 50 feet in distance from the hot water heater. In the reNEWable Living Home, an on-demand hot water recirculation system was added so that there is less waste and more immediate availability.
Fixing the Flow
EPA WaterSense
In the U.S., we also have the luxury of showering and washing our hands multiple times per day using old fixtures and showerheads.
However, what’s the impact of our habits? The average faucet or showerhead wastes up to five times more than what is necessary to wash hands or to take a shower. This has been on the radar for years and companies initially designed fixtures that saved water but ultimately didn’t offer users the same experience.
Now, high-performance fixtures focus on pressure sensation to provide water savings and the right experience. The pressure comes from air that is injected into the columns of water and focused by nozzle cones to give the sensation of a high-pressure shower or faucet, while using up to five times less water per minute.
These new fixtures offer many benefits, starting with reduced costs on three levels. First, the homeowner uses less water. Second, there is less utility cost for using reduced hot water, which is important because more than 12% of the electric bill on average goes to the energy needed to heat the water, Herro says. Third, there are less sewer charges. On top of all that, the user no longer has to sacrifice a good experience from poor fixtures.
“The water-efficient fixtures we include with every home are engineered to provide equal or better performance than conventional fixtures, while also reducing water and heating costs by as much as 50%,” says Herro, who selected Moen to partner with on the reNEWable Living Home fixtures.
The Meritage team also selected Energy Star appliances from Whirlpool that use 30% less energy and consume 30% less water. “Through better design, clothes and dishes are cleaner even when we’re using less energy and up to half the water than a conventional appliance,” Herro explains. “So you get the same triple benefits—reduced water costs, energy costs, and sewer costs.”
Not only will the flow be reduced in the home, but it will be recycled. Meritage is working with Greyter, as a graywater system partner, to filter the water from the shower and laundry to use it to flush toilets or water the lawn. The water is filtered and polished by an advanced technology that meets the new California graywater reuse standards before it is repurposed.
Water usage is just one way that this project is leading the industry in high performance. Stay up to date on the progress by visiting www.builderonline.com/renewable.
