Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Winter 2009 - (Page 27) FIGURE SIX DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF THE LIVING OASIS CONCEPT Natural Energies Advanced Technology Laboratory received leed®-nc Gold certification due to the many innovative systems included in the project. In terms of water management, the building features a GE membrane bioreactor process to treat, store and reuse wastewater for toilet flushing, irrigation (the building also features a pesticidefree green roof) and cooling tower makeup. As a result, the Solaire reduced its potable water requirements over 75 percent while also decreasing the energy required by nyc to not only treat the building’s wastewater, but to also pump potable water back to the building. DESIGNING A LIVING OASIS The Living Oasis concept provides a concise integrated building water-management vision to help building planners, designers and developers conserve and reuse our precious water resources. While the economics of the Living Oasis approach are best suited for large buildings or campuses, it can be modified to address the needs of small commercial buildings and even single residences. This approach also secures the necessary water to sustain green roof/wall infrastructure. Six design principles (illustrated in Fig. 2) are used to guide the development of the Living Oasis concept as follows: HARVEST ALL ECONOMICALLY AVAILABLE SOURCES OF ONSITE WATER SUPPLY The geographical location of a project and the size and type of building determine the kinds of opportunities available for economically feasible onsite water harvesting. The most obvious sources of onsite water harvesting may be the collection of graywater and rainwater. However, there are other equally valuable and economically feasible alternatives for onsite water harvesting, such as the collection of air-conditioning condensate (particularly in hot-humid climates), coolingtower blowdown (i.e. water intentionally drained off to prevent high concentrations of minerals and other contaminants in the water used for cooling), washer-extractors (i.e. large commercial laundry systems which are often equipped with the option of recovering and reusing onsite water), and the extraction of water from organic waste (this innovative system also resolves one of the greatest pollution problems of the world, as it diverts organic waste from going to landfills by converting it into a high-value organic fertilizer through the use of vermicasting). INTEGRATE FILTER AND TREAT THE HARVESTED WATER Maintaining high-quality harvested water once the various onsite sources listed above are integrated is an important challenge that must be properly understood for the Living Oasis concept to be a success. Air-conditioner condensate (which is essentially distilled water) and rainwater are both inherently pure and may be reused without the need of extensive treatment. On the other hand, greywater, which may contain organic matter (such as hair, textile fibers, etc.) and/or highly diluted chemicals (present in cleaning products) should be filtered and used quickly before water decomposition switches from an aerobic to an anaerobic process. Cooling-tower blowdown presents an additional challenge as it contains high concentrations of minerals and LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR WINTER 27
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