by Brianna Crandall — September 29, 2014—A research paper focused on reducing water consumption in office buildings has just been released by BRE (Building Research Establishment) Trust, a U.K. charity dedicated to research and education in the built environment. Water Efficiency in a Non-Domestic Building: Technical Versus Behavioural Change summarizes the findings of a BRE research project that investigated water consumption in a non-domestic building.
The aim of the project was to gain an increased understanding of water use within a typical office environment and assess the effectiveness and impact of flow regulator valves on water consumption. The BRE project team won the prize for Best Industrial Paper earlier in September at the 2014 Water Efficiency Conference.
A behavioral change campaign was also carried out at the same time, and it was found that this had a greater impact on reducing water use than the installation of flow regulator valves, particularly when building occupants were empowered by a group challenge to reduce consumption.
The paper concludes that water efficiency interventions, whether they be technical or behavioral, should be more carefully monitored before claiming buildings are water efficient. This is especially important in retrofitting situations, such as for this research, where a low-cost and easy-to-install approach is taken to increase the efficient use of water.
The Water Efficiency Conference is run by the Water Efficiency Network, funded by the U.K. Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The 2014 Water Efficiency Conference Proceedings, which include the BRE research paper, are available to download from the conference Web site.
