It’s Easier Being Green
‘Until quite recently,’ declared Brian Van Bower in opening his October 2009 Aqua Culture column, ‘it was difficult to find too many people in the watershaping industry who were willing to say much about “going green.”
‘For a while now, I’ve thought that was a mistake: It’s been manifestly clear for several years that practices and programs related to energy conservation, water conservation and an overall sense of environmental responsibility are here to stay, and I always think it’s better to be ahead of the curve when these movements arise than it is to try to react after the fact.’ He continued:
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‘[I]t’s time to acknowledge that times have changed and that we watershapers need to start thinking in creative ways about joining the Green Revolution, get ourselves out ahead of the curve and find an assortment of ways to make certain our clients and the public at large are satisfied with what we’re doing or attempting to do when it comes to being green.’
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‘I didn’t start out thinking [this] way: Part of the challenge I’ve always faced in accepting environmentalism is that the movement comes with plenty of baggage. . . . But what I’ve seen in recent times has opened my eyes, particularly as a watershaper who interacts with architects and landscape architects who spend so much of their working lives focusing on sustainability and LEED points.’
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‘My clients . . . have questions and seek my help in cutting through the hype to find the truth. They’re keenly interested, for example, in knowing whether or not their investments in environmentally beneficial products will be worthwhile, not just with respect to financial paybacks but also to helping the environment in real and tangible ways.’
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‘For me, it always starts with good hydraulic design. . . . In my projects, I exploit good design by setting flow rates at four feet per second or lower, even though the industry standard right now is at six feet per second or greater. At lower velocities, both system and energy efficiency increase dramatically – and there’s also the added safety benefit that the low flow rates can help reduce concerns about suction entrapment. The beautiful thing in all of this is that these designs don’t increase project costs significantly for my clients and also save them money down the line.’
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‘The bottom line is that there are people on both the professional and client side of the equation who are extremely interested in weighing options that point in a green direction. As an example, I’m currently working on a project on a small island that lacks basic infrastructure. The project includes multiple watershapes, landscape lighting and a spectacular array of refined outdoor spaces.’
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‘The clients could very easily afford to run the entire estate using fossil-fuel generators, but instead they’re insisting on our using solar heating for the watershapes and solar panels to generate electricity for a large percentage of their energy needs. So even though cheap, renewable energy isn’t a necessity, the clients are moving strongly in that direction just the same.’
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‘Again, our [broader] clientele isn’t interested in making sacrifices with respect to aesthetics or functionality, but these folks do want to know about technologies that will reduce the environmental footprints of their systems. From my perspective, it doesn’t matter if they’re motivated by environmental altruism or pocketbook issues: I need to be conversant in the language of the green movement and be ready to work with design criteria that implement green-oriented technologies and approaches whenever necessary.’
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‘[O]ne thing we should all know and accept is that, whatever the specific manifestation, general pressure to minimize the environmental impact of our watershapes will only grow for the foreseeable future. Those who deny this trend,’ Brian concluded, ‘will fall dangerously far behind the curve.’
Have the five years since Brian wrote this column seen you “go green” in game-changing ways, or is this still an evolving phenomenon that has you waiting and seeing how things will go? Please share your insights by commenting below!
Brian Van Bower runs Aquatic Consultants, a design firm based in Miami, Fla., and is a co-founder of the Genesis 3 Design Group; dedicated to top-of-the-line performance in aquatic design and construction, this organization conducts schools for like-minded pool designers and builders. He can be reached at [email protected].