Two directors of a UK building services company have launched a cistern that uses condensate from air conditioning units to flush the toilet – claimed to be a world first.
Graham Kelly and David Davis of the G&H Group created Encore, which uses a free, sustainable water supply that until now has been drained to waste.
Using data from hotel benchmarking specialist STR, which shows 15,119 rooms in 114 hotels are currently being built in the UK, it is claimed that using Encore, compared to traditional cisterns, would save each hotel 1.92 million litres a year based on 80% occupancy levels. In total, Encore would save them 218 million litres of water, which for context would fill the equivalent of 87 Olympic swimming pools a year.
The water savings are even higher in hotter climates where more condensate is generated.
In the US, the 1477 hotels currently in construction would save 4.7 billion litres of water a year and 2.4 billion litres for the 302 hotels in the Middle East.
The Encore will also allow those specifying to secure two extra BREEAM credits and LEED points.
David Davis comments: “For decades we’ve designed and installed schemes and watched the stream of water produced by air conditioning units literally go down the drain, but not via the toilet.
“When you consider how many buildings use air conditioning across the world, billions of litres of condensate water is generated, all of which has been wasted – until now. Encore is a radical improvement on all conventional cisterns.
“Responsible businesses striving to construct the greenest buildings know BREEAM credits and LEED points are very hard to come by. Gaining two for choosing an Encore cistern is simple and a great advantage.”
