Page 7 - Green Builder April 2017 Issue

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Green Building NEWS

The latest on sustainability and renewable energy World’s Untreated
Meritage Homes Wastewater Problem

Named Energy Star Becoming

Partner of Year ‘Unthinkable’

Arizona sustainable home builder UNESCO’s study says industries are

makes it five wins in a row. missing out on education and

technological opportunities.

IGHTY PERCENT OF WASTEWATER worldwide goes into the
environment untreated, a health situation that is “nothing less
than unthinkable,” according to
a report by UNESCO and United
GARRETH WILCOCK/FLICKR coordinator UN-Water. It also represents
E Nations freshwater resource

a major missed business opportunity for
numerous industries, UNESCO Director-

Sustained success. For a fifth time, Meritage Homes has been General Irina Bokova says.
“Wastewater: The Untapped Resource”
named as a U.S. EPA Energy Star Partner of the Year for its cites worsening water pollution in
energy-efficient homebuilding efforts.
in most rivers across Africa, Asia and KATE BOICOURT/FLICKR
REEN HOME BUILDER Meritage Homes has Latin America, while desalinated dead
received the U.S. Environmental Protection zones are growing in the world’s oceans
Agency’s Energy Star Partner of the Year— and seas due to untreated wastewater A major waste. Untreated
wastewater is
Sustained Excellence Award for a fifth discharge. The result was more than threatening the world’s
Gconsecutive year. 800,000 deaths and destruction of rivers and oceans at an
According to a release from the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company, 245,000 square kilometers of marine alarming rate, according
the award honors organizations that “have made outstanding ecosystems in 2012, a problem that has to a UNESCO study.
contributions to protecting the environment through energy definitely not improved since then, Bokova notes.
efficiency.” Meritage Homes built 7,138 Energy Star-certified Addressing the matter requires a combination of public education
homes in 2016, which are expected to save more than 61 million and improved efforts to reduce pollution at the source, according to
kWh of electricity, eliminate more than 93 million pounds of Bokova. According to the report, a mere 55 out of 181 countries had
CO2, and reduce homeowner utility bills by an estimated $7.3 information on the generation, treatment and use of wastewater, and
million annually. It also achieved an average Home Energy Rating the remaining ones had no or only partial data. In most countries
System (HERS) Index Score of 58 for all homes rated in 2016, where data were available, it was outdated.
built cost-effective Zero Energy homes at a community scale, “When not ignored, used water has long been seen as simply a
and implemented several energy efficiency-based strategies and burden for disposal,” Bokova says. “Raising social acceptance of the
programs with private and governmental groups. use of wastewater is essential to moving forward.”
Other award winners included KB Home, Whirlpool Corp., It’s also good business sense, the UNESCO director adds. As an
Camba Housing Ventures Inc., GE Lighting, AZ Energy essential component of a circular economy, wastewater use and by-
Efficient Home, GreenSavers, HP Inc. and the City of Seattle. product recovery can generate new business opportunities, from
Overall, there were 152 companies, businesses and public development of new, innovative or modified treatment methods,
agencies recognized. to improved efforts to reuse energy, nutrients, metals and other by-
products, the report notes.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Partner of
the Year 2017 award winners, http://bit.ly/2nxw6YH “Wastewater: The Untapped Resource,” http://bit.ly/2nAZEDM

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