Page 8 - PDZA Sustainable Aquarium Brochure

67%

reduction of
potable water
use

ASSESSING LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS

As noted, the selection of the LSS for the capital and operations costs.
aquarium offered a big opportunity to capture
savings around energy efficiency, water use and Minimizing loss of system water is also a big
space. From the beginning, project architects, concern. The two major water demands for
engineers and others worked together to craft aquariums are filter backwashing and exchange
the best LSS solution by looking at the entire of exhibit water. Water required for filter
aquarium project on holistically. backwashing is the result of the LSS process
design, animal and food loadings, equipment
The prime areas for energy savings in a traditional selection and operating procedures. For typical
LSS include pump selections that result in high seawater aquariums, sand media filters have a
pumping efficiency, premium high efficient electric productivity of 300 to 600 gallons filtered for
motors, variable frequency drives for pump each gallon required for backwashing. Drum
motors, energy efficient pipe sizing, hydraulic screen filters are twice as productive—600 to
design and filters and other equipment with low 1200 gallons filtered for each backwash gallon.
delta water pressure requirements. However, to They also have a much lower pressure head
achieve a truly innovative LSS for this project, the requirement.
LSS requirements for sustainable design were
integrated into the building geometry and site/ The selection of filtration technology can also
facility layout from the beginning. To do that affect the long-term water quality and how
requires collaboration among all the engineers often water must be exchanged to manage the
and architects--even those not directly working on buildup of chemical compounds. The optimum
the LSS. The payoff is that bold innovations in life sustainable LSS design will minimize the loss of
support technology offer the chance for greater system water, where costs may include pumping
energy savings than can be achieved by making of natural seawater into the system, makeup of
improvements to more traditional systems. synthetic seawater, energy resources required for
Limitations of the building design, or alternative pretreatment of incoming water for removal of
configurations designed to accommodate the particulate, biological conditioning, disinfection
LSS process, can have a big impact on both LSS and tempering.

8 AQUARIUM OF THE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: PUBLIC FACILITIES DESIGNED TO EMBODY CONSERVATION