Journal
RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING
Volume 146, Issue -, Pages 536-548Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.01.043
Keywords
Air-conditioning condensate water; Life cycle assessment; Rainwater harvesting; Water reuse
Categories
Funding
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development [EP-17-W-000114]
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This study presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a rainwater harvesting (RWH) system and an air-conditioning condensate harvesting (ACH) system for non-potable water reuse. U.S. commercial buildings were reviewed to design rooftop RWH and ACH systems for one- to multi-story buildings' non-potable water demand. A life cycle inventory was compiled from the U.S. EPA's database. Nine scenarios were analyzed, including baseline RWH system, ACH system, and combinations of the two systems adapted to 4-story and 19-story commercial buildings in San Francisco and a 4-story building in Washington, DC. Normalization of 11 life cycle, impact assessment categories showed that RWH systems in 4-story buildings at both locations outperformed ACH systems (45-80% of ACH impacts) except equivalent in Evaporative Water Consumption. However, San Francisco's ACH system in 19-story building outperformed the RWH system (51-83% of RWH impacts) due to the larger volume of ACH collection, except equivalent in Evaporative Water Consumption. For all three buildings, the combined system preformed equivalently to the better-performing option (<= 4-8% impact difference compared to the maximum system). Sensitivity analysis of the volume of water supply and building occupancy showed impact-specific results. Local climatic conditions, rainfall, humidity, water collections and demands are important when designing building-scale RWH and ACH systems. LCA models are transferrable to other locations with variable climatic conditions for decision-making when developing and implementing on-site non-potable water systems.
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