Encore Director David Davis with Encore cisterns that would save hotels so much water they would fill numerous Olympic swimming pools. Credit Adrian Sherratt Photography. (PRNewsfoto/Encore).
Will save UK hotels billions of litres of water every year.
LEEDS, ENGLAND – The world's first cistern to use condensate from air conditioning units to flush the toilet has been launched and would save 218m litres of water a year for the 114 UK hotels currently being built. Encore is the most environmentally friendly cistern as it uses a free, sustainable water supply that has previously been drained to waste.
It could save UK hotels billions of litres of water because the cisterns can be installed in new buildings and retrofitted.
Encore is also suitable for villas, apartments, offices and anywhere with toilets and air conditioning.
In another first for cisterns, Encore allows architects, consultants and specifiers to secure two extra BREEAM credits – the gauge of how sustainable a building is.
Encore Technical Director, David Davis, said: "Air conditioning units have a pipe that drains all the condensate away. "We've developed the only cistern that uses this free water to flush the toilet.
"When you consider how many buildings use air conditioning globally, billions of litres of condensate water is generated all of which has been wasted – until now.
"All buildings need toilets so why wouldn't you use a cistern that recycles a free, sustainable water source especially when there's a global water shortage crisis?"
Water savings
Data from hotel specialist STR shows 15,119 rooms in 114 hotels are currently being built in the UK. Compared to traditional cisterns, using Encore would save the average 132-bed UK hotel 1.92 million litres based on standard 80% occupancy levels. In total, Encore would save them 218 million litres of water a year, filling the equivalent of 87 Olympic swimming pools.
How it works
Encore holds 18-litres of water – three times more than a conventional cistern but its dual-chamber design means it fits like standard models. The bottom chamber holds 6-litres, which comes from the mains pipe. The upper 12-litre chamber is filled with air conditioning condensate. When the toilet is flushed, the lower chamber empties then refills with condensate from the upper chamber. If there are multiple flushes close together or the air conditioning is not in use, the cistern is filled by the mains fed pipe. If the toilet is not used for a period, surplus condensate is fed away.
Invention
Encore was invented by David Davis and Graham Kelly, directors of the UK-based G&H Group, a £25 million Building Services company.
"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," adds Mr Davis. "Responsible businesses striving to construct the greenest buildings know how hard to get BREEAM credits are. Gaining two for choosing an Encore cistern is simple and a great advantage."
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
