Evaluation of alternative water sources for commercial buildings: A case study in Brisbane,Australia

Commercial buildings are central to cities and contribute significantly to the urban demand for natural resources, including freshwater. Green building benchmarking tools include more efficient water use as key indicator of sustainability. This paper explores options for substituting mains drinking water with an alternative, non-potable water source on a fit for purpose basis. The research findings are based on a monitoring study of a commercial building in Brisbane, Australia that is harvesting rainwater for meeting non-potable water demand. The results demonstrated that the system is only achieving moderate reliability in meeting demand due to operational problems. The case study analysis has highlighted the need to include validation and monitoring to ensure the system is operating as per design intent. The paper also investigates the potential of other local, non-potable water sources for high-rise commercial buildings, in particular air conditioning condensate and groundwater inflow to a basement wet well. The paper concludes by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of different local water sources which highlights the need to undertake a site specific investigation to identify a suitable alternative water source, which considers O&M complexity and the capacity of facilities management.     

Strategies and measures for implementing eco-labelling schemes in Singapore's construction industry

The issue of sustainability in the construction industry is very prominent, as the industry often causes adverse impacts on the environment through its use of large amounts of natural resources and by clearing large areas of their natural habitats. After the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro proposed the use of eco-labels to attain sustainable development, the growth and use of eco-labelling schemes have increased significantly. This study focuses on eco-labelling schemes, particularly the Singapore Green Labelling Scheme (SGLS) and the Singapore Green Building Product Certification Scheme (SGBPCS), and their contributions to the Singapore construction industry. The effectiveness of the schemes and of their drivers is determined through the analysis of survey results from two groups of samples (suppliers and architects) and interviews with some of the key stakeholders involved. It can be observed that the both the supplier and architect groups have some knowledge and awareness of eco-labelling schemes in the Singapore context. However, in terms of implementation, both schemes are only moderately effective in advocating the use and production of eco-labelled building products. It was also found that, out of several factors, “environmental rating” appears to be the only one that significantly influences the decision to use eco-labelled schemes. Furthermore, the results show that SGBPCS was not as heavily promoted in the architect group as in the supplier group. The architects perceived the SGBC advertisements to be less convincing than did the suppliers, and therefore they considered the SGBC's measures to promote the use of eco-labelled materials to be less effective. From the empirical results, strategies and measures are proposed for industry stakeholders to enhance the effectiveness of the eco-labelling schemes in the construction industry.     

rGO@nZVI-BC修饰的PRB增强糖皮质激素还原转化性能研究

为制备环境功能材料rGO@nZVI-BC,以此材料构建可渗透反应墙(PRB)实现对地下水中含氟糖皮质激素(FGCs)的有效阻控.结果表明,阻控过程可用改进Yoon-Nelson模型描述,在rGO@nZVI-BC和土壤系统中吸附速率和生物降解速率常数分别为0.485和0.035d^-1、0.233和0.029d^-1.提升阻控效能的主要机理是强化吸附和生物降解功能.其中运行初期以吸附作用占主导,贡献比为76.12%左右.生物强化机制主要为nZVI为GCs还原提供了电子供体,从而增强了还原脱氟功能,该部分贡献比约为87.06%,并伴随着脱羟基、氧化侧链降解和开环等降解.此外具有还原性脱卤属的功能性微生物(Xanthomonadaceae,Desulfuromonas和Sphingomonadaceae)物种丰度的增加进一步索证了功能材料rGO@nZVI-BC的效能.本研究为地下水中GCs的污染阻控提供了一种有效的方法.