June 13, 2024

Uponor AquaPort™ Promotes Sustainable Design to Help Meet Net Zero Initiatives

by Alex Gross

According to GB&D magazine, “federal commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in 2030 and to reach net zero by 2050, have many industries carving new paths to sustainability. All eyes are largely on the architecture, engineering, and construction industries as buildings account for more than 40% of annual global CO2 emissions.” 

There is a lot of discussion around what “net zero” really means. “The Federal Government is working on a definition so the whole industry can get around it,” says Heidi Creighton, principal of Creighton sustainability advisors. “Because when somebody makes a claim like that, you really need to drill in and understand. Educating the market is hugely important and understanding what Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 are is also important.” 

Those three scopes are the levels the EPA uses to define emissions. Scope 1 emissions are direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that occur from sources controlled or owned by an organization (in other words, emissions associated with fuel combustion in boilers, furnaces, and vehicles). 

Scope 2 emissions are indirect GHG emissions associated with the purchase of electricity, steam, heat, or cooling. While Scope 2 emissions physically occur at the facility where they are generated, they are accounted for in an organization’s GHG inventory because they are a result of the organization’s energy use, the EPA says.  

Scope 3 emissions include all sources not within an organization’s Scope 1 and 2 boundaries. Net zero aims to eliminate all three scopes of emissions, emphasizing sustainability in all aspects of construction and building design.  

Long before net zero initiatives were established on a federal level, Uponor worked diligently to create products that contributed to a more sustainable future. Uponor leverages decades of experience designing sustainable products to advance sustainability initiatives and help customers reach their own sustainability goals. “Sustainability is a part of Uponor culture. It’s really been a part of what we do for a long time,” says Chrissie Walsh, sustainability manager at Uponor.  

The AquaPort™ is one example of how Uponor is making projects more sustainable, as it decentralizes domestic hot water in commercial multi-story applications. It is a new technology to North America focused on generating domestic hot water that is both more hygienic and delivered more efficiently. "It’s an ideal solution for owner-occupied spaces with high unit density," says Hailey Mick, business development manager for Engineering Services at Uponor. She points to patient towers in healthcare, student housing, higher education, and high-end hotel rooms as great use cases. 

“It’s a self-contained unit that uses the energy from a building’s hydronic HVAC heating system to create domestic water locally on demand in the unit,” Mick says. “By doing that, we’re eliminating the central domestic hot water system, which results in a 40% reduction in the piping in the building. So, every pipe is basically a heat exchanger.” That also means a 50% reduction in the volume of domestic hot water in the building. 

Installing AquaPorts gives design teams more usable space than alternative solutions, delivers hot water faster, and requires fewer chemicals. “We can lower the amount of water in the plant, and we can lower the energy it takes to deliver hot water to the faucet,” Mick says. “It’s a huge savings for both energy and water, and then look at the elimination of all the additional piping you would need.” 

She says it’s sometimes difficult for owners to choose high-efficiency solutions if the payback is 10 years or more, but the AquaPort aims to address domestic hot water issues without driving up the initial cost for the building owner. 

AquaPort serves as a catalyst for a sustainably designed structure that performs as efficiently as possible throughout its lifecycle. “We may not be a huge part of the volume of your total build, but we can have a substantial impact on how you’re going to approach building better and how you’re going to start the conversation around decarbonization,” Walsh says.  

The product’s design encourages the conversation around sustainability in the building design, leading to structures that help achieve net zero initiatives because of thoroughly crafted, efficient, and sustainable designs.   

Read the full article from GB&D here.