Badger Lab Project

The University of Adelaide saves 3.2ML of water a year!

The Office of Sustainability, School of Chemistry and Physics and Campus Services recently collaborated to replace a piece of equipment in the Badger building that was conservatively estimated to be using 3.2 mega litres of mains water annually.

That’s enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool (and more)!

Water was used in the piece of equipment to create a vacuum, which was then used in laboratories for teaching and research. Once the water was utilised, it flowed into a drain and off site. In late 2010, around the same time some students were undertaking an internship with the Office on water efficiency auditing, the issue of water use from the piece of equipment was again highlighted. In conjunction with Chemistry and Physics, the Office of Sustainability conducted a site visit to view the piece of equipment and understand more about opportunities to improve its efficiency. “We tossed around a number of solutions including collecting and reusing the water and replacing the centralised vacuum with portable units”. It was decided that it was better to replace the centralised system with a mechanical version that doesn’t use water”. This has a number of benefits, including:

• Eliminating the use of water, therefore saving over 3.2 megalitres a year
• Standardising vacuum pump systems across all campuses
• Eliminating the risk to an adjacent reverse osmosis unit that was connected to the water vacuum pump and negatively influenced by its operation.

As part of the business case that was prepared, it was identified that the new unit would use approximately the same amount of electricity as the old one, and may cost marginally more to maintain. However, regardless of this, the payback for this replacement was around 5 years. And with water prices rising each year, the payback time is certain to decrease.

Although it was important to undertake a business case analysis prior to the replacement, not everything can be quantified, in regards to being a more environmental sustainable business.

The single use and disposal of high quality, potable water is an indulgence of yesteryear. Today’s sustainable organisations find ways to use fit for purpose water to support the required function. The replacement of a wasteful piece of equipment in the School of Chemistry and Physics, saving around 3% of the North Terrace campus water consumption, along with the other examples mentioned, are practical demonstrations of how the University is investing in water efficiency and reduction.

Like to know more about this project? Contact Mathew Jeffrey.