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Why Your Shower Feels Wimpy (And What You Can Do About It!)

Innovative Approaches
Breakout 3: 2–3 p.m.

In this session we will follow the water from where it enters a building through to a typical shower on the second floor. Along the way, we will discover the pressure losses, some avoidable, others not, that the water encounters. We will look at measured data from almost 70 combinations of pipe and fittings and from several tub/shower valves and examine how pressure compensating aerators and flow regulators improve system performance and customer satisfaction. Then we will show how using the IAPMO Water Demand Calculator (WDC) can be used to right-size pipes based on modern flow rates and plumbing materials. We will demonstrate that implementing these strategies can reduce the cost of complying with the 2021 WSEC-C for multifamily buildings by sharing the first cost and operational benefits of utilizing the WDC in apartment buildings that were built in 2020.

Featured
Gary Klein, Gary Klein & Associates Inc.
Gary Klein, Gary Klein & Associates Inc.

Gary Klein, President of Gary Klein & Associates, Inc. has been intimately involved in energy efficiency and renewable energy since 1974. One sixth of his career was spent in the Kingdom of Lesotho, the rest in the United States. Since the early 1990s he has led the effort to incorporate “hot water as a system” into the core principles of building science. After serving 19 years with the California Energy Commission, he has provided consulting on sustainability since 2008, with an emphasis on the water-energy-carbon-health connection. The benefits of right-sizing premise plumbing and water heating systems are currently at the top of his list. Klein received a BA from Cornell University in 1975 with an Independent Major in Technology and Society with an emphasis on energy conservation and renewable energy.

The International Association of Plumber and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) recognized his efforts in 2014 presenting him their Green Professional of the Year award. In 2015 the Department of Energy awarded him the Jeffrey A. Johnson Award for Excellence in in the Advancement of Building Energy Codes.

Earlier Event: September 14
Built Green Project Basics, Part 2
Later Event: September 14
Built Green Project Basics, Part 3