In 1993, the American Institute of Architects, through the Green Building Council, standardized how buildings can be designed, built, and operated so the environment is not compromised. Today, many countries in the world have their own set of green building standards.
“You also have WELL certifications; you have a lot happening in the area of green buildings,” said LIXIL’s corporate responsibility lead Priyanka Tanwar.
“Climate change is not something that governments and leaders or individuals alone can handle, the private sector is a very big part of this picture, to actually drive the change that we want to see in the world today,” he explained.
WELL and LEED
Since 2014, the WELL building standards and certification have helped developers and designers create spaces that advance human health and well-being. WELL complements LEED in creating a framework for better-performing buildings. The first Philippine WELL building, Menarco Tower, was certified Gold in 2019. Currently, there at least thirty more in the pipeline.
“People often ask me what’s the difference between WELL and LEED or WELL and Green Star,” said Jack Noonan, vice president of the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) for the Asia Pacific. “I usually use water as an example. I’ll say: LEED or Green Star looks are water efficiency, how you can save water, while WELL looks at water quality—how you can use water safely and healthily.”
Noonan pointed out that both are important. “It’s just that we are looking at things from different angles. Focusing on health, wellbeing, and safety will lead to more efficient water use or water conservation,” he said.
Water quality from the tap
In the arena of water conservation, WELL puts forward an often-overlooked intervention: drink tap water; although, this comes with a caveat: drink from the tap when it is safe to do so. “We spend millions of dollars for water treatment and distribution only for water not to be used for drinking and not fit for human consumption, which renders the entire system unsustainable,” he said.
Maintaining water quality and actually drinking the water from the tap are crucial to water conservation because it makes everyone vigilant about the water flow system and reduces the need for plastic bottled water adds Noonan. The water used in producing a bottle may be more than the water it can contain. The emissions generated by its transport may be avoided altogether.
Doing their share
Consumers are becoming more cognizant of their impact on the environment by adjusting their lifestyles, and are selecting spaces and products that align with their values. Private companies are also doing their share.
“We are happy to share that GROHE a, which is one of our brands at LIXIL is now produced at plants, all of which across the world are carbon neutral,” said Tanwar. “Each of our fittings plants are completely carbon neutral in line with LIXIL’s environmental vision of 2020, which is focused on carbon neutrality and reducing the use of plastics.”
“We follow the United Nations Global Compact guidelines, right from procurement to the entire manufacturing process,” Tanwar added. “Not only do we have carbon neutrality at our plants. We use about 50% of renewable electricity. And wherever possible, we recycle resources like water. We are concerned about what kind of plastics or resources are used in packaging.”
Climate action via state-of-the-art faucets
GROHE has officially entered the circular economy by achieving cradle to cradle (C2C) gold certifications for four of their products—three faucets ( BauEdge S-Size, Eurosmart S-Size, Eurosmart Kitchen) and the Tempesta shower rail set.
In contrast to a linear model, C2C reduces the use of new resources through designing and manufacturing with the intent of using its components in its end-of-life phase for the creation of new products.