Pharmaceutical Leader Goes Green, Saves Green
As part of the Irrigation Associations of America’s SMART Irrigation Month (July), SMART Watering Systems announced today, the preliminary results of their partnership with Boehringer-Ingelheim and Select Sprinklers to reduce outdoor water use at the Boehringer-Ingelheim, Burlington Ontario facility. At a recent facilities management presentation, SMART Watering Systems recognized Boehringer-Ingelheim for their conservation efforts that resulted in a reduction of water use by 4,800,000 litres. By paying attention to water use in their landscape, Boehringer-Ingelheim is helping to conserve drinking water while making their facility even greener.
In August of 2007, SMART Watering Systems and Select Sprinklers installed a RainBird ET Manager, SMART irrigation controller that uses real-time, local weather information to adjust the on-site landscape irrigation system as weather patterns change. Since moisture loss and weather change frequently, it is important that irrigation schedules also change to reflect the different water requirements of the landscape. The end result is a reduced environmental impact, water use reduction and a healthier greener landscape.
“Our landscape has never looked better” said Pierre Brisson, Manager of Building Services, and the results speak for themselves.
In the first four months of operation, the ET Manager - which uses real weather information to automatically adjust irrigation run times – reduced water consumption by an average 1.2 million liters per month. Over the irrigating season this reduction is the equivalent to 94 low-flush toilets flushing 30 times a day for an entire year.
The real significance to Boehringer-Ingelheim’s conservation efforts extends beyond the savings on their water bill. 1 million 60 thousand watt hours of power are expended and 644 kilograms of CO2 are emitted into the atmosphere with every million liters of water consumed. Boehringer-Ingelheim’s reduced water consumption equates to energy conservation of over 7 million watt hours and 4.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
“The business cost of mismanaging water is equally as significant as the savings” said Chris Le Conte, President of SMART Watering Systems. ”The runoff that is so harmful to our environment (lakes and rivers) is catastrophic to structures. Repairing property destruction caused by water runoff and managing the associated liabilities cost companies 5-to-10 times as much as their fast-rising water bills.”
About Boehringer-Ingelheim:
The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it operates globally with 135 affiliates in 47 countries and 39,800 employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing novel products of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine.
For more information please visit www.boehringer-ingelheim.com
About SMART Watering Systems:
SMART Watering Systems (SWS) is an Irrigation Technology company that specializes in water conservation strategies. SWS provides expertise in Irrigation Design/Inspection, SMART Controller installation/monitoring, Irrigation and water use audits, and Rain Water harvesting.
For more information please visit www.smartwateringsystems.ca