The next version of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED rating system, LEED v4, will expand water-savings targets to appliances, cooling towers, commercial kitchen equipment, and other areas that consume a huge proportion of water in many buildings.
Reducing water lost through blowdown, when water is drained from cooling towers to reduce mineral and sediment accumulation, is the focus of LEED v4’s cooling tower credit. Projects pursuing the credit increase the number of cycles through which water can be re-circulated before it is removed by blowdown.
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