BIDWEB - Decision Support Tool for Sustainable Water and Energy Management
The choice for the optimal system for sustainable water management in a construction project is not always obvious. A good balance need to be found between the maximum use of rainwater, infiltration for replenishment of the groundwater table, retention and buffering of water (e.g. by means of green roofs) and discharge of stormwater. Also for the discharge or possibly treatment and reuse of wastewater a well-balanced choice needs to be taken. Although there are already many existing guidelines and tools, often remains a need for a proper evaluation and (financial) optimization of the optimal scenario for the concrete vision on the entire water system. Additionally, the water system of a building or a site can contribute to different aspects in terms of renewable energy and thermal management. For example the thermal benefits of green roofs and the potential to recover heat from wastewater or even rainwater.
In the BIDWEB project an innovative decision support evaluation system will be developed and tested in the form of a software tool. In the development of the tool, already existing tools and instruments for certain subcomponents will be taken into account. The strength of the proposed instrument consists of a more careful consideration regarding the decision on certain investments in construction projects (e. g. a substantiated cost-benefit analysis), minimizing the number of erroneous decisions. By means of the tool, the cost of sustainable technology will be better estimated which will presumably encourage the use of sustainable technologies. The tool is innovative as compared to existing tools because both water and energy are taken into account. The tool will be applied to a number of specific pilot projects in which the project partners were or are involved.
Project partners:
• HydroScan
• Ingenium
• Re-Vive
• City of Ghent
Knowledge Partner: VITO
Disseminatiefiche projectresultaten
Published articles:
Bidweb clustert kennis voor een duurzaam water- en energiebeheer, Bouwkroniek, januari 2014
Innovatieve tool ondersteunt duurzaam waterbeheer, Aquarama, jan-feb-maa 2014
More information: Veerle Depuydt