How Office Owners Can Leverage Amenities to Cut Utility Costs

Water features are rising in popularity at office properties. These features double as a decorative and functional amenity and can actually help employees to distress. However, at a time when owners are looking to scale back on costs, water features are also serving as a way to curb the utility bill.

“Water features can help lower a building’s energy consumption by reducing the relative humidity within the interior space, which in turn reduces HVAC load,” J. Wickham Zimmerman, CEO of OTL, tells GlobeSt.com. “We accomplish this by adding a chiller system to the fountain equipment, allowing moisture from the air to condense onto and into the chilled water within the fountain. This decreases humidity and cools the surrounding area. Another method for dehumidifying a space is the use of liquid desiccant in a water feature, which absorbs moisture from the air and requires little energy to run.”