How to Curb Your Water Use

LOS ANGELES—Commercial and industrial buildings are among the biggest users of water. Nationally, they use an estimated 20% of the US public water supply, which is about 80 billion of gallons of water per day. There are water-saving solutions and renovations that can reduce water consumption, but the initial cost can be a challenge for property owners. To find out more about the types of renovations landlords should consider and how they can alleviate the initial costs, we sat down with Scott Harmon, the CEO of Noesis, a lending marketplace for energy efficient building upgrades, for an exclusive interview. Here, he talks about the renovations that save water and how a platform like Noesis could be a solution.

GlobeSt.com: What is the cost associated with installing upgrades to reduce water consumption, and what types of upgrades should property owners consider?

Scott Harmon: Property owners and managers should explore low-flow water fixtures, such as sink faucets and toilets, as a responsible way to address their water-profile. Low-flow fixtures use less water per minute than outdated or traditional models. These implement high-pressure techniques to produce strong water flow, but use less water. The cost associated varies and is depends on a number of factors including the system's infrastructure complexity, hardware, project management time and installation. Incentives and credit products help to lower the investment cost.

GlobeSt.com: Tell me about your tech-enabled platform, and how it helps to curb these costs?

Harmon: Noesis is committed to meeting the needs of the owners of the 5-7 million non-residential buildings in the US through in-house project financing expertise, proprietary project valuation technology and a range of innovative financing vehicles. One of our programs is financing water efficiency tools. Through this financing program, our technology will help create an average savings of 20% with an 18 month ROI.

GlobeSt.com: What is the benefit of going to a lender, like you, to finance these upgrades, rather than a bank lender?

Harmon: Unlike traditional banks and asset-backed equipment finance lenders which focus on the credit score of a business or the value of an asset, the Noesis platform combines business credit history with business financials, building value and energy savings into a single, combined lending score. The Noesis Project Score unlocks access to capital at more attractive rates and terms for building owners, and provides lower risks and higher returns for financial institutions. We are able to provide financing quicker and to more customers.