How Rain Water Harvesting Helps The Environment?

With the economic development, rainwater harvesting has become one of the popular ways of collecting natural resources with no cost at all. It is not only an incredibly rewarding way to use what naturally occurs, but also can save you money. The benefits of rainwater harvesting are great and it is so easy to start doing at the same time. Most of these benefits are quite obvious from the outset, for example, the economic factors.

Another benefit is that rainwater harvesting is great for city greening, which many people don't know now. On one hand, rain water harvesting system can reduce the amount of carbon emissions used, on the other hand, it have a positive impact on energy output in your local area. That's because any water treatment plant creates plenty of emissions, whilst pumping water through all the waterways and into our towns. By more of us harvesting the rainwater, treatment plants reduce their energy output, meaning less harmful emissions.

So, we've seen how rainwater harvesting can reduce the energy used by local water plants. Collecting rainwater can also help the environment too. This is because during storms huge amounts of runoff water can elevate the levels of sewage. This untreated excess can lead to environmental damage. We reduce the risk of this problem and keep the unhealthy water where it should be by collecting rainwater, especially during downpours and storms.

Using rainwater for your garden and plants can only be of a benefit to your soil. Being 100% natural, the rainwater is clearly better than waterway liquid that has been treated with chemicals etc. So, by watering your garden this way, you are doing your bit for the environment.

One of the great bonuses of rainwater harvesting is when it comes to droughts. By having a store of water collected already, you end up using this, instead of city water coming from reservoirs that are struggling to maintain the supply for everyone.

Setting up a rainwater harvesting system is very quick and easy to manage and uses up little to no energy at all. This makes it an environmentally friendly way to operate as a whole. For you and your energy bills, it reduces both the cost and the overall energy used, so it's a wise choice all round.

With so many benefits to collecting rainwater, it's no wonder that more and more people are starting to adopt their very own harvesting techniques. With more options available on the market all the time, there's a great opportunity to save money and the environment.

Leiyuan Industrial Company Limited is a professional manufacturer of best rainwater harvesting module for rainwater harvesting system, if you have any question, why not ask them for help?

Related Readings: Rainwater Harvesting, City Greening

Q&A: Structural Engineering of LOPO Ventilated Facade System

1. Whether terracotta ventilated facade system can adopt sealed system (namely use sealant for sealed treatment)?

In many of China’s Terracotta Panel curtain wall projects, in order to avoid misalignment of the curtain wall’s horizontal seams and vertical seams, many construction parties use sealant treatment. But looking from the terracotta panel’s hanging system, an open system is recommended, which can effectively take away the moisture from the curtain wall back, and prolong the life of the building structure itself;

The sealed system itself needs sealant joint treatment, and looking from the terracotta panel’s hanging structure, each piece of the terracotta panel curtain wall is a movable unit, and its mobility may easily cause cracking of the sealant joint, which cannot realize the sealing effect; and the material properties of the terracotta panel itself also determine that the sealant will cause pollution to the terracotta panel.

As for the open terracotta ventilated facade system, its vertical seams normally use elastic metal lines of rubber strips for waterproof sealing, which at the same time has the effect of preventing the terracotta panels from lateral sliding, that’s preventing collision between terracotta panels due to their lateral sliding.

2. Whether there is any limit of terracotta panel curtain wall division?

The division of terracotta panel curtain wall is always a great difficulty to the designers. Many designers like to pursue chunks of terracotta panels, especially due to the cost factor or personal preferences, many designers blindly pursue large-sized design, and even require the size to be consistent with the stone plate’s size.

However, considering the strength and the impact resistance of terracotta panel, the terracotta panel will have better safety performance and also better reflect the terracotta panel curtain wall’s advantages, if divided with the size specification controlled with 500*1200mm, and designed with panels in proportion close to 1:3.

3. Whether terracotta ventilated facade system is suitable for super high rising buildings?

At present in China there is no unified standard of construction methods of the terracotta ventilated facade system, and it cannot clearly define the usage of terracotta ventilated facade system; but from the test of the terracotta ventilated facade system’s resistance performance to wind pressure and deformation and its anti-seismic performance, as long as the standard dry hanging system of the terracotta ventilated facade system is used(continuous transverse keel hanging system), and under the condition that is can pass the structural calculation, there is no problem to apply terracotta panels in high-rise buildings.

4. Whether the terracotta panel curtain wall’s installation system can adopt discontinuous transverse beam hanging system, to save installation cost?

In China, for cost consideration, many enterprises develop discontinuous transverse beam hanging system, the so-called short cantilever hanging system or point hanging system. But in a high-rise building project, it is suggested, by adding transverse connection between the stand columns(adding transverse beam connection between the stand columns), to make the transverse keel only with linking function in the structural system, without bearing the main force, and to enable the curtain wall’s keel to form a complete structural system. This can avoid a single stand column to produce axial eccentric tension, and to change the direction of horizontal seismic force.

High Quality Terracotta Panels and Terracotta Louver from LOPO China

A panel in this relation is a building system for construction. Just like other panels, Terracotta panels are not naturally occurring substances. But they are processed and made into the final product in companies. Terracotta Panels are made from 100% eco-friendly natural clay. That's not all they can also be made in various shades. These panels are long lasting and effective if well taken care of.

Basically, Terracotta panels are made of terracotta materials. Some colors associated with the panels include: Dark Red, Natural Red, Coral Red, Light Red, Dark Grey, Orange, Medium Grey, and Bright Yellow, Soil Brown, Chocolate, Coffee, Charcoal Grey. A type of the panel known as terracotta façade panel is a blend of urban tradition and material with latest technology in facades.

Due to the use of pure natural clay without incorporation of other chemical and harmful ingredients that would have otherwise damaged the final product's structure, terracotta panels have got high water absorption ability. Since the production equipment used is hi-tech, terracotta facade panel also have great strength and hardness, therefore, they are highly effective. Due to the complex nature of the production process and the high costs involved, the terracotta panels from LOPO China are of high quality. The panels also give highly positive results due to their high performance. One major difficult part is that if poorly handled, they are brittle and may be damaged, but the problem is well taken care of by the structure of the panel if handled correctly.

Terracotta Louver

The terracotta louver, also called terracotta stick or terracotta baguette, is in a way similar to the terracotta panels from the production process, the use the same handling equipment, raw material which is natural clay and they both are clay in nature. The difference comes in their individual appearances and in some cases probably the equipment used in handling them, due to their shapes and sizes. However the terracotta panel is made into sticks therefore referred to as terracotta panel louvers.

In terms of physical structures, these particular products also have varieties in colors just like the terracotta panels. Some of the shapes include triangular prisms, cuboids, rectangular cuboids, cylinders, divided rectangular cuboids and semi cylindrical square cuboids. All of these different shaped structures serve different purposes in the same process.

The terracotta cladding panels are of high quality due to the complex nature of the production process and the high costs involved. The panels also give highly positive results due to their high performance. Due to the use of pure natural clay without incorporation of other chemical and harmful ingredients that would have otherwise damaged the final product's structure, terracotta louvers just like the terracotta panels have got high water absorption ability. They also have great strength and hardness since the production equipment used is hi-tech.

If you have any interests in terracotta panels and terracotta louver, please feel free to contact LOPO China for more details.