Tarrant Regional Water District

Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) was the last tour for our class. In 2009, this non-profit built a LEED Gold building to house its operations.  This building is a prime example of sustainable efforts.

The first piece of technology you notice is the stained concrete. According to our tour guide, it is sealed with beeswax. This type of flooring is durable and environmentally friendly. Another type of flooring the TRWD used was made of recycled soda bottles. It is cut into tiles.  By using tiles of material for the floor, the TRWD only has to replace a tile if it is damaged instead of a the whole floor. Pictures of both types of flooring are below.

Stained Concrete Floor

Carpet made from plastic soda bottles

Since I work for Coca-Cola, I love hearing about recycling products like PET bottles. I wanted to find out more information on this type of carpeting.  Mohawk, a well-known flooring manufacturer has several types of carpeting made from recycled soda bottles. According to its web site, this carpet is durable, stain resistant and of course friendly to the environment. Mohawk, even has a YouTube video showing the process of turning the plastic bottles into carpet. You can see the video below.

When my husband and I design our dream house, I hope to be able to incorporate stained concrete as well as this type of carpet made from recycled plastic bottles. Another technology you hear about in regards to sustainability is rain barrels. TRWD has 3 rain barrels that collect all the run-off from its roof. The water collected is used to water its landscape. The landscape used is local and can survive with little water and lots of heat. Below are pictures of the rain barrels and landscaping.

Laura, our tour guide, said it only takes one inch of rain to fill the rain barrels. This is a simple technology anyone can do. The water saved can be used to water plants and yards. This in turn saves on the treated water we use which helps the environment and community we live in. The TRWD understands the importance of sustainability. This is prevalent in the building they built and the technologies they use.

REFERENCES

http://www.trwd.com/

http://www.mohawkflooring.com/flooring-products/carpet/everstrand.aspx