2011.10.17 Tempest Environmental presents at Saudi Green Building Forum

Tempest Environmental was one of several clean technology companies that participated in the Saudi Green
Building Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The forum brought together Saudi Arabia government representatives, developers, architects, planners and construction industry contractors. More than 300 people attended the event on Oct. 16 and Oct. 17 to learn about guidelines governing sustainability, building laws, rating systems and clean technology initiatives in Saudi Arabia.

Roddy Tempest, Tempest Environmental founder and chief executive, spoke about water conservation and reuse in evaporative cooling systems that air-condition office towers.

Air-conditioning consumes a lot of water and electricity in Saudi Arabia, an arid country where summer temperatures can exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit. About 70 percent of the energy consumed in Saudi Arabian buildings is used for air-conditioning and even in more temperate climates cooling towers tend to use more water than anything else in buildings.  As an example for innovative technologies that make for greener buildings, Tempest suggested the customized water conservation and reuse system he designed for the Duke Energy Center in Charlotte.

The Duke Energy Center system cut the building's municipal water use into half and helped the building earn the highest LEED rating. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is an internationally recognized green building certification system that supports practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.

The Saudi Green Building Forum was conceived as a showcase of global innovations in energy and water consumption and materials used in construction. The idea for the forum was rooted in traditional Saudi construction methods that follow green building principles, said Abdul Rahman Al-Damash of the Saudi Minister of Municipal Affairs office.  "It is the responsibility of such a forum of experts and researchers to remove the dust from those ancient traditions and align them with green and natural housing concepts," Al-Damash said.

Saudi Arabia, an oil-rich country whose population is rising quickly, is the largest construction market in the Middle East. An estimated $35 billion worth of infrastructure and public sector building programs, including homes, schools, hotels and hospitals, are under way or planned.

Founded in 1985 and headquartered in North Carolina's Research Triangle, Tempest Environmental is a global leader in water purification and conservation designs. The technology is also used on the International Space Station and the U.S. White House.

Most recently, Tempest Environmental has been helping large hospital and prison systems become less dependent on municipal water supplies, especially during emergencies such as natural disasters.  The projects, which focus on reuse, water security and treatment, usually pay for themselves within four years.