7202 103 Lesson 3. Know working practices that can reduce waste

Level 1 Diploma in Plumbing Studies

© 2016 City and Guilds of London Institute. All rights reserved.

Learning Outcome 3:
Know working practices that can conserve energy
and reduce waste

Unit 103: Environmental and sustainability
measures in domestic dwellings

Level 1 Diploma in Plumbing Studies

© 2016 City and Guilds of London Institute. All rights reserved.

Conserve energy and reduce waste

As professional trades people, we have to play our part to conserve
energy and reduce wastage.

Many councils and companies are now trialing electric powered vans.
The vans are used as normal but do not have any carbon emissions.

Glasgow council trialed 10 all electric vans in their fleet. It was part of the
low carbon vehicle demonstrator initiative, a £25m project funded by
the UK Government’s Technology Strategy Board
and the Department for Transport to create test
beds around the UK for more than 340 low carbon
vehicles.

Level 1 Diploma in Plumbing Studies

© 2016 City and Guilds of London Institute. All rights reserved.

Conserve energy and reduce waste

We need to use good working practices every day. Simple things like
trying to source materials locally which will reduce transportation costs.

Make a comprehensive materials list before the job starts and purchase
the items in one go. This avoids additional travel and time going to and
from suppliers.

Where possible we should advise customers to install either grey water
recycling or rain water harvesting systems.

Once the system is installed, they allow the use or re-use of water at no
additional cost. This is instead of putting the demand for water on the
mains supply.

Level 1 Diploma in Plumbing Studies

© 2016 City and Guilds of London Institute. All rights reserved.

Conserve energy and reduce waste

Rain water harvesting

This can save a
householder large
volumes of mains water
and reduce the pressure
on this resource.

This storage cisterns are
installed below ground and
collect water from gullies.
Average size is 5000lts

Level 1 Diploma in Plumbing Studies

© 2016 City and Guilds of London Institute. All rights reserved.

Conserve energy and reduce waste

Rainwater harvesting takes advantage of all the rainwater that falls on
the roof line of a property. The water falls in to the gutter and in to the
downpipe, but instead of then entering the below ground drainage
system, the water is stored in an underground cistern.

It is filtered and then pumped back up to a cistern in the loft area from
which it feed the WC’s in the property saving up to 6lts of water each
flush.

Level 1 Diploma in Plumbing Studies

© 2016 City and Guilds of London Institute. All rights reserved.

Conserve energy and reduce waste

Grey water re-cycling

This system collects
waste water from baths,
showers and washing
machines. It is commonly
used to flush WC’s.

Level 1 Diploma in Plumbing Studies

© 2016 City and Guilds of London Institute. All rights reserved.

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Conserve energy and reduce waste

Grey water recycling collects the waste water from various appliances
like baths and showers. This water is not foul water, and so it is
collected in a large underground cistern.

It is filtered and then pumped back up to a cistern in the loft area from
which it feed the WC’s in the property saving up to 6lts of water each
flush.

Level 1 Diploma in Plumbing Studies

© 2016 City and Guilds of London Institute. All rights reserved.

8 of 12

Conserve energy and reduce waste

As energy prices rise and fossil fuel sources become more limited we
all have to look using renewable sources.

This is being reflected in new build house that are far more efficient,
have less heat loss and use renewable techologies.

Level 1 Diploma in Plumbing Studies

© 2016 City and Guilds of London Institute. All rights reserved.

9 of 12

Conserve energy and reduce waste

Many utility suppliers are now promoting ‘SMART’ metering, to help
customers identify the inefficient and efficient appliances within a
property.

On the next slide, open the web page to find out more about SMART meters and how they work.

Read it carefully, you will then be completing a quiz!

Level 1 Diploma in Plumbing Studies

© 2016 City and Guilds of London Institute. All rights reserved.

Conserve energy and reduce waste

On site it is important to follow good housekeeping methods to avoid
any unnecessary loss or wastage of material.

It is all too easy to loose a component and fitting in an untidy work
place. This leads to a waste of material, potential costs to purchase
replacements and additional transport/carbon costs.

Level 1 Diploma in Plumbing Studies

© 2016 City and Guilds of London Institute. All rights reserved.

Conserve energy and reduce waste

It is always an important rule of good working practice is to ‘measure
twice and cut once’. This will ensure less wastage and mistakes.

This is important when cutting and setting pipe and cable/trunking runs.

Any off cuts or ‘shorts’ of pipe and cable should be kept and reused
when possible.

Level 1 Diploma in Plumbing Studies

© 2016 City and Guilds of London Institute. All rights reserved.

Any questions?