Here's the contrarian question - Do they really benefit the environment? What may not be included in the analysis is the environmental cost to install them in the first place. Somewhere ore and recycles need to be turned into products, then we need to design buildings and water supplies to support them. This has a cost.
Then the goal of fire suppression needs to be considered. In many places it doesn't take much water to keep the neighbors building from catching on fire. That infrastructure doesn't cost much vs. stopping a fire in the room or object of origin. What are the desired outcomes (with respect to environment)? >From the FM report it looks like they only considered what the differences >were after the fire start not what it also takes to have sprinklers in the >first place. With falling fire rates to start with there is a point sprinklers are more costly to the environment to install everywhere. In the extreme, if there is never a fire, sprinkler systems are incredibly environmentally expensive. In the other extreme all buildings burning frequently there is no question sprinkler are environmentally valuable. The issues is we are closer to no fires than a whole lot of fires. Just a point to consider as I see more and more swaying from life and property being the value of sprinklers only to adding in this environmental aspect. Chris Cahill, PE* Associate Fire Protection Engineer Burns & McDonnell Phone: 952.656.3652 Fax: 952.229.2923 [email protected] www.burnsmcd.com *Registered in: MN Proud to be #14 on FORTUNE's 2014 List of 100 Best Companies to Work For -----Original Message----- From: Sprinklerforum [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Daniel Wilder Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2014 3:01 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Hide Those Sprinklers http://www.iccsafe.org/gr/Documents/AdoptionToolkit/FM-Global-EnvironmenmtalImpactAutomaticFireSprinklers.pdf Page 5 - Water and Pollution Data 97.8% less pollution As high as 91% less water in a fully sprinklered home http://www.fmglobal.com/page.aspx?id=04010300# Here as well if you are registered. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtBafQdE9AM Dan -----Original Message----- From: Sprinklerforum [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2014 8:18 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Hide Those Sprinklers One other thing to mention from a conservation issue is water consumption and run-off. I don't have the source off at my fingertips but I have read where firefighting in sprinklered buildings resulted in less water consumption than for non-sprinklered buildings due to the sprinklers being able to react quickly to a fire and thereby containing and controlling fire growth as opposed to a non-protected building where fire growth was not controlled up to the point in time where the FD is mobilized and prepared to manually begin control and extinguishment. Also the run-off from a sprinklered building is less than for a non-sprinklered bldg due to the above. The article also spoke about airborne contaminants from non-sprinklered structures being greater than from a sprinklered structure. The point was that sprinklered facilities help reduce emissions into the atmosphere, reduce water consumption and reduce contaminated water discharge. These are all environmental benefits of Sprinklers that the Green Building Code has not addressed. Craig L. Prahl Fire Protection Group Lead CH2MHILL Lockwood Greene 1500 International Drive Spartanburg, SC 29303 Direct - 864.599.4102 Fax - 864.599.8439 CH2MHILL Extension 74102 [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: Sprinklerforum [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Cahill, Christopher Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2014 10:02 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Hide Those Sprinklers I'm presenting at the AIA convention this week. The talk is on the IBC advantages and allowances with sprinklers. For example, bigger and less costly construction when sprinklered. One thing I want to also spend a very short time on is dispelling two myths, all sprinklers operate and aesthetics. I realize there are many myths and that could be a presentation in itself. With a short window in the presentation I think all going off is a big one and aesthetics, well who but architects push the most on this? I think I have the videos covered for how sprinklers do and don't operate. Any further info I'd consider. What I'm really lacking is on the aesthetics. If you have any pictures of the work you are proud of where you hid the sprinklers from view effectively I'd love to show some. About all I can do is give your company credit in the presentation. This is someplace north of 100 architects from the greater Minnesota area. So that's your marketing target. Chris Cahill, PE* Associate Fire Protection Engineer Burns & McDonnell Phone: 952.656.3652 Fax: 952.229.2923 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> www.burnsmcd.com<http://www.burnsmcd.com/> *Registered in: MN Proud to be #14 on FORTUNE's 2014 List of 100 Best Companies to Work For _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.org _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.org _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.org _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.org
