falconuser, Author at Falcon Water Free

Our Hybrid Urinal Technology, High Performance Water Conservation

As water shortages have increased and strict usage regulations have been implemented, certification and adoption of LEED has become increasingly popular. With many parts of the country suffering from debilitating drought, this drive for water conservation and demand for high efficiency plumbing products has never been more important. Now, there’s a new solution that preserves this need for efficiency and enhances the functionality of inherently sustainable waterfree design.

Waterfree Urinal technologies represent the highest amount (100%) of water savings available. Since the introduction of waterfree technologies, these high-efficiency urinals have helped saved millions of gallons of fresh water every year, totalling over 50 billion gallons from Falcon’s waterfree units alone. When properly maintained, these fixtures provide efficient removal of liquid waste with no odor or clogs. The challenge is, however, that improper or infrequent maintenance can lead to the buildup of struvite in the drain lines, occasionally resulting in reduced flow and more-difficult maintenance procedures.

On the other end of the spectrum, wash down urinal treads have steadily decreased flush volume, now at 0.125 gpf. Although this has helped to save significant amounts of water, the marginal flush volume does not provide enough water to fully flush out the system- results can include excessive odor and calcite clogged trapways and drain lines. This calcite build up is extremely hard, almost rock like, and is very difficult to remove. With waterfree urinals, urine forms a soft, water-soluble substance known as ‘struvite’ that collects in pipes and can also cause blockages over time. Unlike calcite, though, struvite is easy to remove, only needing water and a brush to be removed.

By taking the best attributes of waterfree technology and combining them with the best of flushing technology, we have created the most hygienic, water-saving, high performance urinal available, the Hybrid Urinal. Our revolutionary, multi-patent pending technology functions as a waterfree technology in daily use and automatically performs a full gallon (4 liter) flush through the housing and pipe system every 72 hours, rather than trickling small volume of water with each use. This technology allows for maximum LEED points, water savings and performance functionality.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrHxkXSRPtk&w=560&h=315]

This timed power-washing provides a large supplemental flow of water, which helps clean out any sediment build up from your housing and pipes, ensuring continued optimal flow and eliminating the need for bucket dumps & bottle brush cleaning.

Our patent pending self-cleaning waterless urinal leverages all the benefits of our new, patent pending Velocity Cartridge in a unique and revolutionary flush system that cleans the housing and flushes out pipes on a regular timed basis. The Hybrid delivers the world’s best and most sustainable urinal technology, and it’s truly the best of both ends of the urinal spectrum!

*Available to the North American through our exclusive partner, Sloan Valve Company.

WHAT WE’RE READING: GREENTHINK

A culmination of decades of being at the forefront of national sustainability initiatives, Greenthink by Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair of USGBC, puts forth an argument that is as controversial as it is clear: leverage the motive of profit to save the world—and its humans—from environmental catastrophe.

For decades, he notes, environmentalists and the private sector have been at odds. Activists have decried the impact of industry on the environment. Business leaders, meanwhile, resent environmentalists for “job-killing regulations.” But in Greenthink, Fedrizzi turns conventional wisdom on its head by showing how profit can save the planet, and how sustainability is the biggest business opportunity of the 21st century.

To prove his point, Rick calls on his decades of experience as a marketing executive for United Technologies Carrier Corporation, then as head of USGBC, where he pioneered the green building sector, an industry that has had an immediate and measurable impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and driven vast innovation in architectural design, engineering practice and materials development in product manufacturing. The creation of USGBC’s LEED, the most widely used green building rating system in the world, helped create a market that didn’t exist 20 years ago and now anchors an industry expected to be valued at more than $3 billion by 2020. Rick has spent nearly his entire career working to bridge the polarized divide between environmentalists and business, because, as he rightly puts it, “they both will share the same fate.”

Original article published on the USGBC’s blog and you can read it here.

Technology Evolution Guide: Our Cartridges History

Since the invention of our waterfree urinal technology, we have taken pride in listening to our customer demands and innovating water conservation solutions that do not sacrifice product functionality. This is a guide to our continuous efforts to offer the highest performance technology-driven restroom water conservation products.

Our story began in 1999, when a German engineer fervently believed that flushing a urinal was a waste of water. Urine is already a generally sterile liquid, and gravity could drain it completely without a flush. A year later, the C1M1 made its debut in the restroom market.

The water-free urinal not only saved water. It also reduced the carbon footprint, since a fifth of California’s electrical output is consumed by processing and pumping water. The original design was well received by the public. However, the implementation of this new technology brought to our attention troubling gaps between our R&D and the inherent value of our technology, overcoming these challenges became our primary focus.

With additional research and development, Falcon released the C1M2 in 2005. It included a diverter shield to help retain sealant, a diverter to reduce splash and it was easier to remove. The military tested the urinals at Fort Huachucha, a base in southern Arizona. Our “flushless” urinals shorten water consumption by millions of gallons. As a result, the US Army Corp of Engineers mandated in 2006 to install only waterless urinals from 2010 onward.

After carefully reviewing the C1M2 latest design features, Falcon decided to include an additional splash-reducing shape, better odor reducing technology and internal mechanisms to improve the cartridge’s sealant retention. Six years later, the C1M2+ was introduced in the market. This time around, large-scale facilities across the country such as Rose Bowl Stadium and Las Vegas Motor Speedway switched to water free urinals.

Last and certainly not least, the Velocity cartridge debuted on the market in 2014. It includes 6 new patent pending features that help: keep facilities pipes and housing cleaner, retain sealant better, visually cue a cartridge change and reduce environmental footprint. After installing 300+ Falcon urinals over the past few years, Staples Center has not only reduced maintenance costs, but has also saved huge quantities of water- 57 million gallons in fact. An incredible fact given Staple’s Center location in drought-stricken Los Angeles.

Our urinal cartridge technology is a result of our ongoing efforts to provide the highest quality products for our customers, directly derived from advanced market research and technology development. The revolutionary technology of our new cartridge design ensures top quality performance that is both easy to maintain and helps keep your restroom odor-free.

REGULATORY RUNDOWN: State Officially Extends Emergency Regulations

As California experiences several consecutive dry days since the last sight of rain, and with hot temperatures pushing much of El Nino away from California and the Pacific Northwest, State Officials have extended and approved revisions to emergency regulations set in place for urban water use.

State-issued extensions will continue through October 2016, and now factor in new criteria that may help water districts meet revised conservation goals. Upon reviewing water supplier’s comments on the inability to reach previous conservation targets, the state has recognized and incorporated the effects of the following credits into conservation targets: hotter-than-average climate regions, population growth, and significant investments in new local drought-resilient water sources such as wastewater reuse and desalination.

These new credits will cause adjustments ranging from 2 to 8 percent and will reduce the conservation targets of many suppliers across the state of California. Depending on conditions, some water suppliers will automatically be credited while others will have to manually apply for targeted reduction revisions.

At the moment, it is unclear which cities will be approved for adjustments and how this will affect California’s overall conservation target of 25%. Nevertheless, it is important to note that before these adjustments were made, California was on target to meet the Governor’s conservation goal. This poses the question: Why make adjustments to conservation targets now? Instead, focus should be placed on specific water supplier conservation strategies. Especially when we are seeing so many examples of a disconnect amongst water suppliers and the cities they provide water to.

We, at Falcon, have seen the value of aligning these groups to create immediate water savings. There are many simple conservation strategies that work best when we work together. For example, changing out toilets, urinals, water coolers, shower heads, and faucets that do not meet current CEC State Efficiency Standards can help save the state 100 billion gallons, however, we need to combine our outreach efforts to make the public aware of the urgency, potential saving, and rebates available. If the state’s new efficiency regulations could take these strategies into account and make them common practice, we will see a positive shift in the states conservation efforts.

As we move forward, we should all look to collaborate where we can and share best practices on strategies that are cost effective and result in tremendous water savings.

We encourage you to stay tuned as we continue to report what reductions suppliers qualify for and how they vary across the State of California.

Six Reasons Why Once You Try Our Velocity Cartridge, You’ll Never Go Back

We, at Falcon Waterfree Technologies, are dedicated to developing technology-driven restroom products that offer the highest performance while conserving water. Over the last fifteen years, we have revolutionized the water conservation industry by investing in continual innovation. The Velocity Cartridge is our latest liquid cartridge to evolve from our ongoing efforts to provide the highest quality products for our customers.

The Velocity cartridge uses multiple unique design patents to provide safe, long lasting, odor suppression and save you an average of up to or more than 40,000 gallons of water every year. They simplify plumbing needs and help save the environment.

6 ALL NEW-PATENT PENDING FEATURES

1. Greener Footprint

At Falcon we believe that sustainability is a journey not a destination. We are continually looking for ways to minimize our product footprint and this is no exception with our Velocity Cartridge which now boasts a 20% material reduction compared to our previous models.

2. Keeps Pipes and Housing Cleaner

We designed the Velocity cartridge with the purpose to make maintenance easier and more hygienic for our customers. Our patent-pending anti splash pour spout utilizes speed and directional flow to streamline urine through our housing and your buildings’ pipes; helping to effectively eliminate the mess and build up associated with our older technology and any of our competitor’s cartridges. Still curious? Take a peek at our how it Works video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmukgX6AnWw&w=560&h=315]

3. Reduces Restroom Odor

End user experience is important, odor is the last thing anybody wants to experience when using a restroom. We invented our patented Velocity cartridge to help keep your restroom virtually odor-free by eliminating the area where bacteria can grow. Take a peek at our how it works video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgjWaNboo8s&w=560&h=315]

4. Retains Sealant Better

Worried about washing our your sealant barrier? Worry no more! Our interior baffle allows the cartridge to retain its sealant barrier even under the most challenging maintenance practices, such as bucket dumping. In fact, we recommend that you bucket dump at least once a week to help wash out your pipes.

5. Reduces Splash Back

The last thing you want when using the restroom is splash back. In order to minimize splash back we have integrated a diverter shield into the Velocity cartridge, reducing splashing while simultaneously helping to prevent debris from entering the cartridge.

6. Cues you when to replace

Not sure when to change our cartridge? Now you have a way to check! Our blue indicator ring at the entrance of the cartridge provides you with a visual cue that helps you know when it is ready to be changed. As the cartridge reaches the end of its lifespan, liquid levels will rise making it more difficult to see the blue indicator marker, ultimately making maintenance easier.

We invite you to try our new cartridge and experience our revolutionary technology! We can assure you, once you switch to the Velocity you’ll never look back.

For additional information visit our Velocity Cartridge product page.

Our Sustainability Journey

Here at Falcon, we believe that in the journey to create a better future, businesses should become a force for good. We are founded on the principle of ecological conservation, and sustainability is embedded across our business’s operations and daily practices. We are working to help the planet and help everyone on it thrive.

A successful sustainable strategy clearly connects the organization’s mission, vision, ethics and long-term financial goals, then key ingredients for long-term growth and profitability such as growth of the company’s reputation, employee engagement, the retainment of top talent and market differentiation will continue to grow across the organization. Sustainable thinking is more about creating opportunity and less about mitigating risk.

Our employees have dedicated more than 170 hours volunteering with the local communities to contribute to diverse social and environmental initiatives. Such practices resulted in new and stronger partnerships with charitable organizations. As a way to give back to our hard-working staff, Falcon Waterfree Technologies provides skills based training to advance core job responsibilities, training for personal development, and offers 12 weeks of fully paid maternity leave to salaried workers.

On top of all this, we encourage our staff to behave differently. The kitchen is stocked with consciously-chosen, local and sustainably-sourced items. We implemented a “Rideshare Incentive” to help minimize our carbon dioxide emissions. Everyone onsite uses a mug, cutting back on paper cups, and our staff refill their water with their metal Falcon Waterfree Technologies canteens, the office is also a plastic bottle free zone.

Sustainability is a corporate journey with no final destination, as there is always room for improvement. Falcon is continually identifying further innovations to reduce our environmental footprint with the vision of creating technology-driven products that conserve our Earth’s precious fresh water supply.

WHY WE LOVE TWITTER AND ACCOUNTS WE THINK YOU SHOULD FOLLOW

Do you ever wonder why people love Twitter so much? Well, Twitter is a way of catching up on the latest news, following your friends, fostering the hashtag phenomenon and networking with other professionals around you. Twitter does one thing and does it well, which is why people love the platform so much. It is all about quick reads, not about extended discussion. It’s easy to scroll through and read top headlines or updates from your friends. Less is more. Even though most of the time, the quick, short discussions lead to a more extensive interactions.

The top reason why we use it at Falcon, however, is that we get to interact with all the amazing people in our industry and in the B Corp community. It helps us engage in daily conversations with these individuals, which usually ends up turning into real life gatherings and partnerships. It’s a fantastic way to show your support and promote all the cool stuff people around you are invested in. Below is a list of our champions on twitter. We encourage you to check them out by clicking the handles below.

Governor Jerry Brown @JerryBrownGov
Dig Deep Water @DigDeepH2O
LA Better Building Challenge @LABBC2020
USGBC LA Chapter @USGBCLA
Rrick Fedrizzi @rickfedrizzi
Sloan Valve Company @Sloan_Valve
Mayor Eric Garcetti @ericgarcetti
B Corporation @BCorporation
TreePeople @TreePeople_org
Matt Stevens @ByMattStevens
Northern Rift @NorthernRift
The Drop @SavetheDropLA
Round Peg Communication @roundpegcomm
Nora Livingstone @noralivingstone
Badger Balm @BadgerBalmUSA
Do Good Bus @DoGoodBus
Ryan Honeyman @HoneymanConsult
Dean Muruven @deanmuruven09

TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT: Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility

In the face of a severe drought between the late ’80s and early ‘90s, West Basin Water District in Southern California transformed their business model from imported water wholesaler to a leader in conservation and water recycling. After receiving state and federal funding to design and build a world-class water recycling treatment facility in 1992, the Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility opened its doors in the City of El Segundo.

Since then, The West Basin Municipal Water District has become an important provider of safe and high-quality water to the communities it serves. The facility operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, producing approximately 40 million gallons of usable water every day. It conserves enough drinking water to meet the needs of 80,000 households a year. West Basin works alongside with the Water Replenishment District to supply 75% of the water injected into the West Coast Groundwater Barrier, conserving 5,000 acre-feet of water each year. They are expecting to increase that amount to 100% in the future.

The Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility (ECLWRF) is not only the largest water recycling facility of its kind in the United States, but it is also the only treatment facility in the country that produces five different qualities of “designer” or custom-made recycled water that meet the unique needs to the communities it serves.

The water treatment plant also contains a 60,000 square foot solar power generating system that reduces their carbon dioxide emissions by over 356 tons in one year’s time. This is the equivalent to planting nearly 100 acres of trees or not driving 890,007 miles. The solar power generated at this facility also supplies 10% of their peak energy needs.

In addition to their continuing sustainability efforts, their visitor education center created a recycling program to teach its visitors the importance of conserving energy and water. Grade-school children can also visit the West Basin Water Recycling Phase IV Expansion site to show them how valuable and rare water is.

In a future, where water demands might urge the world to create new sources of water, it seems that recycled water- in combination with building a more drought resistance infrastructure- has the potential to help us be more climate-independent. The Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility is establishing the technology framework that can potentially help to alleviate California’s continuous water scarcity issues.

Heal the Bay Welcomes Falcon Waterfree Technologies to the Young Professionals Committee

We are pleased to announce Andrea Chase, Marketing Director, has joined Los Angeles based environmental nonprofit Heal the Bay’s Young Professionals Committee. They strive to FUNdraise as well as raise awareness about making our coastal waters and watersheds safer, healthier and cleaner.

Los Angeles, February 1^st, 2016 As a company committed to changing the world by developing revolutionary, technology-driven restroom products that conserve our Earth’s precious fresh water supply and to using the power of our business and products to help solve local, social and environmental problems, Falcon Waterfree Technologies is proud to announce Andrea Chase, Marketing Director, has joined the Young Professionals Committee of Los Angeles environmental nonprofit Heal the Bay.

Using science, education, community action and advocacy, Heal the Bay is dedicated to making a change in our local waters. They know that the greatest threats to our environment come from urban and storm water runoff, plastic pollution and the constant stress our oceans are put under with over-fishing and climate change. Heal the Bay has assisted with several efforts to move municipal, state and Federal government and regulation agencies to act in our waterways best interest through supporting legislation and mandatory regulations.

Through the Young Professionals Committee, Heal the Bay is focused on encouraging our millennials to become more engaged in protecting our natural resources. The goal is to FUNdraise as well as raise awareness about making our coastal waters and watersheds safer, healthier and cleaner by facilitating events catered to the younger generation, educating and encouraging them to become excited about ways they can help and make an impact.

“Here at Falcon, we could not be prouder to be associated with an organization with beliefs so similar to our own. Heal the Bay’s moto is “When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves” and we couldn’t agree more. Whether the efforts to conserve our resources are through sustainable water conservation technology, like our own, or educating today’s youth, like the Young Professionals Committee, we are all trying to do our part to save Earth’s precious water,” state Andrea Chase, Marketing Director, Falcon Waterfree Technologies.

About Falcon

Founded in 2000, Los Angeles-based Falcon Waterfree Technologies is the sustainability and technology leader in the development of water conservation solutions for the commercial restroom.

El Niño is not going to end California’s Drought

Despite recent storms hitting Northern and Southern California, California’s water level is still only about average compared to normal conditions. Although some places in Northern California, like Eureka, have seen above average rainfall, there is still a very long way to go in order to counteract the four-year drought’s effect on the Golden State.

We are seeing progress, for instance, Lake Oroville has risen more than 27 feet, finally re-submerging islands that emerged during our driest days. However Lake Oroville, which happens to be one of the state’s major reservoirs, is still vastly below the historical water level- 20% lower in fact. Lake Shasta, another important state reservoir, is still at 40% below the average water as well.

In addition to our still lower than normal water reservoirs, California has already consumed two thirds of the stored drought backup water supply. This means that an average year of precipitation is not going to come close to mitigating water lost during the drought.

Even with El Niño heading our way and hopes of replenishing water, historical evidence of weather patterns shows that drought effects are amplified after El Niño weather patterns end. The big El Niños of 1982-83 and 1997-98, which the current event has been compared to, were consistently followed by La Niña weather patterns. The effects from La Niñas, unlike El Niños, tend to amplify drying effects and reestablish drought like conditions.

Despite the unpredictability of the weather, one certainty remains clear: we still need to be mindful of our water usage, as California’s water shortage is something that may linger despite our short term rainy season.