Sterling Ranch’s Sustainable Look

For decades, policymakers, utilities, and conscious citizens have been working to conserve electricity through sophisticated demand management tools to help customers understand the relationship between peak use periods and real costs. These measures have helped educate customers on ways to reduce usage — and their bills — while also ensuring the integrity and stability of the grid.

This same approach hasn’t yet been systematically applied to an even more finite resource: water. With energy management programs having successfully demonstrated proof of concept in reducing electricity consumption, a growing number of utilities and partners are deploying resources to do the same for water with increasing urgency.

Americans this year will pay an average of $104 per month in water and wastewater bills, an increase of more than 30% within the last decade. In most cases, consumers have no idea how much water they’ve used or how much it’s going to cost until the end of the month. As the old adage goes, you can’t manage what you don’t measure, and with a drought-intensive summer already forecasted by leading hydrologists, the threat of an emerging “megadrought” looms. Consequently, the urgency to apply the same principles to measuring energy usage to water in real time is higher than ever.

Consider the case of the Colorado River basin, located in the southwestern United States. Occupying approximately 250,000 square miles and stretching 1,400 miles long, the Colorado River is a critical municipal water resource for nearly 40 million people throughout seven states. Growing demands in the Colorado River system, coupled with the potential for reduced supplies due to climate change, may put water users and resources relying on the Colorado River at risk of prolonged water shortages in the future. Even a single season of drought is bad news for the Southwest, and the impact extends beyond residents, with dry conditions in the area shriveling crops, harming livestock, and worsening wildfires.

As of late June 2020, the State of Colorado recently reported that more than 80% of the state was abnormally dry, 65% was experiencing moderate drought, 55% was experiencing severe drought, and 33% of Colorado was experiencing extreme drought conditions, according to the Drought Monitor. The monitoring group also

reported that northern and eastern New Mexico, northern Arizona, and nearly all of Utah were experiencing moderate to extreme drought, with varying degrees of water shortages and crop and pasture damage. Plus, in its most recent climate forecast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the drought would likely persist through the summer.

How do we apply lessons learned from energy plans with electricity to water usage? One answer lies in the deployment of wireless energy monitoring tools.

Sterling Ranch is a conscientious smart community dedicated to sustainability located 20 miles south of Denver, Colorado. The community is deploying a water resource management program to provide real-time usage data to residents in every new home that’s built. The project, carried out in collaboration with Siemens and Copper Labs, will also include real-time notifications and insights to homeowners to alert them to water shortages and price surges for informed water management.

When Sterling Ranch was created, its founders knew they would have to bring water to the community, as it wasn’t yet available in the area, and more importantly, they would have to create intelligent community and home water usage practices to keep costs down while conserving this precious resource for future generations. Water is particularly important because of the known potential for drought conditions in Sterling Ranch’s microclimate.

“We understand that environmental conservation and sustainability are crucial for future generations to enjoy the same stunning natural scenery and quality of life that residents of our community do today,” said Brock Smethills, President of the Sterling Ranch Development Company. “That’s why we are leveraging tech solutions that align well with our core mission around environmental stewardship, specifically water sustainability. This unique platform, which is not available anywhere else in the country, enables us to engage targeted users in real-time water demand management, with the ability to measure the impact at the meter, elevating our water resource management to the next level.”

When searching for a cost-effective way to deliver real-time, electric, gas and water meter data to residents of the community, Siemens partnered with Copper Labs, an integrated hardware and software company building internet of things (IoT) products and services that help utilities and consumers leverage energy consumption data to create a more informed and sustainable energy future.

Every home in the Sterling Ranch community comes equipped with state-of-the-art technology to monitor energy and water usage, giving residents real-time data that allows them to easily conserve energy. Sterling Ranch is the first community in Colorado to use a Siemenspowered dual-water meter system within the home, which accounts separately for outdoor and indoor usage, allowing residents to adjust their habits and helping them conserve water and save money. The residential segment is one of the fastest-growing segments of the smart water management market, which analysts predict will become a $21.4 billion market by 2024.

“Siemens’ goal is to deliver on the promises of a truly intelligent infrastructure,” said Marty Skolnick, North American director of Business Development – Connected Real Estate Innovation at Siemens. “The wireless monitoring solution’s low-cost, easy installation and ability to support electric, gas and water meters was a great match and helps Sterling Ranch residents understand demand reduction results and gain further savings from social norming and gamification.”

In spite of what we know about the water cycle, water remains the least renewable resource. It requires a lot of energy and investment to get it to our homes. As we all deal with the new normals surrounding the ongoing impacts of aging systems, fewer resources and extreme weather, forward-thinking communities like Sterling Ranch are leveraging behavioral demand response and real-time insights to curtail water usage. As the results of these projects become more widely available, the smart water management market will continue to grow and deliver value to resourceconscious communities. ■

About the Authors: Brock Smethills is the President of Sterling Ranch Development Company. He also leads the development of Sterling Ranch, a technology-driven, sustainable, planned community in Douglas County, Colorado.

Marty Skolnick is the Director of Real Estate Innovation at Siemens Smart Infrastructure. He leads the company’s efforts in providing real estate developers/owners with technology and energy “connected” planning/solutions.

Dan Forman is the CEO of Copper Labs, a Colorado-based startup that provides utilities with actionable, real-time energy measurements and consumer-friendly insights that can be immediately shared to achieve cost and energy savings.