Entrepreneurship junior Jared Greenberg is saving the University 2.5 million gallons of water over the course of 10 years and 250,000 gallons per year by simply switching eight urinals inside the Memorial Union to low-flow models.
The idea started when Greenberg found out that ASU has a major water conservation issue. This did not come as a surprise to Greenberg because California is in a drought and Arizona is located in the desert with very little water resources.
Being aware of entrepreneurial resources on campus and ASU’s water issue, Greenberg did some research and saw an opportunity for change and improvement.
Greenberg said he was using a no-flush urinal with a sign saying it saved 40,000 gallons of water per year.
"I saw that and thought ‘Wow, that’s pretty significant for one year,'” says Greenberg.
He started investigating places on campus with high volumes of foot traffic. He chose the MU as the place to replace the urinals because he felt it would make the most impact.
The standard water usage for government buildings is one gallon per flush, Greenberg said.
"The eight urinals that I changed in the MU use .175 gallons per flush," he said.
Five to 10 years ago, urinals were flushing up to five gallons of water per flush, Greenberg said.
"Entrepreneurship is all about finding things that need improvement and making it better; the business aspect will follow," Greenberg said.
While “no-flush” urinals exist, Greenberg found that flushing a smaller amount of water rather than no water at all to be the happy medium.
No flushers can be really gross. There’s no water involved so when a pipe breaks, it can cause a lot a problems," he said.
Greenberg received a grant from the Sustainability Initiatives Revolving Fund, and then pitched his idea to officials at the MU.
“That honestly got approved so easily,” Greenberg said. "All of the money was there; all I had to do was set them up with the plumber and the urinals."
At this point the funding has gone through and the urinals have been purchased, Greenberg said.
"We’re just waiting for the urinals to be put in," he said.
While Greenberg will not be profiting off the changes he is making to the urinals, he is happy to be able to say that he made a difference with this feel good project that will have an impact for years to come.
“Most people say that the answer to change is one person at a time and although that is the answer, it's not the solution — the solution is entrepreneurial thinking,” Greenberg said.
Sustainability sophomore Kayna Lantz said a little change can make a big difference.
“Water conservation is one of the most important sustainability challenges for Arizona specifically,” she said.
Interdisciplinary studies student Riker Nieman said the changes seem logical.
"It seems like there's no cons, so why wouldn't they do it?" Nieman said.
Reach the reporter at dcfoy@asu.edu or follow @dylfoy on Twitter.
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