As sustainability continues to move from trend to necessity, manufacturers in the PHCP industry are innovating to help contractors, engineers, and end users achieve greener, more efficient projects. To better understand where the market is heading, we spoke with three manufacturers in this space — Chrissie Walsh, sustainability manager for GF Building Flow Solutions Americas; Vas Gnanadoss, product sustainability engineer, handprint sustainability, Watts; and Matt Baranuk, portfolio director of commercial HPWH and emerging technology, A. O. Smith — about their perspectives on green building.

Read on for their insights into advancing technologies, regulatory drivers, and how the industry can balance performance, cost, and sustainability in the years ahead.

From your perspective, what are the biggest trends shaping green building in the PHCP industry today?

Chrissie Walsh, GF Building Flow Solutions Americas (GF): The biggest trend is the shift from focusing only on the operational carbon of a building to also considering the carbon emissions held within materials selected to build. The growing focus on valuing product-level embodied carbon is enabling more strategic decisions to reduce the total whole-life carbon impact of a build.

Suppliers, manufacturers, and subsequently engineers are growing the importance of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) within the industry by collectively working to build EPD libraries, then specifying preferences towards products with the impact documentation readily available. This raises visibility on meaningful sustainable impacts like the usage of bio-based, recycled content, or regenerative material, as well as maximizing possibility in end-of-use scenarios beyond landfill (i.e., take-back programs, recycling, deconstructing for reuse, etc.). 

With that, movements in maintaining value in materials through deconstruction versus demolition is growing in popularity. Cities like Boulder, Colo., have great case studies in the localized business opportunity that quickly activate when a municipality places value on creating systematic change. These are vital shifts within the industry that need to be normalized, scaled, and valued. 

Matt Baranuk, portfolio director of commercial HPWH and emerging technology, A. O. Smith: The green building trend has become increasingly more prevalent in recent years, and we don’t expect that to change anytime soon. The push for higher efficiency water heating technology is widespread throughout the industry. We are focused on meeting the demand for this technology and are actively producing units that feature very high efficiencies. Additional features, such as smart technology, are supporting this shift toward more sustainable technologies. The ability for homeowners to remotely access and monitor their water heaters is a game-changer. Many of our customers are also looking to ENERGY STAR-certified products as the standard for efficient and sustainable technology. 

Vas Gnanadoss, product sustainability engineer, handprint sustainability, Watts: One of the biggest new trends shaping green building is the influence of smarter products – those offering levels of “intelligence” – or the ability to connect seamlessly to intelligent building management systems to help solve myriad challenges in the plumbing and mechanical industry.  I’m referring to smart and connected PHCP products that integrate IoT for real-time monitoring, usage insights, and predictive maintenance.  These offer significant green building benefits and will continue to grow in popularity.

Another trend is placing a greater emphasis on advancing health and safety throughout buildings – but especially in water systems.  Examples of this are solutions that reduce legionella and integrated filtration systems that ensure occupants have safe, clean drinking water.

We believe that green building in the PHCP industry is evolving beyond conservation, and into a realm where safety, smart design, proactive monitoring, and sustainable system integration now define the future.  Our sustainability “triple play” framework of safety and regulation, water conservation, and energy efficiency underscores a balanced, resilient, and user-focused approach that’s shaping how PHCP professionals and building owners plan for tomorrow.

How has your company adopted green building practices, and what new products or technologies have you introduced to improve energy efficiency, water conservation, or overall sustainability?

Walsh: For GF, the biggest role we can play in this space is to have a product that enables our customers’ sustainability goals and offers products that serve a sustainable purpose. As we move water in the built environment, our collective goal is to move water safely and efficiently within our systems for as long as possible. Our products are built to last the lifetime of the building with minimal maintenance or replacement needs; a sustainable story in itself. 

Beyond our generalized approach in providing these components within our products and systems intrinsically, a couple recent products to highlight in this space would be the value-added services of kitting and prefabrication. Our team provides customized product offerings that assemble the specific site needs prior to shipment, reducing lost time and maximizing productivity on a job site. This includes our kitting offering that includes everything needed for consistent and efficient installs in one bag, as well as the prefabrication of replicated site needs, such as commercial risers. 

In addition, we also offer the Uponor AquaPort™, which is a self-contained unit that converts a building’s hydronic heating supply to provide on-demand domestic hot water, providing energy and water savings, improved water quality, installation efficiencies, and reduced maintenance. Compared to traditional pipe-routing methods, incorporating AquaPorts into a multifamily, hospitality, or healthcare building can reduce hot-water energy use by up to 35%, eliminate up to 40% of unnecessary piping, and remove more than 50% of the total domestic hot water volume in a building for improved system performance, efficiencies, and hygiene.

Baranuk: A. O. Smith has prioritized high efficiency across all of our new products. Our recently launched Voltex® MAX Heat Pump Water Heater is a perfect example of how we have adopted these green technologies into our products. The Voltex MAX unit’s smart valve allows a contractor to install a smaller tank in an area where space is tight and still get comparable performance to a larger tank. It also allows homeowners to customize the unit’s performance to exactly the way they live and use hot water. The Voltex MAX heat pump water heater (HPWH) can deliver homeowners around 40% higher first hour ratings than similarly sized electric water heaters and heat pump water heaters, providing optimal efficiency while also prioritizing sustainability. 

Gnanadoss: Watts designs and develops products with green building in mind.  We’ve created a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) product guide which shows the USGBC’s (U. S. Green Building Council’s) LEED credit categories and how Watts products can help building projects earn LEED green building points. With the recent update to LEED v5 we’re now in the process of updating our product guide accordingly.    

 We have introduced many new products to improve energy efficiency, water conservation, and overall sustainability.  One of the best examples is our IntelliStation® 2 digital mixing platform for light commercial and institutional use. The technology works seamlessly with our new intelligent water management platform, Nexa. With its IoT capabilities and certifications, the IntelliStation® 2 is a smart, next generation digital mixing valve solution that goes beyond just controlling the temperature of a facility’s domestic water. It gives building owners and service contractors critical information on their valve’s performance and their potable water system’s condition in real time.  Installing “IS2” and connecting it to Nexa allows customers to have greater visibility and control over their water systems.

What do you see as the main challenges to wider adoption of green PHCP products, and how is the industry addressing them?

Walsh: One of the biggest challenges is within material innovation constraints and availability of sustainable raw materials that 1) meet product quality and performance expectations, 2) don’t dramatically increase costs that would need to be passed onto customers in an already competitive market landscape, and 3) are available in the volumes we would require to impactfully cover our product portfolio. All of these challenges are changing in positive ways, but it can be a slow process towards sustainable step-changes. 

Sometimes sustainable shifts aren’t a direct one-to-one replacement, instead requiring parts of systems to be redesigned. This adds cost, complexity, and the need for informed expertise that may not be within the budget or resources available to/for the project. It’s why organizations such as ASHRAE are vocal about the necessity of decarbonizing our industry and making the design choices today that address the needs of tomorrow. The organizations are vital in promoting wider adoption of sustainable, meaningful, systems that are impacting change. It encourages the filling of current industry gaps in installation expertise, supportive code changes, integrated building practices, and general resistance to change. 

Baranuk: The capability of the electric grid to match demand remains one of the biggest challenges to the adoption of sustainable water heating technology.  Because of this, hybrid systems have become an integral part of the decarbonization movement. Hybrid HPWH systems are a great tool for utilities to use in their load planning, as higher end-use efficiency leads to less strain on local distribution grids.

Additionally, different climates can affect how easily an application can adopt certain green technologies. In colder climates, it can be more difficult to find a sustainable solution, such as a HPWH, that performs well in below-freezing temperatures. To accommodate for these restrictions, manufacturers like A.O. Smith are introducing new features that make sustainable water heating technology more accessible.

Gnanadoss: One of the main challenges can be higher upfront costs and cost justification.  Green PHCP products, like smart leak detection systems, whole-home filtration, and IoT-enabled valves, often carry higher upfront costs compared to conventional alternatives.  This can deter cost-sensitive building owners and installers.

At Watts we underscore total lifecycle value, emphasizing water savings, energy efficiency, reduced maintenance, and extended product life to build a compelling return-on-investment narrative. While upfront costs may be higher, the benefit of lower operational costs and increased reliability outweigh the upfront costs. 

For example, in 2024, AERCO, PVI, and the LYNC brands of boilers, water heaters, and heat pumps helped customers avoid 93,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from 22,000 gasoline-powered cars driven for one year, which in turn significantly reduced the operational costs for our customers.

How is your company, or the broader industry, preparing contractors and engineers to install and maintain sustainable systems?

Walsh: I wouldn’t say we’re “preparing;” it’s what we’ve always done and have shaped a business around. We have always promoted a systems-thinking approach, as our products are a small-but-mighty component of an overall building, and we connect to the sustainable systems within. We grow from that foundation in our capacity to communicate 1) product environmental impact transparency with Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), 2) connecting the dots in how our current sustainable systems (such as radiant heating and cooling) connect to futureproofing systems (such as heat pumps), and 3) technical guidance and expertise from design to install to maintenance to eventually, end-of-use product take back and recycling. We support and partner with external organizations that value sustainable change and value opportunities to create case studies in building the resilient systems for tomorrow, today. 

Baranuk: Education remains a critical facet of the industry. As we continue to introduce new technologies, it is also pertinent to introduce new educational resources to ensure that contractors and engineers feel confident when working in the field with these new technologies. A. O. Smith University has added new courses to our virtual campus, including courses that train on our latest units. We have also added a new heat pump water heater certification that trains on the technology

Gnanadoss: We believe that partnerships, training, and education are key to drive the PHCP industry’s shift to more sustainable solutions.  Watts operates several state-of-the-art Watts Works Learning Centers where contractors and engineers can participate in blended learning, with classroom instruction, immersive wet labs, and factory tours. This is hands-on training with real equipment where participants can learn about our products and their sustainable benefits.

We also recognize the need for accessible, anytime training.  Our Watts Works Online Training platform offers bite-sized modules, covering topics like plumbing, flow control, water quality, HVAC, and leak detection, many through a lens of sustainability. We also offer sustainability-specific training, and have an ASPE & AIA CEU-eligible course which was presented live at the 2025 AIA Conference on Architecture and Design and is available online in our training platform.

Partnering with contractors and engineers through training and education is a great way for us to collaborate and push towards more sustainable solutions.