During the construction of the Olympic Village neighbourhood, the City of Vancouver installed an energy system with a forward-looking stance on sustainability. The energy system housed in the False Creek Energy Centre is known as the Neighbourhood Energy Utility (NEU). The NEU supplies the Olympic Village area with heat and hot water, but its capacity is slowly being upgraded to reach even more residents of the False Creek area – such as False Creek Flats. This has a positive impact on sustainability by reducing the reliance and consumption of natural gas for heating, and reducing strain on the electrical grid. The NEU at the False Creek Energy Centre is the first wastewater-powered heat-recovery system in North America.
The way the NEU works is to absorb the residual thermal energy – heat – emitted by the sewer or gray line below the street which in turn can heat adjacent pipes which then provide heat for space heating or hot water. This works in a similar manner to a geothermal heat pump, but with more flexibility in not requiring deep drilling nor the availability of geothermal heat sources. The City of Vancouver provides an in-depth explanation on the complicated mechanics of reclaiming heat.
Diagram created by the City of Vancouver
While the inner workings of the NEU are hidden away, the Francl Architecture-designed exterior can be seen underneath and next to the Cambie Street Bridge in Vancouver’s Olympic Village. The exhaust pipes jutting upwards into the sky are lit up with purple-blue spotlights to make this industrial equipment appear more artistic.
Expanding the NEU to support more residents
Environmental & Science Engineering Magazine recently reported that SHARC International Systems Inc., a BC-based company, is working with the City of Vancouver to increase the False Creek NEU’s capacity from 3.2MW to 8.9MW – almost tripling the capacity. This will help better support the development of new residential buildings in the southern False Creek Flats area. The expansion will also help to reduce 4,400 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
SHARC’s equipment (made in Port Coquitlam) will allow buildings to recover heat from what would be considered greywater – “the water used in buildings — from flushing toilets, dishwashers, showers, and kitchen sinks.”
With the wastewater energy transfer process, all of the heat (approximately 20ºC) from the hot water used for showers, dishes, and laundry can be recovered, explains Lynn Mueller, CEO of SHARC Energy. Its equipment uses the recycled heat energy to pre-heat the water fed to a building’s hot water tank or boiler.
Since the False Creek Energy Centre’s initial completion, it has been expanded to service residential, commercial and institutional spaces in the area – almost 600,000 square metres. The nearby Emily Carr University of Art + Design and Science World are both serviced by the NEU as well. New expansions of this energy system will seek to provide for the continued energy needs of Southeast False Creek and Mount Pleasant, and to meet the impending needs of the False Creek Flats and Northeast False Creek, where Concord Pacific is developing the Plaza of Nations site.
There’s still work to be done
While there are specific requirements for new developments in the area to tap into the service provided by the False Creek NEU, older buildings still face difficulties in making the switch.
