On June 10, 2024, I moved a motion to establish new incentives and policy, particularly in relation to the new density bonus legislation passed by the province, for new developments to have district energy systems in areas of Burnaby where mandatory BDEU connection is not applicable.
Traditional buildings have individual heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and domestic hot water systems that are each built to handle peak loads. This means that mechanical systems are overbuilt for the building’s needs more than 90% of the time, and require multiple pieces of equipment, including but not limited to: a central boiler plant, rooftop air handling units, exhaust fans, fresh air intake, and absorption chillers and/or cooling towers.
District energy systems refer to a network of connected, insulated pipes that transfer stored thermal energy (hot water) between buildings. By combining loads for multiple buildings, district energy systems create economies of scale that help reduce energy costs and vastly improve the efficiency of heating and cooling equipment, reduce equipment requirements, and lower carbon emissions. They have the potential to serve the space heating, domestic hot water, and cooling needs of residential, commercial, industrial, healthcare, and institutional buildings.
The greenhouse gas emissions reductions can be further magnified by supplementing a district energy system by capturing and injecting into the system waste thermal energy. This can be a mix of waste heat captured from showers and discharged hot water (sewer heat recovery), geothermal heat (geoexchange), ice rinks, and commercial refrigerators.
Additionally, there is growing concern over the ability of BC Hydro to meet the electricity demands of the province. A recent study conducted in Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood demonstrated that utilizing a district energy system in the retrofitting of the West End’s multi-unit residential buildings would reduce the electricity needs from 100MW to 30MW. Not only will this reduce the ongoing costs of electricity, but this will also reduce the cost to upgrade transformers/electrical grid infrastructure. Efficient usage of waste heat can allow continued progress in the decarbonization of buildings, which alone represent approximately half the carbon emissions of municipalities, while mitigating the impact on electricity demand.
Existing policy dictates that buildings providing affordable housing are prioritized throughout the rezoning process. Considering that new developments now all include affordable housing due to the inclusionary housing policy, this specific prioritization mechanism is inconsequential.
While there are a number of benefits that come from connecting to district energy systems, such as lower costs, freed up rooftops, climate resiliency, and lower carbon emissions, district energy systems can still be a departure from the way that some developers are used to building. At this point in time, it may be appropriate to explore replacing the now outdated affordable housing prioritization scheme with a similar prioritization mechanism for district energy systems.
The other option could be to explore the exchange of density for district energy systems to be built (e.g. geothermal) within new developments, as we can no longer exchange density for cash-in-lieu. This would generate ongoing revenue, that could support affordability, expanding more renewable energy throughout the city, or other public services, instead of a one-time-payment.
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