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April 17, 2007
City chooses sewer heat recovery option for Southeast False
Creek
City Council today received a staff report confirming that the City
will pursue sewer heat recovery as the heat source for Phase 1 of the
Olympic Village and Southeast False Creek (SEFC) development.
As the name implies, a sewer heat recovery system will extract heat
from local sewers, which will then be used to heat buildings and domestic
hot water in the new SEFC neighbourhood. This innovative method has significant
advantages over conventional gas or electric heat. Sewer heat will generate
half the greenhouse gas emissions of natural gas, with substantially
lower levels of air-shed pollutants.
The City investigated two affordable and sustainable heat source options
for the neighbourhood energy utility (NEU) at SEFC: “biomass” and “sewer
heat.”
Biomass energy is created by burning wood residue to produce heat. For
Phase 1 of SEFC, the proposal was to burn wood pellets derived from sawdust,
which is normally a waste product at sawmills.
The City had originally investigated biomass technology as an option
due to its very low greenhouse gas emissions, and the fact there were
fewer technical complications than that of the more novel sewer heat
system.
However, it was determined that there is insufficient time available
in the project schedule to conduct the necessary public process, which
would be required to obtain an air quality permit from the GVRD. As
well, further research into sewer heat recovery satisfied the City that
it could resolve some of the technical issues associated with this option.
There are only three similar sewer heat recovery facilities presently
operating worldwide. When completed in 2009, the SEFC sewer heat recovery
system will be the first use of this technology for district heating
in North America.
The City will continue to investigate biomass for future NEU projects,
since it can generate heat using any number of locally available waste
products, and is recognized as a reliable source of heat with very low
greenhouse gas emissions.
Media inquiries:
Chris Baber
Project Manager, Neighbourhood Energy Utility
604.871.6127
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