The development on Southeast False Creek lands, the Olympic Village temporarily housed the world’s athletes and has permanently created the most sustainable development in Vancouver.  How did they do it?  As part of the LEED platinum community, the development boasts two truly unique features commissioned by the City of Vancouver.

The first is the Net Zero Energy parcel (directly east of the Salt Building) of mixed-use retail and residential (both social and market housing).  Net Zero Energy means a building’s use with zero net energy consumption and zero carbon emissions annually.  The design enabled the following aspects to passively reduce demand as well as generate solar thermal energy:

• Two large evacuated tube solar thermal arrays approximately 3,000sf each roof
• 14-17” thick walls with R30 solid walls
• Triple glazed windows (R3) with balanced use of glass
• Passive cross ventilation across single loaded corridors
• Light ‘scoops’ on southern exposures that carry natural light deeper into the interior
• LED lights on light sensors in public corridors
• Stairs open or glazed to encourage use for mid-rise buildings to conserve energy

This is a delicate balance of inputs and outputs that does not mean the development is ‘free of the grid’ as the building does not generate electricity to balance the energy use, but rather the solar array’s thermal energy output has been off set by sharing thermal energy with the neighborhood that has been equated to the offset of electrical energy use.

The second is the neighborhood energy utility created to serve the entire neighborhood.  The utility recovers heat from a sewage collection header and shares the recovered heat through the medium of water.  The thermal energy extracted is then carried around the False Creek development to provide low grade heat sources to each of the buildings.  The buildings then use heat pumps to upgrade the energy to use for heating and cooling.  The buildings are tied into the network to supply additional thermal energy through the solar array and waste heat to feed other buildings on site that need more to ‘balance’ the development.  The result is a low-carbon energy network to lead to a more sustainable approach to neighborhood development where all buildings have a better opportunity to be Net Zero Energy.

The major approach to achieve Net Zero Energy is passive design- the cheapest energy you can make is one you don’t use.  Net Zero is not free to implement, as the additional cost to get to Net Zero energy is approximately $40,000 per unit. 

Question- would you pay an additional $40,000 for a condo knowing that you would never have to pay an energy bill??? 

Speak out to developers through your actions- buy sustainable!