VANCOUVER – Telus has found a novel solution to efficiently rid itself of hot air. It’s teaming up with a BC utility distribution company to recycle the heat from its group of office towers distribute heating and cooling for its million-square-foot office and residential towers.
FortisBC will operate a regulated utility within the $750 million Telus “Garden” development that will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by one million kilograms a year by capturing and re-distributing low-grade heat throughout the company’s office and residential towers, commercial spaces and amenities.
Created in partnership with Fortis BC and Westbank, a luxury residential developer, the District Energy System (DES) is one of the first systems in Vancouver to use waste heat from a neighbouring site to heat and cool a new development. Heat from the existing Telus data centre and the new office tower’s cooling systems will be harvested by the DES to provide heating and cooling for the office and residential towers, commercial spaces and amenities, and to heat domestic hot water for both towers. The initiative is part of Telus’s sustainability strategy and a major contributor to the development’s 80% reduction in energy demand from conventional sources.
“The Telus Garden District Energy System represents a shift in how we think about and utilize energy,” said Andrea Goertz, senior vice-present of Telus Strategic Initiatives and Communications. “By recovering energy that would normally be lost and putting it to good use, we are innovating through design to create one of the most environmentally-friendly urban communities in North America.
