Client

Canada Place

Location

Vancouver, BC

Located in British Columbia, Canada Place is an iconic landmark for world-class events located in the heart of Vancouver’s waterfront.
The facility houses numerous tenants including Port Authority Corporate offices, the cruise ship terminal, Pan Pacific Hotel, World Trade Centre and the Vancouver Convention Centre. The total floor area of the building is 14,464 m2.     

Opportunity

The central heating and cooling plant needed some capital upgrades as equipment approached their end of life. This created an opportunity for the Prism team to conduct an energy study and a facility condition assessment to identify efficiency improvements, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and build greater resiliency within the facility.

Challenge

As a post-disaster relief and evacuation centre and a facility occupied by various stakeholders, multiple design requirements and intricacies had to be considered and met.  Redundancies and resiliency that go beyond typical building design requirements were needed. For example, equipment selected needed to be able to operate on two different fuel sources.

Retrofitting an existing building also meant there were limitations in space.

The Prism team conducted significant data analysis using the Direct Digital Controls system to measure the building’s heating and cooling loads. This provided more accurate energy saving projections, relying less on assumptions, and providing a preview to potential project roadblocks.

Solutions and Results

An implementation plan was developed that prioritizes a three, five and ten-year planning cycle and includes capital costs for new or modified equipment. The assessment also included an evaluation of upgrade options and recommendations for updating major mechanical systems for safety, reliability, comfort, and the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

It was determined that a primary focus would be replacing the existing steam boilers with condensing dual fuel hot water boilers. The secondary focus to the boiler plant retrofit project was recovering previously wasted heat from the chiller plant. The proposed heat recovery chiller recovers the heat into the existing low temperature heating loops which would have been previously wasted. The figure below shows the potential heat that can be recovered to the heating system throughout the year in purple. This equals approximately 21% of annual heating requirements for the facility.

The new equipment is expected to save 42% over 2018 emissions – a reduction of 2,049 tonnes GHG in carbon dioxide equivalent, while maintaining post-disaster operation requirements.

During equipment installation, Prism reviewed the work on site by visiting the plant and certifying the progress of what has been installed and provided reports for invoicing certification and tracking of completion.

The Prism team also supported the collaboration with FortisBC to maximize incentives and rebates for the capital upgrades, resulting in one of the largest FortisBC rebates granted to date.

These substantial upgrades will:

  • Reduce GHG emissions
  • Replace end-of life equipment and improve efficiency and resiliency
  • Reduce operating costs and streamline system performance