The City of North Vancouver was presented with the award for their proposed redevelopment of the Versatile Pacific lands.
In 1998 the City, in co-operation with Terasen and BC Hydro, funded a feasibility study for a district heating system to serve the Lower Lonsdale / Versatile Pacific site and the Central Lonsdale area. The study included a consideration of the use of ocean-source heat pumps, hydrogen and wood residues to provide renewable energy.
In a press release issued at the time, the Energy Aware Committee said that "this project provides an excellent example of a sustainable community providing a broad range of employment opportunities within walking distance; a bus transit hub; a passenger rail station; close proximity to skiing, hiking and other outdoor sports; as well as numerous restaurants and a movie theatre".
[picture availability?] Mayor Jack Loucks and some City of North Vancouver council members received the Energy Aware Award from Don Rankin, Terasen ' Manager for Municipal Relations and EAC member, during the annual convention.
The winning study explored the technical issues of a possible district heating system in some detail, and outlined a preliminary business case.
"As a technical planning tool, the study has remained robust," said Bill Susak, a City of North Vancouver planner in October 2000. "We're still working hard, though, on the nuts and bolts of the business case and implementation plan".
Since winning the award, the City has adopted a medium to long-term implementation strategy, which focuses on creating the conditions under which a district heating system can develop over time rather than embarking on a major 'big-bang' project. In the City-owned areas of Lower Lonsdale, new developments must now be built ready for connection to a future district heating system.
One of the most common barriers to urban sustainability is the way in which a large number of minor decisions made over long periods of time can collectively create an urban form and infrastructure that makes future energy efficient innovations uneconomic. To ensure the viability of a future district heating system, the City now requires that all new buildings in the district energy zone be constructed with an internal hydronic system, and prohibits the use of electrical heaters as the primary heating source. Each building must have an internal boiler that can be replaced when the district heating system is eventually constructed. By taking these simple steps now, the City is altering urban form and infrastructure at minimal cost and creating the conditions under which sustainable development can occur in the future.
The move is not without opposition. The City of North Vancouver Council rejected a representation by a developer who considered these conditions to be an overly onerous burden. The same developer subsequently abided by the novel requirements; importantly though, Council has demonstrated the will to stand by its commitment.
"Without a doubt, the capital cost for a building installed with a hydronic system is higher than one without," Susak frankly admits. "And with the current spike in natural gas prices, it's difficult to say how the total life cycle costs will compare to electrical heating. But the cost of natural gas relative to electricity should fall in the future, and then the case for district heating will become compelling again".
Susak and his colleagues spend much of their time trying to convince skeptical developers that conforming to the City's requirements for a district heating system is worthwhile. "Part of the problem is that all the costs fall to the developer whereas the future cost savings will fall to the buyer", says Susak.
To ease some of the difficulties involved with offering developers incentives to invest in the area, the City soon hopes to cement a strategic alliance with Terasen Services Inc., which has committed to provide, at no cost to the builder, a boiler for buildings that are designated to be part of the future district heating system.
This means that a convenient mechanism will exist for a builder to help create the 'captured' heating market without having to buy a significant component of a building's hydronic system. In addition, it means that both the central plant and the distribution system costs can be deferred to a future time when it makes optimal economic sense to invest in the components that tie the system together.
