UBC Okanagan Science Building Laboratory Exhaust Heat Recovery 

During a 2020-2022 major HVAC system upgrade to the Science Building, CURA was contracted by UBC Okanagan to review the building automation system during the post-construction monitoring period, and CURA discovered that further opportunities for energy savings, carbon emissions savings and energy cost reduction were possible by coupling an existing glycol runaround heat recovery system to the source side of an existing central 280 ton heat pump.

A funding application was launched through FortisBC’s Custom Efficiency program because CURA is a certified provider to FortisBC’s Custom Efficiency program, and funds were awarded for the energy study.

The operating regimen of the existing glycol heat recovery system was analyzed to determine its capability to provide source energy to the existing 280 ton heat pump, and the study determined that a 1,428 GJ/year natural gas savings was possible by completing the proposed energy efficiency upgrade.

CURA’s extensive knowledge of the HVAC systems in this complicated 100,000ft2 (9,290m2) general teaching and research laboratory building allowed us to conceptualize a simple and low cost energy upgrade with high energy savings potential by interconnecting two existing glycol piping systems that were already in close physical proximity to one another.