University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus Low Temperature District Energy System *

Mr. Hutchison acted as the Prime & Mechanical Consultant for the redevelopment of the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus district energy system.  During the upgrade, an existing open-loop aquifer-based campus loop was converted to a Community Heat Pump energy-share style of closed loop system, allowing the various campus academic facilities with differing heating/cooling profiles to share energy while minimizing the use of peaking heating and cooling equipment.

The system has been operational since 2011 and currently serves approximately 12 academic facilities totaling 1.6 million ft2 of occupied area.  At the time of development, the system was the largest known open loop geoexchange/closed loop energy share system in North America and today remains one of the largest groundwater-based geoexchange systems in operation.

Mr. Hutchison led a team of Hydrogeologists, Civil Engineers, Groundwater & Heat Transport Modelers, Geochemists, Mechanical Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Structural Engineers and Architects during the redevelopment of the district energy system.

Engineering was completed in an expedited format due to the existing system’s known capacity & operational limitations, and a compressed construction period was employed that saw a new District Energy Control Facility constructed and operational in 5-1/2 months.

The project received the Grand Green Award for Sustainability in 2012 from the Re/Max Thompson Okanagan Commercial Building Awards and a $57,000 grant award from FortisBC for electrical energy conservation.

The low temperature district energy system at the UBC Okanagan Campus is one component of a broader set of objectives for decarbonizing the University’s heating systems, it eliminates “once-through” energy loops by sharing energy throughout the campus, and is part of an overall objective for the world-leading University of British Columbia campuses to achieve their net-zero carbon targets.

* Denotes project completed by Mr. Hutchison at another firm