Case Study: Vancouver City Hall

Case Study: Vancouver City Hall

The City of Vancouver embarks on its plan to decarbonize City Hall

As part of its multi-phased City Hall decarbonization project, the City of Vancouver installed an Aermec NRP air-to-water heat pump in late 2017 to provide heating and cooling to parts of the complex. The project was triggered by both a plan to use only renewable energy in its facilities by 2040 as well as the demolition of a building which housed a 270-ton chiller plant. Following an analysis of the different options, it was determined that the incremental capital cost to install a highly efficient, four-pipe, air-source heat pump was similar to that of installing a new chiller with a desuperheater to reclaim heat from the chiller. In essence, for a similar installation cost, the City could reduce its emissions by approximately 34% (by displacing some of the natural gas used for heating) and provide cooling to some of the complex. The simple payback period was estimated to be less than ten years. Many lessons related to applicability and limitations were learned in this first phase of the project.