{"id":58808,"date":"2018-05-22T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T16:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=58808"},"modified":"2018-05-22T14:43:46","modified_gmt":"2018-05-22T18:43:46","slug":"lorinc-sidewalk-labss-district-energy-gambit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2018\/05\/22\/lorinc-sidewalk-labss-district-energy-gambit\/","title":{"rendered":"LORINC: Sidewalk Labs’s district energy gambit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Within the next week or so, Sidewalk Labs will sign contracts with two as-yet unnamed engineering firms tasked with figuring out one of the central goals of Waterfront Toronto\u2019s plans for Quayside and the Portlands: a net-zero development strategy built from a tightly linked confection of ultra-efficient architecture, renewable power, and a highly experimental approach to district energy.<\/p>\n

Much of the public and media attention on SWL\u2019s plans for Quayside has focused so far on the proposed deployment of public realm sensors and the leveraging of data in the design of urban infrastructure. What’s less well known is that the project\u2019s ambitious energy mandate received top billing in Waterfront Toronto\u2019s spring 2017 request for proposals<\/a> for Quayside. That aspect of the plan, in fact, represents the outcome of years of detailed policy and planning by the agency and the City of Toronto, which last fall issued a report<\/a> entitled, \u201cPort Lands Energy Plan: Guidelines for a Net Zero District.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to WT officials, the two contracts \u2013 at least one of which is going to a Canadian firm \u2013 will be financed out of the US$50 million pot of funding SWL has pledged to spend on developing the master development and innovation plan for Quayside, the release of which has been delayed until the end of 2018. WT spokesperson Carol Webb says Sidewalk didn\u2019t issue an RFP for the consultants it will be retaining.<\/p>\n

According to WT\u2019s innovation and sustainability manager Aaron Barter, the consultants will be scrutinizing the technical requirements of a next-gen district energy concept known as \u201cambient loop<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conventional district heating and cooling utilities, such as Brookfield Infrastructure subsidiary Enwave<\/a>, pump either natural gas-produced steam or lake water through a distributed network of pipes tied to the heating and air conditioning systems of individual buildings. While the model provides environmental benefits, it is far from carbon neutral, with the network effectiveness heavily determined by the energy efficiency of the individual buildings.<\/p>\n

An ambient loop system, by contrast, is designed to gather and then circulate surplus heating or cooling generated by individual structures or other types of infrastructure within a district. With this approach, a closed network of pipes, chillers and heat pumps links the buildings, and is designed to manage energy flows not unlike the smart grids and meters that accommodate distributed renewable electricity. \u201cIt means we\u2019re not burning natural gas,\u201d Barter says.<\/p>\n

Unlike smart electricity grids, Barter and SWL officials both admit there are, to date, no large-scale operating ambient loop systems. A few limited projects exist \u2014 one in Vancouver in a Olympic Village development on False Creek that recycles waste heat produced by a sewage pumping plant, and another at Stanford University<\/a>. The City of Edmonton, in turn, is in the process of re-developing Blatchford, the site of a decommissioned civic airport, using a \u201cdistrict energy sharing system<\/a>.\u201d Says Barter: \u201cThere is no clear example of what we\u2019re trying to do here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The heating\/cooling infrastructure, however, is only part of the equation. The other critical element is the presence of what Rit Aggarwala, SWL’s head of urban systems, describes as \u201csuper efficient\u201d buildings designed to capture and then recycle as much surplus heat and cooling as possible. In other words, an ambient loop system for Quayside or the Portlands will only deliver on the net zero vision by tethering an untested energy infrastructure system to highly prescriptive design standards that almost certainly exceed what\u2019s widely in use in Toronto right now.<\/p>\n

Barter points out that the City\u2019s ambitious new green building code<\/a>, which came into effect on May 1, represents the minimum for developers who want to build on Quayside or the Port Lands (although the actual energy efficiency requirements for these areas will likely go well beyond those regulatory benchmarks). Sidewalk officials confirmed they have been meeting privately with local developers, and presumably this topic is an important item on the agenda.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s far less clear, as both Aggarwala and Barter admit, is the business model that eventually supports this complex chicken-and-egg approach (there are, so far, no business models for any of the other elements of Sidewalk’s plans for Quayside). Aggarwal says the overall cost will be driven up by not just the demanding design standards for individual buildings, but also the challenge of constructing the ambient loop infrastructure in a high water-table precinct built on heavily contaminated landfill. \u201cAt Quayside, it\u2019s a bit more complex than inland where there\u2019s no fill,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Nor is it apparent, at this point, whether the ambient loop will operate as a stand-alone utility, like Enwave, or how the energy-sharing infrastructure will be supplemented by more conventional renewable systems deployed by individual building owners (geothermal, biomass, solar). (Barter also declined to say whether either precinct would be served by a natural gas distribution network.)<\/p>\n

Sidewalk officials confirm they\u2019ve spoken to Enwave, but an Enwave spokesperson declined to elaborate on the nature of the discussions. WT in the past has bruited the possibility of extending Enwave\u2019s deep lake chilling infrastructure into the agency\u2019s development zones, and last month completed a deal<\/a> to supply energy to a 25-storey East Bayfront LEED Platinum project by Menkes that just broke ground. WT spokesperson Carol Webb adds that the agency is also talking to Toronto Hydro as a potential partner.<\/p>\n

Aggarwala says it\u2019s likely that such an innovation-driven system will only become viable commercially through economies of scale. The deployment of an ambient loop within Quayside, however, would ultimately serve as a proof-of-concept for a larger roll out in the Port Lands and elsewhere. But, as he adds, \u201cI couldn\u2019t tell you if this works at 25 buildings or if it takes 200 buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Within the next week or so, Sidewalk Labs will sign contracts with two as-yet unnamed engineering firms tasked with figuring out one of the central goals of Waterfront Toronto\u2019s plans for Quayside and the Portlands: a net-zero development strategy built from a tightly linked confection of ultra-efficient architecture, renewable power, and a highly experimental approachContinue reading “LORINC: Sidewalk Labs’s district energy gambit”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":58818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21758,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLORINC: Sidewalk Labs's district energy gambit - 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