Innovative low-temperature District Energy Sharing System technology created and pioneered by DEC is about to prove its amazing flexibility in Canada’s far north. The Governments of Canada, Yukon and Na-cho Nyak Dun First Nation have announced the adoption of DEC’s DESS technology for the heating and cooling of the striking Rob Sieniuc-designed Na-cho Nyak Dun government house in Mayo, Yukon. Powered by geo-thermal energy, the system will be designed to be easily expandable to other buildings in the community. The Mayo DESS proves the viability of alternative energy sources tied to a low-temperature distribution system, even in the harshest climates, and opens the door to low-cost, sustainable heating and cooling technologies in ecologically sensitive regions of the planet.

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DEC has signed a tri-party agreement with the Government of Krasnodar and Regnum Group to provide design, construction, financing and operations for a District Energy Sharing System and water utilities for Southern Star, a 706-hectare resort, recreation, and university project north of Sochi in the Tuapse area of the Krasnodar Region of Russia.

Find out more in the Spring/Summer 2010 Issue of the CERBA Quarterly News.

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The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has presented its highest award, the F. Paul Anderson Award, to DEC’s Senior Engineer Emeritus, Richard P. Perry.

Perry, 86, a veteran of heavy bomber missions over Germany in WWII, and a private pilot still, began his career as a consulting engineer in 1952, and has been at the forefront of “green” building technology since 1985. Recommendations that followed his 2-year survey of over 1500 buildings and plants in British Columbia resulted in substantial energy savings to the province. As Senior Engineer Emeritus at DEC, Perry remains an active and involved engineer and a highly-valued part of the DEC team.

ASHRAE’s F. Paul Anderson Award is the society’s highest honour, presented for notable individual achievement and exceptional leadership in the HVAC&R industry, for contributions to ASHRAE, and for outstanding service to society.

DEC has been recognized by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) with three FIRST’s in their 2010 Technology Awards.

• Alternative or Renewable Energy Use Category
  FIRST in Region XI and BC Chapter Awards for the Whistler Athletes’ Village Low-Temperature District Energy Sharing System.
• New Health Care Facilities Category
  FIRST in Region XI and BC Chapter Awards for the Vel-Ray Lodge Adult Day-Care Facility.
• New Institutional Buildings Category
  FIRST in BC Chapter Awards and Second in Region XI Awards for the Langley Day Care Centre.

DEC and KWL has received the Association of Canadian Engineering Companies Award of Excellence for the District Energy Sharing System at the Whistler Athletes’ Village in Whistler, B.C. ACEC’s Awards celebrate outstanding achievement in the field of engineering.

The Whistler DESS is unique in that it extracts heat from the treatment of sewage effluent at the nearby Whistler wastewater treatment plant, and uses that previously wasted energy to provide heating, cooling, and non-potable water to the facility, which covers 85,000 square meters and houses 2200 people. This system is one of the first closed-loop, low-temperature, combined heating and cooling district energy systems in the world, projecting GHG emission reductions of 96% over conventional heating technologies.

The District Energy Sharing System at Whistler Athlete’s Village in Whistler, B.C. has captured two more prestigious awards for DEC and KWL. The unique, low-temperature, closed-loop system has been selected as the winner of the Peak of Excellence Award from the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC (APEG), and the Energy Action Plan Award from the Community Energy Association.

DEC recently launched DESS, its District Energy Sharing System and water recovery technology in Cannes, France at MIPM – the world’s largest Real Estate Congress. Governments, developers and architects were uniformly enthusiastic about the system, which provides modern building systems with an innovative district heating and cooling and water recovery solution that maximizes energy recovery and use, and minimizes potable water consumption for an entire community, and significantly reduces infrastructure and building costs. Discussions regarding DESS applications are ongoing in China, Mongolia, Russia, England, Jordan, Australia and the USA.

DEC has developed a suite of web-based software tools that enable the standardization of design, construction and operation of district energy and water recovery technologies for existing, expanding, and newly-created communities. E2O significantly reduces the time, complexity and cost of infrastructure projects, making utilities more competitive and communities more sustainable.

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