Our Work

In 2012 Farallon was engaged by the City of Courtenay to study the feasibility of a district energy system which could replace fossil fuels in the North Island College campus, the Comox Valley Recreation Centre, and the planned Comox Valley Hospital in Courtenay. Farallon hired FVB Energy Inc. for this study, which concluded that a district energy system would be viable if its development is coordinated with the design of the planned Comox Valley Hospital.

In 2012 Farallon completed a comprehensive Integrated Resource Recovery study for the Comox Valley Regional District. The study examined opportunities for recovering energy and other resources from the potable water system, liquid waste, solid waste, and industrial waste heat. The study found that an integrated solution for regional solid waste based on source separation would reduce the capital cost of waste management to taxpayers by an estimated $20 million and also generate an estimated $1.9 million/year of revenues, rather than a cost of $1 million per year for the business-as-usual option – an estimated net improvement of approximately $3 million per year. The integrated solution would also support the economic, social, and environmental goals in the...

Farallon was engaged by Island Health to develop options for providing the Royal Jubilee Hospital and the surrounding community with sustainable sources of energy. The study reviewed a wide variety of options, including energy recovery from wastewater, liquid biofuels, biogas from organic waste, and cogeneration and thermal energy alone from biomass. The study found that the lifecycle costs of a sustainable energy system would be lower than business-as-usual options for the Hospital and community. Farallon was the principal consultant for this project, and hired FVB Energy Inc. for their expertise in district energy and Avalon Mechanical Consultants Ltd. for their expertise in building energy...

In 2012, Farallon was engaged by the Sustainability Solutions Group to provide industrial ecology options as part of the development of UBC’s Community Energy and Emissions Plan for UTown, the residential community of the Vancouver  campus. Farallon developed the concept of a UBC Biomethane Energy Research Centre which would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 23,000 tonnes per year and a maximum of 130,000 tonnes per year for a larger-scale system. At the larger scale, all greenhouse gas emissions from UBC operations would be offset to zero. The concept would also cost less than the business-as-usual fossil fuel option, and would result in local jobs and other environmental and social...

In collaboration with Terence Williams Architect Inc., engaged in the development of sustainability guidelines and sustainability performance targets for the design and construction of buildings on the new West Campus in Palm Springs. The guidelines incorporate industrial ecology principles and go beyond individual buildings to include the surrounding community, to make the campus a net producer of greenhouse gas-neutral energy. The guidelines resulted in the College receiving the Community College Facility Coalition’s Professional Design Awards in the category of Master Planning, and also the Green Technology Magazine’s Green Colleges Leadership Award in the District Category. The guidelines go beyond individual buildings to include the surrounding...

In 2010, Farallon was engaged in an extensive study commissioned by Metro Vancouver to identify Integrated Resource Recovery (IRR, also known as Integrated Resource Management or IRM) opportunities, and to evaluate the feasibility and economics of recovering energy and water from solid and liquid waste in the North Shore communities. Metro Vancouver was prompted to initiate the study in part because of the need to upgrade wastewater treatment on the North Shore to meet new Federal requirements, and in part to investigate options for managing solid waste.   The study team included specialists in engineering, ecology, valuation, and governance: Farallon was responsible for the industrial ecology aspects of the report, including finding sources of waste...