District Energy in Chile
United Nations Environment Program. In 2017 Stephen completed a “Rapid Assessment” to find ways to reduce air pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning firewood to heat buildings in Chile. The assessments included the City of Temuco and the Santiago suburb of Renca. The work was part of United Nations Environment’s District Energy in Cities Initiative, and was completed under contract to the Sustainability Solutions Group. In the community of Temuco, the challenge is that 93% of the air pollution comes from burning...
read moreThe Time Value of Carbon
The Time Value of Carbon. Stephen was the lead author of the report The Time Value of Carbon: Smart Strategies to Accelerate Emission Reductions, which was published by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada in 2017. The report describes the strong effects on climate change of Near-term Climate Forcers such as methane and HFCs, and explains how current greenhouse gas accounting and reporting methods underestimate these effects. For example, the current greenhouse gas reporting practice is to account for the effects on climate of all...
read moreIntegrated Resource Recovery Analysis
Integrated Resource Recovery Analysis. In 2016, Stephen completed an Integrated Resource Recovery Analysis under contract to the Sustainability Solutions Group, to find opportunities to recover resources from waste in the Region of Waterloo. The Analysis compared options for the 100,000 tonnes per year of organic waste available in the region, and uncovered the following hybrid resource recovery concept: Organic waste could be diverted to a “Regional Bioenergy Centre”, where it would be processed in an anaerobic digester to produce biomethane...
read moreResources from Waste
Province of British Columbia, 2014. Resources from Waste Policy Analysis. In collaboration with the Sustainability Solutions Group, Stephen completed an analysis of options for recovering energy and other resources from solid waste. The clients for the study were the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Energy and Mines, and the Ministry of Community, Sport, and Cultural Development, and the analysis was completed in three parts. The first part of the analysis addressed the question: How can we compare the environmental, economic, and social...
read moreProject – Plan4DE
District energy is thousands of years old, and common in Europe. Given its many benefits, including greenhouse gas reductions, how can we foster its use elsewhere? Between 2014 and 2016 Farallon was part of a team that developed the Plan4DE, a modelling tool to accelerate district energy. Plan4DE is an interactive model, a kind of flight simulator for district energy planning. The model keeps the technical analysis in the background, and shows planners, modelers and decision-makers how they can optimize the design of a community for district...
read moreCity of Courtenay District Energy Study
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...
read moreComox Valley Regional Intgrated Resource Recovery Study
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...
read moreVancouver Island Health Authority Sustainable Energy
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...
read moreUBC’s UTown Community Energy and Emissions Plan
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...
read moreCity of Port Alberni Resource Recovery Study
In 2010, Farallon completed an integrated resource recovery study to determine the feasibility and economics of recovering energy and water from solid and liquid waste from industry and the community. The study uncovered several ways to reduce the community’s greenhouse gas emissions, and to generate non-tax revenues from community-based energy. Farallon has incorporated a number of technical innovations into a planned district energy system, and continues to help the City of Port Alberni to develop its district energy system....
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