The Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Village:

Implementing geothermal like you’ve never seen

 

BY JOHN MESENBRINK,

chief editor

 

It is considered one of the most beautiful places in the world. And next month, the world will witness all of Vancouver, British Columbia’s beauty and glory when the city hosts the 2010 Winter Olympic games.

 

Tucked away amid the tall peaks of the Coast Mountain Range, nearly 2,400 athletes and officials will be taking up housing at the Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Village — located approximately 20 minutes south of the  Whistler Mountain competition venues — the 2010 Winter Olympics facility constructed in the resort town of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. This $32 million village project will eventually be transitioned into a 100-room lodge and 20-unit townhouse complex.

 

Whistler Athletes Village is a leed-nd (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — for Neighborhood Development) project. The village is comprised of five main components: the residential zone known as Cheakamus Crossing; the international zone; the transport mall; a main catering facility; and an operations support area.?The full area will cover 75 acres and will be approximately one million square feet in size, half of that allocated to housing. It is to be developed first to serve as the Whistler Athlete Village in 2010, and then will become a permanent, mixed-use neighborhood, designed to support Whistler’s goal of housing 75% of its employees within the community.

 

According to Whistler2010.com, the village was built to green building standards, using smart growth principles and with the goal of meeting Gold Level certification under leed-nd. The leed-nd rating system integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism, and green building into the first international standard for neighborhood design.

 

One such innovative, sustainable design practice was the village’s heat source. The site was once the municipal landfill but has been transformed into a “green” development using progressive initiatives. The community’s heat will be generated by effluent from the wastewater treatment plant located nearby.

 

DEC Design Mechanical Consultants Ltd. (DEC), a multi-disciplinary engineering firm, in a consortium with Hemmera, environmental  service consultants, carried out a detailed feasibility study for a district energy system for the existing village of Whistler. The Study concluded that a modular system based on distributed geo-exchange vertical bore fields for primary energy sources would be feasible for a village wide system with multiple interconnected loops that would act as an energy supply, energy storage and energy sharing utility that could be implemented in phases.

 

Essentially using the same concepts of geothermal — extracting a ground heat source — the heat recovery system from the sewage captures heat from liquid waste by passing raw sewage through a heat exchanger, with an added caveat: sewage heat recovery is more advantageous than its geothermal counterpart because sewage is warmer and its heat can be directly transferred.

 

Using 62 spearate geothermal panels, heat is extracted off the sanitary sewage system; in turn, heat exchangers then transfer energy to a fluid, which is pumped around the development through the piping system. Individual homes will use heat pumps to produce space heating and hot water. Both hydronic radiant in-floor heating and hot water fan coil heating will be used. Domestic hot water is produced with plate heat exchangers. Up to 90 percent of the village’s heating load will be provided from the system, which gives off non-greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Conventional district energy systems circulate high temperature water through their distribution loops, limiting their use and responsiveness. The Whistler Athletes Village District Energy Sharing System (des) is unique in that it extracts low temperature ambient heat from treated wastewater effluent, making it flexible enough to provide both heating and cooling. The des extracts the heat and transfers it to a distribution system that can provide space heating domestic hot water heating and cooling for approximately 2,200 users occupying 85,000 square meters of space. It is one of the first closed looped heating and cooling district energy systems in the world. The system was designed and commission in 2008, and despite the ambitious project schedule, was completed on time and on budget.

 

“The project included 32 residential units with only three to four weeks for completion. The installation called for custom design, and had to be completed in small space areas. After the Olympics, the Olympic Athletes’ Village units will be sold, but will still require maintenance. Our geothermal units were designed to ensure ease of serviceability,” said David Zinn, president of Hydrowest Products Ltd.

 

Hydrowest Products Ltd., with more than 30 years of experience in all operations of modern hydronics, was key to this unique geothermal project. Hydrowest Products’ involvement with the Olympic Athletes’ Village Whistler project began with a request from Pipeline Mechanical Ltd., located in Squamish, B.C. (about 40 minutes from Whistler). Pipeline Mechanical was contracted, and was instrumental in this unique Whistler project involving waste heat recovery.

A number of products were required including heat exchangers, pumps, valves, flow setters, gauges — for very tight space with tight connection constraints to the exchange unit.

 

“Purge valves eliminate air problems and are excellent for commissioning systems. Webstone Isolator Uni-flange ball valves make changing pumps a 10-minute job — without system fluid loss. Webstone Union Pro-Pal valves, with hose bibb and union, can save labor and space.

“Tankless water heater connections are essential, and Hydrowest has just started using the new Webstone expansion tank fitting. This product has seen great reception,” said Zinn.

 

Hydrowest has continued to refine and improve offerings with time-saving and value-added products, which increase the reliability and service ease of its finished units.

 

“Webstone Company has become one of those value products — which are incorporated into our solutions on a daily basis. Webstone has provisioned solutions from a contractor’s perspective, including determining what valves and fittings actually are needed for specific functions in the building of plumbing and heating systems. Hydrowest Products uses a majority of Webstone’s product lines, and we have been very pleased with the performance and reliability of their products. At the end of the day, it just makes a lot of sense to build systems with service and quick start-up built in,” said Zinn.

 

The project has garnered international recognition for its commitment to green practices. The District Energy System is one of the highest profile aspects of the athlete’s village’s commitment to green design. The Resort Municipality of Whistler’s waste management system earned the 2009 cama (Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators) Environmental Award, as well as the 2008 Community Energy Association’s Energy Action Award for Community Planning and Development.

 

“This is an innovative alternative energy system that effectively leverages all of the showers, toilets and hot water going into the sewers in Whistler,” said Ted Battiston, Whistler Center for Sustainability’s Energy & Emissions manager.