The Department of National
Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces is researching "green heat" -
a high-efficiency, low-emissions heating that doesn't require a major
retrofit to a building and could save millions of dollars.
We were looking for something that is innovative,
but we didn't have what we were shopping for.
You do a major upgrade to the building, which is extremely costly,
or you find a way to get that heat energy and do it without emitting
a lot of greenhouse gases.
And that's what this test pilot and challenge is all about.
To deliver a low carbon energy system.
The Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security program, or IDEaS, is funding
a Test Drive that will assess the effectiveness and costs of operating
a large scale, low-emissions energy generation and storage system
for heating an existing building at Canadian Forces Base Kingston.
The solution is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90%
without doing invasive works within the buildings.
The equipment used is already proven, so that minimizes risk.
But it's the way that our design partner FVB
really came in with
the concept, to put all this different
equipment together to make a system that's innovative.
This IDEaS Test Drive
acquired an advanced prototype solution
so that the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces
can assess the readiness of the product in the real world
for a military audience.
IDEaS does provide that opportunity,
design the low carbon technology solution, build it,
and then operate and monitor for the two-year period
so we can tweak it, learn from it,
and then be able to apply this to other projects.
This melting is due to heat loss between the heating plant and the main building.
This Test Drive will evaluate
the integrated solution of geothermal and heat pump technologies.
If successful, this patch of grass will be covered in snow within three
seasons, demonstrating that lack of heat loss and increased efficiency
associated with the low-emissions energy generation that we're going for.
The results of this Test Drive will help inform future decisions
for the National Defence infrastructure
portfolio and support the broader Greening Government Strategy
to reach net-zero emissions from the Government of Canada by 2050.