District aims to retrofit Brennan Park by 2030

The District of Squamish aims to retrofit Brennan Park Recreation Centre to approach Netzero Energy Ready standard by 2030.

According to the district’s Municipal Energy and Emissions Plan, the recreation centre is a major consumer of energy and source of municipal GHGs, accounting for 32% of Squamish’s corporate inventory.

The centre on its own could surpass Squamish’s 2030 municipal GHG target if not carefully managed, the report notes.

“By carefully planning retrofits and expansions, and working toward electrification, it is possible to significantly reduce municipal emissions by focusing on this one building,” the report says.

However, the district report doesn’t provide a specific number on the cost, though it says retrofitting and expanding the recreation centre to a Net-Zero Energy Ready standard will be “time consuming and costly”.

The district has no current budget for retrofits and expansions to centre, though the report notes there are significant challenges to retrofit existing buildings to Net-Zero Energy Ready standard.

The district aims to employ waste heat recovery and thermal energy storage technologies to utilize heat from the arena toward pool heating in order to meet up to 75% of pool heating demands.

It plans to utilize waste heat recovery to help achieve a Net Zero Energy Ready Standard. It will also work toward electrification of the centre.

Electrification in combination with achieving efficiency standards will result in an emissions reduction of 610 tonnes of CO2 per year to 60 tonnes CO2 per year, district adds.

The district’s next step is to perform an energy study for the recreation centre, and find funding to support expansions, retrofits and electrification activities.