Mathew Jones | MEL Candidate | December 3, 2024
Mentors: Ryan Galloway, Pierre Iachetti – Island Health
ABSTRACT
Island Health has committed to sustainability targets for emissions reduction and waste diversion. Additionally, it has a Low Carbon Resilience Roadmap outlining the infrastructure needs to meet its 2050 emissions reduction target. This project assessed whether waste-to-energy or biomass energy could be alternative energy sources to supplement Island Health’s roadmap and advance progress on its sustainability initiatives.
Key findings included:
- Biomass energy is viable for decarbonizing heating at Island Health’s facilities without increasing electrical grid demand.
- Biomass boilers may be preferred over electrification for remote and electrically constrained locations.
- Waste-to-energy requires significant capital investment but can reduce Island Health’s waste disposal costs and generate energy to offset other energy usage.
- Waste volumes from individual facilities are prohibitive for advanced waste-to-energy technologies such as gasification.
INTRODUCTION
Chemainus Health Care Centre (CHCC) urgently needed a replacement boiler for its space heating system, so it was used as a study to evaluate waste-to-energy and biomass energy options and assess their viability for inclusion in Island Health’s low carbon resilience roadmap. The presented options were evaluated for implementation at CHCC and across Island Health’s portfolio.
METHODOLOGY
The analysis focused on evaluating commercially available technologies that Island Health can implement. CHCC’s 2023 energy usage and waste disposal rates were used to calculate operating costs and emissions reductions and assess practical barriers.
To further understand practical barriers, a site visit was conducted at CHCC to walk through the facility and discuss the project with the engineering and maintenance teams. A site visit to a local biomass supplier was also undertaken to understand the logistics of heating with biomass. The District of Saanich was contacted to discuss the challenges and lessons learned from implementing a similar biomass heating project at Saanich Commonwealth Place. These discussions were essential to fully understanding the challenges of implementing a new heating system at CHCC.
RESULTS
Cost Reduction
Implementing a biomass energy system for space heating and supplementing this with a waste-to-energy system that utilizes waste heat to lower the energy demand of the biomass boiler resulted in the greatest reduction in operating costs.
Emissions Reduction
Implementing waste-to-energy can significantly reduce costs; however, this is not the best option for reducing emissions. While waste-to-energy reduces emissions compared to landfilling the waste, it is more emissions-intensive than biomass energy or British Columbia’s electricity grid. This misalignment must be managed proactively by reducing waste at the source. Relying on waste for energy generation will not reduce emissions as effectively as possible.
DISCUSSION
Many practical limitations of implementing either of these solutions could be mitigated at new facilities if the initial design incorporates biomass or waste-to-energy. Capital costs would also be reduced, as significant retrofitting costs are required to fabricate external units to house the equipment and connect it to the mechanical systems within the facility.
Combining waste streams from multiple facilities or implementing a regional approach to waste management improves waste-to-energy viability. The size of the waste stream at many facilities may be prohibitive to economic waste-to-energy solutions. It also limits the technologies that may be used. There are vendors in Canada offering more advanced waste-to-energy options, such as plasma gasification for waste streams greater than one tonne per day. This lower limit eliminates many of Island Health’s facilities from consideration.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Include biomass energy in the Low Carbon Resilience Roadmap.
Biomass boilers should be included in Island Health’s roadmap and considered for electrically constrained locations. Biomass heating can help decarbonize these locations without straining the electrical grid.
Waste-to-energy should play a role in broad waste reduction efforts.
Waste-to-energy should be considered for any facility that has implemented a detailed waste reduction program and cannot divert any more waste from reaching the landfill. Waste-to-energy is only beneficial when the only alternative for the waste is landfilling.
CONTACT
Mathew Jones
jones.mathew@icloud.com
www.linkedin.com/in/mathewkjones