Did you know the National Arts Centre is part of an energy network made up of over 14 km of underground pipes that heats and cools 80 buildings in the National Capital Region, including the Parliament Buildings?
The pipes are connected to the federal government’s National Capital Region District Energy System, which is now undergoing a major modernization led by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). The modernization project – also known as the Energy Services Acquisition Program or ESAP – is converting the system from steam to low-temperature hot water for heating, and from steam driven chillers to electric chillers for cooling.
The goal of the modernization project is to position the system to be carbon neutral by 2030 and create a 92% reduction in GHG emissions compared to the 2005 baseline levels. Once completed in 2026, the modernized system will be one of the greenest public district energy systems in North America!
To make sure the National Arts Centre is ready to receive the clean energy once the ESAP is done, PSPC just completed a two-year conversion of the NAC’s heating and cooling facilities.
Despite the complexity of this major project – and thanks to close collaboration between the PSPC project team and NAC Operations staff – there were no interruptions to performances and events at the Centre.
This project is one of the ways the NAC will achieve its 50% target reduction in scope 2 GHGs* by the end of the decade. The Centre is already more than halfway to that goal, having reduced its scope 2 GHG emissions by 33.7% since the 2017 baseline year. This represents about 1,410 tons of CO2, or the equivalent of 432 passenger vehicles off the road for one year!
* NOTE: Scope 2 GHG emissions come from energy purchased by the NAC that is produced by an external organization, such as electricity and district heating and cooling. Scope 3 emissions include business travel, waste, water and the use of sold products such as lightbulbs. The NAC does not produce its own energy and therefore has no Scope 1 emissions.
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