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UBCO gets sustainable district energy heating system

  • Writer: FTFO
    FTFO
  • Apr 10
  • 1 min read

UBC Okanagan upping the heat while lowering greenhouse gas emissions



UBC Okanagan is heating up its mission on efficiency and sustainability with a new air-source heat pump district energy system.

huge heat pump installation
University of British Columbia – Okanagan Campus Reduce Emissions by 815 Tonnes Per Year (Screenshot from Vitalis website)

A tour of the equipment in and around the GEO Exchange Building was held on April 9 and led by the associate director for the Energy Department, Colin Richardson.


“This project meets our new growth demands for heating and cooling,” Richardson said. “It also decarbonizes our system.”


The pump was built by Kelowna-based business Vitalis, located north of the UBCO campus, which is an equipment manufacturer (OEM) of CO2-based technologies, with a focus on clean-tech solutions.


Vitalis President and UBCO alum James Seabrook explained that the pump extracts heat from outdoor air and transfers it into the campus heating system, and works in reverse to cool the campus in summer. The system also uses carbon dioxide as a refrigerant.



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