Studying Viability of an Energy Harvesting Project in Hamilton

Hamilton Community Enterprises (HCE), a municipally owned provider of district energy and other smart city solutions, is seeking FCM support for a Feasibility Study to determine the viability of using locally available industrial waste heat as a fuel source for a low-carbon thermal corridor serving Hamilton and beyond.
The Study will advance the vision of applying waste thermal energy produced by local manufacturers to decarbonize space heating in Hamilton and the surrounding region.
Presently, GHGs attributable to buildings account for 28% of Hamilton's emissions. This relatively low value is a function of the massive GHG emissions associated with Hamilton's industry and is not a result of better buildings.
Through carbon-free steelmaking practices and other initiatives, Hamilton is steadily reducing industrial emissions. However, if nothing significant is done to decarbonize the building sector, GHGs attributable to space heating in Hamilton will grow to roughly 45% of overall emissions, typical of other cities in the GTHA.
A previous study — led by the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce in partnership with HCE, financed by The Atmospheric Fund, and published in 2021 — identified enough waste thermal energy to heat more than 45,000 homes in Hamilton through an enhanced district energy system.
Conservative estimates showed that using a portion of this heat would decrease Hamilton's building sector carbon footprint by approximately 200,000 tCO2e per yr. This would result in GHG reductions in the building sector of more than 70% compared to the business-as-usual scenario, within 3 yrs of implementation
Earlier research also affirmed that local manufacturers, developers, and the municipality are keen to further explore this decarbonization pathway.
The problem we seek to address through our one-year Study extends to three opportunities:
1.    Increasing Energy Conservation: Communities must harvest larger quantities of industrial heat routinely released to the atmosphere and watersheds (research shows that upwards of 60% of industrial energy is "wasted", including energy produced by burning fossil fuels). 
2.    Reducing the Burden on Electricity Systems: Communities need to reduce the burden on power generation and distribution as markets "electrify" — a thermal corridor fueled by industrial waste heat and complementary to mass electrification is a large part of the solution.
3.    Accelerating Municipal Innovation: Communities must act in new ways to pursue integrated approaches to sustainability, including initiatives that complement ongoing decarbonization efforts, promote affordability and social equity, and leverage public-private partnerships to build commercially viable low-carbon heat networks.
The Study will help advance these and other system level innovations. It will follow the TAF-funded research report discussed above, focusing on analyzing the market to use industrial waste heat for building heating from a demand side perspective.
HCE will lead the Study in collaboration with the City of Hamilton, the Hamilton Chamber, local manufacturers (waste heat suppliers), and prospective customers (waste heat users). 
Qualified professional consultancies with complementary strengths in the technical and commercial aspects of the Study will be engaged and work under the supervision of a Steering Committee and Task Team.
The Study will concurrently examine three aspects of the proposed thermal corridor: technical requirements, commercial considerations, and options for ownership and operation. 
Results will help inform Hamilton's Community Energy and Emissions Plan that Hamilton City Council is expected to approve in August 2022.
Most importantly, the Study's outcomes will influence a decision on whether to proceed with detailed engineering work and the formation of a consortium that would be required to build, operate, and maintain the proposed thermal corridor.
The Study's findings and report will be made available to  F