AEE Canada East

Speaker: Chantal Daigle Verrier 

Community action is essential to ensure that Canada meets its climate and net-zero goals. In 2021, QUEST Canada launched the New Brunswick Smart Energy Communities Accelerator program that aids New Brunswick communities in discussing and actioning community energy plans and is designed to foster economic development and greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts. This presentation will overview the program and provide exciting highlights and updates, as well as share success stories from several participating communities.

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Since 1998, Eddie Oldfield has coordinated initiatives focused on local sustainability, GHG emissions reduction, clean energy and efficiency, transportation/fleets, climate adaptation and resilience planning.  As Senior Lead, Projects, at QUEST, he supports the delivery of regional and national projects to advance net-zero communities, including a pilot Accelerator Program in New Brunswick. Eddie also co-chairs the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)’s Energy and Utilities working group and is also a founding member of the OGC Health working group and Smart Cities working group.  He has led development of innovative web-based map services & distributed spatial data infrastructure, to support decision making including for climate-health programs and a cross-border pandemic exercise in 2007.  Eddie holds a BA (2008), with Interdisciplinary Honours from St. Thomas University, and is an accomplished musician.  QEII Diamond Jubilee Medal recipient.

Starting in 2019, Smart Grid Atlantic is a four-year, federally-funded initiative that will help Atlantic Canada move to a smarter, cleaner, more resilient and efficient power grid. The project partners are researching and testing how the grid of the future can optimize the integration of renewable sources of energy, ensure the stability of the grid and manage decentralized distribution. Deploying technologies in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the aim is to better manage the provinces’ electricity, potentially reduce consumers’ future electricity costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Pierre Mullin is the executive responsible for the global custom software development organization for Siemens Digital Grid, including locations in the USA, Canada, Germany, Austria and India.  Prior to joining Siemens, he was a Software Development Manager in the BlackBerry R&D organization.

Pierre is a graduate of UNB’s Computer Science program. During his 25+ year career he has held leadership roles in product development, start ups, consulting firms and corporate IT.

He has sat on the boards of the OpenADR Alliance and TechImpact, as well as the Smart Grid Innovation Network (SGIN) Steering Committee and the UNB CS Advisory Board.

The secret to energy savings may not be in deep retrofits or new systems. It may be as simple as finding and fixing energy waste in your existing HVAC system.  With stretched time and budgets, some of the quickest (and cheapest) wins are right at the fingertips of building operators; however, having HVAC data close can be empowering and overwhelming.

Passing valves, dampers not modulating, overrides, mechanical and programming issues – he’s seen it all – and in this session, Eric Ewing, Senior Efficiency Analyst for a HVAC AI solution, applies real-life building scenarios to demonstrate practical data tips every facility operator can use to identify energy waste and turn data into dollars. Eric will also provide an overview of how AI can automate a control strategy to proactively control and reduce time, money and energy.

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Eric Ewing is a Senior Efficiency Analyst for Ecopilot Canada/USA, playing an active role on the technical team managing installs, integrations and technical analysis for Ecopilot projects. With a background in electrical technology and commissioning building automation systems with Johnson Controls, he is passionate about maximizing the potential in each building to reduce its energy consumption and carbon footprint.

In his current role, Eric works alongside BMS technicians to identify and implement Ecopilot’s AI solution to various types of mechanical systems. He also conducts analysis and energy reporting for clients to help provide recommendations on system improvements to provide further opportunities for better building efficiency.

Eric lives in Dartmouth with his wife, Madison, and dog, Sage.

On January 29, 2019, Halifax Regional Council declared a climate emergency and began the work of creating an updated climate plan. Their ambitious plan, HalifACT––approved unanimously by Halifax Regional Council in June 2020––is a set of 46 actions designed to help the municipality meet a net-zero emissions goal by 2050. Developed by Halifax’s Regional Municipality’s Environment and Climate Change team, HalifACT will save money, prevent loss, prepare communities, and improve wellbeing. Regional Council approved a dedicated 3% tax to fund HalifACT for a minimum of 10 years. That’s $18M a year to help HalifACT mainstream climate action across the organization, with key partners and the public, allowing them to move faster and further, using a collective impact approach.

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Kevin Boutilier is the Manager of Community Energy with the Halifax Regional Municipality. After receiving a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 2013, Kevin began working in the renewable energy industry, gaining knowledge of solar energy system design, feasibility, installation and operation. In his current position, Kevin is responsible for the successful delivery of the Solar City program, a new Retrofit Pilot program and the Municipal Electric Vehicle Strategy. In addition, Kevin is the technical expert supporting the implementation of HalifACT, the municipality’s climate action plan that aims to reduce community-wide emissions by 75% over 2016 levels and achieve net-zero by 2050. Kevin uses his experience and passion of clean energy to educate and lead the community in reducing their carbon footprint.

In Canada, the building sector typically accounts for over 50% of annual carbon emissions in metropolitan areas. These emissions are attributed to the combustion of natural gas for building heating and domestic hot water production. As our communities face the global challenge of decarbonizing our economy, the building sector represents the majority of metropolitan carbon emissions, and the lowest hanging fruit to drive the greatest carbon reductions. The electrification of building heating has been acknowledged by the market as the path to NetZero, and through mass uptake of heat pumps, this transition can be accomplished in a highly efficient manner. Ground-Source Heat Pumps (GSHP) are specific variation of heat pump systems that leverage the deep ambient earth as a source/sink to produce ultra efficient and dual-purpose heating and cooling solution for buildings, while typically producing a reduction in a facility’s peak electrical demand and while increasing the overall grid capacity utilization. GSHPs have been known to produce up to 65% reduction in HVAC energy use intensity, up to 95% reduction in scope two HVAC carbon emissions, and a complete elimination of potable water use in HVAC cooling towers heat rejection. In this session, you will hear from Andrei Hari of Armstrong Fluid Technology and Adam Alaica of Geosource Energy discuss GSHP systems, and their application on past projects delivered through an integrated partnership for both new buildings and retrofit applications. This session will review of GSHP technology, design/delivery/operational management, the application of next generation Design Envelope smart pumping, empirical data driven operations/optimization, and project delivery models.

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Andrei Hari has worked a combined 20 years with Armstrong Fluid Technology. He currently holds the title of Canadian Business Development Manager, concentrating on educating the industry on a systems approach to chilled water, geothermal, heat pump and boiler plant optimization with a focus on an understanding of Demand Based Controls, Digital twins and the application of AI, along with the importance of flow control. He has also held roles as US North Central Regional Sales Manager, US National Commercial Sales Manager and US National Sales Manager / Large Projects. He is a graduate of Ryerson University, with a Mechanical Engineering degree. He has over 30 years of experience in Industrial, Municipal and HVAC pumping and Industrial and Commercial Heat Transfer applications. With this experience, he has spent the last 15 years developing an intricate understanding of HVAC optimization strategies and load distribution systems.

This combined experience gives him a unique insight, not only into the mechanical side of Commercial HVAC applications but also a unique perspective on a systems solution approach to flow control, chilled water plant automation and optimization with Demand Based Control methodology, applying Armstrong Fluid Technologies Design Envelope solutions, all based on the basic engineering fundamentals of Fluid dynamics, Heat transfer and Thermodynamics.

Adam is an energy professional, with over 9 years of experience in the low-carbon energy sector. Majority of Adam’s tenure in the industry has focused his effort on the feasibility and design development of low-carbon thermal energy technologies, including geothermal, sewer heat recovery, heat pumps, heat recovery chillers, and others; both at the building and community level (district energy). In addition, Adam brings hands on experience in automation and process control from the industrial sector.

The ASHRAE Position Document on Building Decarbonization was recently approved and announced. Building decarbonization addresses a building’s entire life cycle: its construction and energy use as well as methane and refrigerant leaks, which are the primary sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A primary means for reducing building GHG emissions includes reducing building energy use through energy-efficient electrification while also removing emissions from the electrical grid.

This session will explore solutions for electrification of thermal systems using site sourced, site recovered and compressor-based heating. Air-to-water and water-to-water heat pump system benefits, limitations, and best practices will be discussed as well as cold climate strategies.

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the electrification landscape
2. Understand heat pump capabilities and limitations
3. Identify key considerations for selection and sizing 
4. Compare electrified system types
5. Discover cold climate variations
6. Unlock energy storage for both heating and cooling

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Lukas is an account executive with the Trane Toronto team, holds a Bachelor of Applied Science with specialization in Environmental Engineering from Queen’s University, and is an active member of ASHRAE. Lukas works closely with clients to achieve their sustainability and energy goals by leveraging their BAS and upgrading equipment or optimizing HVAC performance. Specializing in electrification of heating and building environment optimization with smart building automation solutions, Lukas supports clients to create and design HVAC solutions and follows them through manufacturing, installation, and optimal operation. Lukas actively empowers others to take a step back and consider the holistic picture in every project. Lukas supports clients in Canada to achieve their sustainability goals with lasting results.

In his free time, Lukas hits the backcountry; canoeing and hiking in the summer, and cross country skiing in the winter.

This session will focus on the latest chiller trends and their applications in heating systems. With the current push towards decarbonization electric chillers are being used in new and creative ways. New products have been developed that utilize the vapor compression cycle that allow for more electric heating solutions. This session will highlight some new and existing technologies and how they can be applied in systems today and in the future.

Learning Objectives
1. Explain why decarbonization is driving more chiller-heater systems
2. Understand the equipment (chiller and heat pump) options available for heating systems
3. Discover system types and configurations that utilize equipment discussed

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Dan Gentry is an Applications Engineer based in La Crosse, WI. He joined Trane in 2018 after 8 years at another local WI based chiller manufacturer. Dan first interned at Trane in the Technology Lab while attending school through 2008. His areas of expertise revolve around chiller plants, heat recovery and heat pump systems and their reliable and efficient design and operation.

He graduated from Ferris State University in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in HVAC Engineering Technology and is an active member of ASHRAE. Dan enjoys spending time with his family on the river and relaxing time at the family cabin up north.