Waste Heat Recovery Cuts Real HVAC Load
The energy win that's already leaving the building.
“Waste heat recovery is frequently treated as an optional efficiency upgrade rather than foundational core infrastructure.”
Buildings equipped with energy recovery ventilation (ERV) demonstrate lower annual HVAC energy use than comparable structures without it. This efficiency gap widens in colder climates, illustrating the massive volume of waste heat that is conventionally discarded.
The Tension
Waste heat recovery is frequently treated as an optional efficiency upgrade rather than foundational core infrastructure. This disconnect is particularly prevalent in early-stage or speculative Building-Integrated Agriculture (BIA) proposals, where the agricultural footprint and the building's mechanical systems are often designed independently of one another.
Based on comparative modeling across Canadian cities, the report argues that ERV must be established as a baseline design requirement wherever a farm and building are co-located. The resulting energy synergies compound directly with the host building's climate-control needs rather than competing against them. Waste heat that would otherwise be vented can offset a portion of a greenhouse or vertical farm's winter heating demand—the precise mechanism proposed for integrated, large-scale developments like Skeena Terrace.
In the report:
Part V, "Resource Exchange & Recovery Systems."