The city of Prince George is adding two new buildings to its Downtown Renewable System (DRES), Plaza 400 and Prince George Law Courts. The system is powered by Lakeland Mills wood waste that is a by-product of the production of wood materials. The city already powers numerous buildings with this kind of power including the new RCMP detachment and City Hall. The system heats water and pumps that to the buildings which then us it for heat and water. Construction is expected to begin last week of July and be completed by early fall. The carbon reduction is estimated to be about 1,820 tones per year. The reductions is the same as 350 cars taken of the road per year, roughly. This project is added to the many green energy projects in the community including the Bio Energy Plant at UNBC.
Project is estimated at $450,000 and is being fully funded by the Ministry of Transportation. The city will install the piping system to the buildings at a cost of $200,000. The project was started due to the fact that both buildings needed their boilers replaced.
By Grant Bacahand (Twitter) @grantbachand