Re: Fossil fuel use at SFU

Here's one of a number of articles on the subject:

https://www.bctechnology.com/news/2021/7/8/New-Green-Energy-Biomass-Plant-Powers-up-SFU-Burnaby-&-UniverCity-Drastically-Decreases-Greenhouse-Gas-(GHG)-Emissions.cfm

New Green Energy Biomass Plant Powers up SFU Burnaby & UniverCity, Drastically Decreases Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions | T-Net News

www.bctechnology.com

New Green Energy Biomass Plant Powers up SFU Burnaby & UniverCity, Drastically Decreases Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions. Burnaby, BC, July 8, 2021--A new biomass plant located on Burnaby Mountain is now in full operation, providing heat and hot water to most of SFU's Burnaby campus and approximately half of the SFU UniverCity community. This plant has drastically decreased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making Simon Fraser University (SFU) a leader in the use of green energy with one of the smallest GHG footprints of any university in Canada.

They were working on this plant for a couple of years perhaps, but the switchover was just this past summer apparently. If you live in UniverCity, your building might get heating from this plant as well.

Also, I have noticed that facilities services has some electric vehicles, but I couldn't find a fossil/hybrid/electric breakdown in a quick search. Presumably they are trying to lower the fraction of non-electric vehicles as older vehicles go out of service. I once read that because it takes a lot of energy and resources to produce a vehicle, there is apparently some environmental argument to allowing a vehicle to live out its useful life. I never looked into the detailed tradeoffs.

Craig

From: Nicky Didicher <didicher@sfu.ca>
Sent: November 1, 2021 11:28:31 AM
To: Simon Watkins; academic-discussion (academic-discussion@sfu.ca)
Subject: Re: Fossil fuel use at SFU

Thanks, Simon! Glad to know about the wood scraps.

Nicky

From: Simon Watkins
Sent: November 1, 2021 11:17:46 AM
To: Nicky Didicher; academic-discussion (academic-discussion@sfu.ca)
Subject: Re: Fossil fuel use at SFU

Actually SFU now burns biofuel for its heating, consisting of wood scraps mostly.

They upgraded the heating plant a couple of years ago.

Still true about the cars though

Simon Watkins

Department of Physics

Simon Fraser University

8888 University Drive

Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6

Canada

Tel:778 782 5763

From: Nicky Didicher <didicher@sfu.ca>
Sent: November 1, 2021 11:05 AM
To: academic-discussion (academic-discussion@sfu.ca)
Subject: Fossil fuel use at SFU

While I’m pleased to know that SFU is increasing its efforts to remove invested money from the fossil fuel industry, isn’t our main boiler in the basement of the library (I believe the biggest one at a university in Western Canada) run off diesel? And aren’t the majority of SFU vehicles still gasoline powered?

Nicky

Nicky Didicher, English,

Simon Fraser University,

778-782-4337, didicher@sfu.ca

pronouns she/elle

Reduce, Organize, Communicate, be Kind!

At Simon Fraser University, we live and work on unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the Səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.