Joseph M. Brillhart Innovation Award Presented to Enwave at the International District Energy Association’s Annual Conference & Trade Show

The International District Energy Association (IDEA) is proud to announce that Enwave Energy Corporation has been awarded the Joseph M. Brillhart Innovation Award at IDEA2024, the International District Energy Association’s (IDEA) annual conference and trade show, which was held in Orlando, Florida in June.

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IDEA selected Enwave and its partner, Continual Energy Inc., for its submission, Royal York Hotel District Decarbonization, highlighting its efforts to help decarbonize the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. This award represents the best in public and private collaboration, where members share emerging best practices, new technologies and techniques, and the tremendous value of collaboration within the industry.

The Fairmont Royal York Hotel is an iconic hotel located in downtown Toronto that first opened in 1929. In collaboration with Continual, Enwave’s remit was to reduce the hotel’s dependency on fossil fuels by 80%. To accomplish this feat, Enwave replaced the hotel’s existing chiller plant with a new plant that is connected to its Deep Lake Water Cooling (DLWC) system for its cooling needs, and for heating, used a modular heat pump system connected to the company’s district loop in Toronto.

The innovative use of these two systems came through their integration – through the heat pumps, Enwave repurposes the recovered heat from cooling customers in the district that was previously lost to the atmosphere to deliver low carbon heating to the Royal York Hotel, in what is the next generation of district solutions.

In February 2022, Enwave - the district energy system owner and operator, and Continual - the design builder - were contracted to develop a new heating and cooling platform for the nearly 100-year-old Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The team collaborated to create a solution that leverages year-round recovered heat from Enwave’s DLWC network that provides service to over 100 buildings in downtown Toronto, and Ontario’s clean electricity grid, and replaces an existing on-site chiller plant with a simple connection to Enwave’s system and an advanced oil-free modular heat pump system.

This new system uses return chilled water, which would typically be released into the atmosphere in a conventional chiller plant, and converts it into two grades of heat for space heating and domestic hot water. The hotel has now significantly reduced its steam consumption, which avoids more than 7000 tons CO2e/year (the equivalent to removing 1,558 cars from the road). This innovative district heat pump solution has also allowed the historic hotel to receive the prestigious Canadian Green Building Council Zero Carbon Building Performance standard, which is a significant feat for a building of this vintage.

“By repurposing waste heat from cooling customers in the district, we have unlocked a sustainable solution that defies convention,” said Carlyle Coutinho, CEO of Enwave Energy Corporation. “Our approach tackles the pressing issue of carbon emissions and underscores our commitment to being a catalyst for positive change. In essence, this district heat recovery solution represents the next frontier in urban sustainability.”

IDEA also awarded Honorable Mention designations to three other excellent submissions, Urban Cooling Improved Energy Efficiency Through Integrated Metering Solutions and MV VSD Retrofit Project at BB2 DCP submitted by Empower, and City Waterfront Building Energy Retrofit, submitted by Ecosystem and the City of Toronto.

This is the first year the award was given out as the Joseph M. Brillhart Innovation Award, named after the beloved former IDEA Board Chair and Executive Committee Member who launched the award 10 years ago. Brillhart passed away in 2023 and the IDEA Board unanimously voted to name the award after him.

About Enwave Energy Corporation

Enwave Energy Corporation (Enwave) is the leading low-carbon district energy owner-operator in Canada, providing heating and cooling to over 400 buildings in Toronto, Windsor, London, Markham, and Charlottetown. With over thirty years of experience operating one of North America's largest district energy systems, Enwave has developed the capabilities to deliver a broad array of energy services, such as designing, operating, and/or managing a variety of low-carbon, efficient thermal and electrical technologies including deep lake water cooling, geoexchange, energy from waste, clean biomass, energy from sewage, thermal ice batteries, ambient loops, and combined heat and power.

About IDEA

The International District Energy Association (IDEA) is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit industry association founded in the United States in 1909. IDEA now has a membership of nearly 3,000 industry professionals representing more than 30 countries around the world. IDEA’s mission is to actively foster the success of its members as leaders in providing reliable, economical, efficient and environmentally sound district heating, district cooling and combined heat and power to optimize energy efficiency, emissions reductions and sustainable solutions for mission-critical and community-scale markets.

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