Thompson Rivers University
PRE-2: Points of Distinction

Creative Energy will design, build (between 2020 and 2031), and operate TRU's Low Carbon District Energy System (LCDES) to provide reliable low-cost and low-carbon heating while reducing TRU’s GHG emissions by over 90% for the connected buildings. Creative Energy and TRU are proposing a two-stage air-source/water-source heat pump system with high-efficient boilers, housed in a new building on campus constructed by TRU (The Energy Centre).
How it works:
The Energy Centre would include air-source heat pumps, water-source heat pumps, and high-efficient boilers. Powered through BC Hydro's 97% clean hydro electricity, the air-source heat pumps extract heat from outdoor air for heating the connected building. Water-source heat pumps reheat the generated thermal energy from the air-source heat pumps to increase the temperature to the required level for the connected buildings. The natural gas boilers would be for backup and peaking during winter. The generated heat would be delivered from the Energy Centre to each connected building through an underground piping network. Subject to regulatory approvals and construction, the project could be operational by April 2025. The proposed LCDES would remove over 90% of GHG emissions per year from nine of the campus' main buildings. The remaining buildings will be connected during the remaining phases of the project which should be complete by 2031.

The TRU Sustainability Office’s TRU Campus Tree Program is designed to allow members of the TRU community to actively get involved in helping maintain one of the planet’s most vital sustainability attributes: thriving and healthy trees and forests. Members of the TRU community are encouraged to volunteer in the 1-year pilot, whose three over-all goals are planting, care and preservation of trees on the TRU campus. The office is working with members from the TRU Grounds and Horticulture Departments who will supervise all program activities, as well as other members of the TRU community who are helping to ensure the success of the program.

Thompson Rivers University has a strong focus on protecting and rebuilding biodiversity through multiple venues.

The university's unique Natural Resource Science program equips students with the knowledge to apply scientific principles and knowledge toward the management and conservation of water, forests, rangeland, soil, minerals, fisheries and wildlife across Canada and around the world. Some of the primary disciplines in this program lead to work in: land-use planning, conservation biology, energy use, climate change, renewable resource management, forest and wildlife management, and natural resource policy.
Research in Natural resource science from students and faculty at TRU includes work on identifying and protecting species of concern around Kamloops and the surrounding communities. Recently, Lauchlan Fraser, PhD, was appointed as the NRSC Industrial Research Chair in Ecosystem Reclamation making TRU a major hub on cutting edge ecosystem reclamation research which includes partnerships with several mines in the province.

On campus work has been undertaken to protect local bird species and migratory birds from collision related fatalities with buildings. Starting with a summer position for undergraduate research a student was hired to count and document areas of high mortality around campus buildings. Using this information suggestions were made to implement film that adheres to windows making them more visible to the avian population. This has lead to a reduction in bird mortality on campus.

The newly created Biodiversity subcommittee was created as an indirect result of projects like the bird strike prevention project to see what else can be done around campus to protect the species that we share our campus with.

Pictured below are the dots added to the windows that break up reflections