Wastewater-Powered Buildings

SHARC Energy Systems is a Vancouver-based company that "manufactures and supplies wastewater heat recovery solutions," and its innovative technology is being implemented in two 20-story towers in an affordable housing co-op (called Amalgamated Housing Cooperative).

With SHARC Energy Systems, the "energy never leaves the building," meaning that when tenants take showers and do laundry, the hot water used for these activities can be recycled to help warm their apartments in the winter or cool these spaces in the summer. In order to reuse wastewater, SHARC Energy Systems installs two large tanks in the basement of the buildings. The wastewater goes through these tanks and is "cleaned to go through a heat exchanger, which captures the energy for use in the building's heating/cooling system."

Image Credit: Amalgamated Housing Cooperative