Mystery Box

I was finally able to solve the mystery of this giant wooden box on the UBC Campus. It’s the Temporary Energy Centre, part of UBC’s Academic District Energy System steam to hot water conversion project. Inside the wood enclosure are two temporary boilers producing hot water for the district heating system. Using these efficient boilers to produce hot water instead of the less efficient steam plant reduces UBC’s GHGs. The new and permanent District Energy Centre will be on Agronomy Road. Construction is almost finished and then that site will take over from the temporary one. The wooden enclosure was designed and built by architecture students last summer to hide the not-so-pretty sea cans that contain the boilers. More information is available here.