Sustainability & Energy Efficiency
The development of McMaster Innovation Park is an exciting opportunity to further re-develop a brown-field site into a vibrant new neighbourhood built on the three pillars of sustainability:
Economic
Cultural
Environmental
McMaster Innovation Park (MIP) embarked on its mission of nurturing research and innovation in 2005 with the purchase of the 37-acre CAMCO (Canadian Appliance Manufacturing Company) property on Longwood Road. The Atrium was MIP’s first multi-tenant building and remains as the only part of the original Westinghouse manufacturing plant dating from 1912. A new NRCan facility, CANMET-MTL was added in 2011 along with the start of a sustainable campus energy system and the partnership with HCE Energy. The McMaster Automotive Research Center (MARC) was added in 2013 with the repurposing of the old CAMCO warehouse. Biomedical Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing (BEAM) continued with the repurposing of the old CAMCO warehouse in 2018. MIP continues to grow with plans for expansion from its 500,000 ft2 footprint to 2,500,000 ft2 over the next 10 years. In the short-term, expansions include the old Hamilton Spectator Building (44 Frid), Emerging Technology Centre (ETC), Biotech Centre(s), the repurposed Glass Warehouse, and a Hotel. Further information on MIP’s expansion plans can be found here (add hyperlink).
MIP’s vision is to:
• Foster an innovation culture with state-of-the-art infrastructure.
• Demonstrate research excellence and build on current research and technological development in the emerging areas of Business Incubators, Accelerators and Clusters, Life Sciences, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing and Aerospace.
• Support the activity of world class research supporting competitive advantage, environment and community.
• Connect to industry with the information and research it needs to succeed.
• Lead in sustainable design and in so doing develop and transfer new technologies in energy conservation.
The desire to lead in sustainable design by MIP is manifested in a low carbon future for the park. There are multiple low carbon strategies possible for MIP that include Net Zero Carbon, Zero Carbon, Net Zero Energy and Zero Energy initiatives.
Regardless of the low carbon strategy employed, MIP has a good foundation upon which to build including an established:
• Low temperature Distributed Campus Energy System (“MIPDCES”).
• Deep-well Geothermal-Exchange borehole field that is a source of renewable heating and cooling energy.
• Solar Thermal Energy system primary to CANMET, but integrated with the MIPDCES, and
• High Efficiency Combined Heat and Power providing a resilient on-site power source.
Growth of MIP in a low carbon context will need to build on this foundation.
Further information on the existing MIPDCES can be found at the page linked below: