Challenge Synopsis:
The City of Vancouver is seeking innovative, novel ideas that address key challenges around its sustainability goals, particularly its Rain City Strategy. The City is looking for Green Rainwater Infrastructure (GRI) solutions that will retain and treat urban run-off.
Context:
The Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP) approved in November 17th, 2020, puts Vancouver on track to reduce carbon pollution by 50% over 2007 levels by 2030 and focuses on the City’s biggest GHG sources – transportation (39%) and buildings (54%). The City also plans to transition to zero emission buildings in all new construction by 2030, and is working to create a zero waste community by 2040.
The Rain City Strategy focusses on reducing Vancouver’s water consumption and impact on local water bodies. The Strategy increases the design standard for the volume of rainwater to be managed by GRI assets to 48mm per day and establishes an ambitious implementation target to manage rainwater volume and water quality for 40% of Vancouver’s impervious areas by 2050 through new development, capital projects and strategic retrofits.
Response Criteria:
- The City is seeking low-cost, high impact solutions that will increase surface water recyclability. Solutions can come from a variety of GRI technologies that promote rainwater harvesting including, but not limited to: blue-green roofs, swales, rainwater tree trenches and rain gardens, etc.
- The City of Vancouver is targeting companies with solutions that land between TRL 6-9 of the technology readiness scale (TRL), although it will consider low TRL solutions on a demonstration basis if they are especially novel.
- Where applicable, proponents should explain how their solutions meets safety and regulatory standards and provide a description of successful deployments.
- Provide CAPEX and OPEX details for the solution. The City of Vancouver prefers an investment payback/cost recovery within fewer than five years. However, it will consider five- to eight-year paybacks with additional due diligence.
- If applicable, proponents should explain coverage (i.e., how many installations will the solution need?), impact (i.e., how does the solution help Vancouver achieve its Rain City Strategy, reliability (i.e., how well will the solution perform in real-world environments?).
Eligible EU companies can apply to the targeted challenge using the LCBA Canada application portal:
The Opportunity:
- If chosen, conduct a demonstration project of the solution with the City of Vancouver, one of Canada’s largest, most sustainable cities.
- Pitch your solution during GLOBE Forum 2022, North America’s longest running sustainable business conference.
- Meet new customers and access new markets.
About City of Vancouver:
Vancouver is the third largest metropolitan region in Canada and has the 3rd largest Port in North America. Vancouver as a major infrastructure owner, manages $25 billion of capital assets encompassing facilities, parks, street and underground infrastructure. Since 2011, the City has adopted a service-based capital planning framework to drive accountability, enhance transparency, and enhance a more holistic, city-wide approach to long-term capital investment decision making.
***Only non-confidential information should be included in your response ***