City of Burnaby
Summary
A made-in-Burnaby prototype for decarbonizing cities is on display at Burnaby City Hall, offering a glimpse into the future of clean energy for urban buildings.
Developed at SFU's School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering by professor Majid Bahrami, the Sorption Heat Transformer and thermal storage System (SORTABO) technology converts waste heat in district heating to cooling, enabling sustainable air conditioning in buildings without electricity, moving parts, harmful chemicals or new infrastructure.
“Buildings’ heating are responsible for 50 to 60 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in urban area, far surpassing transportation,” says Bahrami, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Alternative Energy Conversion Systems. “Electric heat pumps are often proposed as a solution but scaling them would require a significant expansion of the electrical grid—an expensive, time-consuming challenge.”
Bahrami’s sorbent-based heat transformer system offers a compelling alternative.
“It works like a heat pump but doesn’t need electricity,” Bahrami explains. “It uses low-grade waste heat as the energy source, water as the refrigerant, and naturally abundant materials like silica and salt—no compressor, no noise and no harmful environmental impact. It’s a poster child for sustainability and a major step toward decarbonizing cities and circular economy.”
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