In response to the reduced natural gas supply resulting from the recent pipeline explosion near Prince George, the City of Prince George is reducing its natural gas consumption by lowering the temperature in a number of city-owned buildings that use natural gas for heat.
The buildings involved:
- Two administration buildings at the city’s 18th Avenue Yard
- Kin Centre
- CN Centre
- Elksentre Arena
- Connaught Youth Centre
The administration buildings and Connaught Youth Centre are reducing their inside temperatures to about 20 degrees Celsius, while the Kin Centre, CN Centre and Elksentre are turning the thermostat down from 16 degrees to 12 degrees. The City owns about 55 buildings, the majority of which are privately operated by tenants.
In fact, there are not as many natural gas-dependent civic facilities in Prince George as some might expect due to the fact that many of the city’s largest facilities are heated via bioenergy from the Downtown Renewable Energy System.
These facilities include City Hall, Four Seasons Leisure Pool, Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George Conference and Civic Centre, RCMP Detachment, and the Prince George Public Library. Non-City buildings such as the Wood Innovation and Design Centre, Plaza 400, and the Law Courts have also recently been added to the System. The new parkade under construction next to City Hall will be connected next year.
