At the city services-and-budgets meeting on Thursday (December 14), council will decide who owns and operates the planned Neighbourhood Energy Utility. The NEU was approved in principle in March as a way to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by providing alternative energy sources for Southeast False Creek, an area that also includes the Olympic Village.

Two motions will come before the committee. The first will recommend that the city retain ownership of the NEU and integrate it into the engineering-services department. The second will explore the heat-source options and includes a proposed request to the GVRD for an air-emissions permit for biomass heat source, which is the burning of wood to waste.

On March 2, council earmarked $14 million for the NEU—funding tagged as “sustainability in practice”—from the capital fund. Vision Vancouver Coun. Heather Deal hailed it as “a sexy project”.

According to staff reports, the model of locally generated alternative energy may be replicated in other neighbourhoods if the NEU is successful.