Project Overview
Built for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Vancouver’s Olympic Village later became a mixed-use residential community in Southeast False Creek. The City of Vancouver describes it as one of the greenest communities in the world, with sustainability features including solar heating, green roofs, high-performance building systems, and neighbourhood-scale energy infrastructure.
Despite the development’s strong sustainability credentials, seven residential buildings still had opportunities to improve common-area lighting performance. Radiance Energy was selected to upgrade lighting across hallways, parking areas, and other shared spaces.
The Challenge
Common areas within the seven residential buildings were consuming more energy than necessary while providing inadequate lighting levels. Hallways and parking areas were particularly dark, affecting visibility and reducing the overall quality of the resident environment.
The objective was to significantly reduce lighting energy use while improving light output across multiple occupied residential buildings.
The Solution
Radiance Energy replaced the existing common-area lighting throughout seven Olympic Village high-rise residential buildings with high-efficiency LED solutions. The retrofit was designed to improve lighting quality while substantially lowering electricity consumption and operating costs.
Radiance also worked with the local utility to secure project incentives covering more than 35% of the project cost, strengthening the financial performance of the upgrade and reducing the customer’s initial investment.
Project Results
- 85% energy cost savings
- More than 1 million kWh saved annually
- 30%+ improvement in lighting quality
- $118,000 utility rebate secured
Making an Already Sustainable Community Even More Efficient
Olympic Village was already designed around ambitious environmental goals, but the project demonstrated that even high-performance developments can uncover meaningful opportunities for operational improvement.
By targeting high-use common areas, Radiance helped reduce ongoing electricity consumption while creating brighter, more comfortable spaces for residents and visitors. The retrofit extended the development’s sustainability goals into everyday building operations.
“We loved the increased quality of light in our building. And we saved even more energy than Radiance had estimated!”
