Work has begun on a new $85-million clean energy system that will dramatically reduce UBC’s greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. When it’s completed in 2017, the new hot-water system will heat 130 buildings on campus — and replace the aging steam system, parts of which are nearly a century old.

“So this is our sexy project!” jokes Jeff Giffin, pointing to a shallow trench just west of Main Mall. Two workers in hardhats grin at him and continue manhandling a pair of pre-insulated pipes they are installing in the muddy ground.