School districts win 2020 FortisBC Efficiency in Action Awards The Richmond School District L-R: Roy Uyeno, Secretary-Treasurer; Frank Geyer, Executive Director, Facilities Services/Project Team; Mike Beausoleil, Director, Facilities Operations; Jonathan Ho, Manager, Energy and Sustainability; Thi Nguyen, Energy Specialist; Randy Clark, Manager, Electrical and Mechanical Maintenance.
Canyon Falls Middle School in Kelowna is one of the lowest energy-consuming schools in B.C.
Solar wall at McMath Secondary School.
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ach year, FortisBC presents organizations with awards in recognition of the exceptional work undertaken to effectively utilize energy-efficiency programs. Winners are chosen based on the savings they achieved through energy-efficiency upgrades, as well as the leadership and innovation that they have shown in saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And among FortisBC’s Efficiency in Action Awards winners are the The Board of Education of School District No. 23 and Richmond School District No. 38. The Board of Education of School District No. 23 in Central Okanagan received a 2020 Action Award for their display of leadership in sustainability. When upgrading Can-
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Ops Talk • Fall 2020
yon Falls Middle School with several energy-efficiency features, they further reduced the school’s carbon footprint by using the proceeds of their FortisBC rebate to purchase solar panels. “These upgrades are important to create a greener environment for our students and our community,” says Harold Schock, Energy and Sustainability Manager, Central Okanagan School District. “FortisBC challenged our design team with the construction of Canyon Falls Middle School to achieve a 100 per cent ENERGY STAR rating, and supplied us with rebates that ensured this project would be successful.” Richmond School District earned FortisBC’s inaugural Innovation Award by achieving a dramatic reduction in natural gas consumption through several innovative natural gas projects, including installing a solar wall at McMath Secondary School, and gas absorption heat pumps as part of a FortisBC pilot project at both Richmond and Cambie Secondary Schools. “Energy system retrofits are the best way for me to achieve energysaving targets”, says Thi Nguyen,
Energy Specialist at Richmond School District. The Richmond School District is a vibrant learning community with a long-term commitment to sustainability. More than 20 years ago, the district adopted their Environmental Stewardship Policy as a framework to create and support an integrated, system-wide approach to environmental stewardship. The annual Efficiency in Action Awards recognize customers who incorporated higher than standard energy efficiency into their projects and achieved significant energy savings. Through their combined efforts, this year’s eight award recipients reduced natural gas use by more than 12,000 gigajoules annually, which is equivalent to the annual natural gas use of approximately 140 homes in B.C. They also reduced electricity use by approximately 6,700 megawatt hours—the equivalent of the annual electricity use of about 600 homes. Together this helps meet B.C.’s climate action goals, reduces costs in their operations, and lessens the need for new utility infrastructure, which helps keep rates lower for all FortisBC customers. n
