2022 Award Winners
Celebrating Climate Action in York Region
Greenhouse Gas Target Setter Award
Riverside Natural Foods Inc. has always been on the leading edge in sustainability initiatives. In 2021, Riverside made a commitment to achieve 42% combined Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2030 relative to the 2020 baseline. This is a reduction of 650 MT CO2e, an impressive target given the growth that Riverside Natural Foods is experiencing. Details can be found in their 2021 Riverside Impact Report
Greenhouse Gas Target Achievement Award
The Regional Municipality of York has been focused on switching from fossil fuel to electricity. In 2021, the Region achieved the largest 2021, greenhouse gas emissions reduction of ClimateWise Business Network target setting members, over 710 metric tonnes. While the Region envisions future electricity consumption to increase it expects greenhouse gas emissions to continue to decrease in their journey to net zero.
Putting Passion into Practice Award
Compugen Inc., a first in York Region to commit to sustainability and accountability with HP’s Amplify Impact program. Compugen pledged to become a Changemaker with HP's Amplify Impact program. HP's program invites partners to drive meaningful change across the global IT industry. Compugen actions included: creation of a national green team, sustainable warehousing and logistics and the launch by Compugen Finance Inc. of its Future Value Program.
Best Organizational Engagement Award
For the Town of Newmarket, big results were achieved by paying attention to the little things that matter. By focusing on clear communications and by engaging staff from across the organization a menu of “little” actions were identified, from tankless water heaters to boiler replacement. The implementation of these actions will result in yearly savings of $132,000.
Greenhouse Gas Effective Action Plan Award
The City of Markham is on a net zero carbon journey. They proved achieving tangible emission reductions is doable with shared vision and effective action planning. An action program was developed to align with major funders requirements and supported by strategic studies. The City expects GHG reductions of 1,213 MTCO2e per year upon implementation.
Most Innovative Leader Award
Alectra Utilities piloted dynaCERT’s HydraGen™ system on their diesel vehicles. Their goal is to continually research and test ways to meet their GHG reduction targets. The results from this 6-month pilot are outstanding. On average, each vehicle reduced their diesel consumption by 230 litres. Alectra expects to annually reduce emissions by 16,000 kgCO2e through this fleet technology.
Zero Waste Award
The Town of Newmarket realized significant $ savings by applying circular economy principles for pool filter sand replacement at the Magna Centre Recreational Complex. Through proactive research by the Facility Maintenance Supervisor, it was discovered that there was a means of doing a chemical cleaning of the sand instead of replacing it. Over 18,500 lbs of pool filter sand diverted from going to a site for disposal. This solution realized a significant savings of $25,200.
Sustainable Building Innovation Award
CIBC's traditional control platforms are geared towards medium to large buildings. They needed a scalable solution to resolve the inability for remote and real-time connectivity. The solution was to deploy The Smart Retail Controls 2018 pilot project (SRC) for 30 sites. This allows for 24/7 visibility to decrease response time on HVAC equipment errors, across CIBC’s wide network of buildings. This solution has rolled out to 350 locations with an average savings ~20% total electricity consumption.
Biggest Reducer of Electricity Use Award
The CIBC Smart Retail Controls (SRC) project involved 30 sites and generated $1.6MM in savings since 2018 pilot. 10 of these sites are participants in the ClimateWise Building Challenge. 15 HARRY WALKER PARKWAY achieved 1st in ELEC reduction.
Biggest Reducer of Natural Gas, EUI and GHG Awards
Crown Properties Inc. noticed that the practice at 101 McNabb was to run 4 Boilers in the summertime for dehumidification purposes. The boilers ran 24/7 to reduce the muggy environment. Two of the 4 boilers were recently replaced with highly efficient models. The system was then designed to run on a sliding scale to maintain the ideal temperature and dehumidification. Now, in the summertime, one boiler is now sufficient to maintain a comfortable environment in the building.
Top Ranked Municipal Buildings Awards
ClimateWise Building Challenge reviewed energy metrics for 115 municipal buildings. The top ranked building from EACH municipality is being recognized for their collective reduction achievements across the metrics of electricity, natural gas and GHG. These are reductions achieved outside of occupancy impacts resulting from COVID protocols. In this regard, special recognition needs to be given to municipal facility teams whose proactive actions resulted in a total GHG reduction of 278 Metric Tons CO2e/m during COVID. The buildings affected by these changes were NOT used for our Awards program.
55 Orlando Transit Garage
Aurora Town Hall
Flato Performing Arts Theatre
McCaffery Fire Hall
Trisan Centre
Sports Complex
Stouffville Arena
Operations Centre
Egypt Community Hall
City Hall