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Canadian Environment Awards
The Community Awards 2008
Climate Change
• Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology Student Volunteers
• Judith Sayers
• Zerofootprint
SASKATCHEWAN INSTITUTE OF APPLIED SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY STUDENT VOLUNTEERS
Share the Warmth™ Home Energy-Efficiency Project
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| PHOTO: SIAST |
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In the face of big environmental issues like climate change, we
sometimes forget that a little self-sufficiency equals energy
efficiency. But by reaching out to families in their community,
students at the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology
(SIAST) are demonstrating that it’s easy to lower greenhouse-gas
emissions and save money at the same time.
Share the Warmth™, a home energy-efficiency program,
is the ingenious response of Palliser Campus architecture and technology
students to instructor Reg Forbes’ 2005 challenge to develop
a way for Moose Jaw’s low-income families to cut energy costs.
With residential homes accounting for roughly 21 percent of energy
consumption, Forbes knew that energy efficiency could make
a long-term difference to global warming. He also understood that
an investment in home improvements isn’t always a priority
when resources are limited. “So we developed a list of affordable
steps that people could take themselves,” says student representative
Heather Newton.
The energy-efficiency wish list featured easy-to-install
upgrades, such as interior-window shrink film, compact fluorescent
light bulbs, caulking, low-flow shower heads, furnace filters,
weatherstripping and programmable thermostats. Students partnered
with SaskEnergy, which sponsored the initiative, and The Salva-
tion Army, which helped identify homes most in need. Aided by community
volunteers, the SIAST students carried out the upgrades at 100 houses
in 2005. Three winters later, the program has reached more than
1,000 homes across the province. “The feedback from the community
is wonderful,” says Newton. “Residents are involved
and appreciative, and we’re happy to go into the community
and do our part.”
Most important, the students’ energy-efficiency mandate
extends beyond simple installations to include sharing skills
and the commitment to maintain the upgrades in the future. The
energy savings alone — an estimated $95 a year per home — provide
cash to re-invest in additional materials or spend on other family
needs. And the SIAST students themselves, says Newton, are taking
the energy- and water-conservation strategies to their own homes. “The
key to the program is to keep it simple,” she says. “The
more people who can afford the upgrades, the more sustainable the
program.”
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JUDITH SAYERS
Hupacasath First Nation/Upnit Power Corporation
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| PHOTO: UPNIT POWER CORPORATION |
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The world has been led to believe that power plants must take a
toll on the planet. At one extreme end of the spectrum stands China’s
Three Gorges Dam. The Earth’s largest hydroelectric project
is slated to have 18,200 megawatts of generating capacity, but in
the process, it will have displaced millions of citizens, levelled
cities and unleashed untold havoc on habitat and wildlife. On British
Columbia’s Vancouver Island, however, Chief Judith Sayers and
the Hupacasath First Nation are proving that it’s possible to
produce energy locally, profitably and sustainably — without
devastating the environment.
After Port Alberni’s citizens soundly
rejected a proposal by BC Hydro for a gas-fired generator in 2002,
the community was forced to think about alternative sources for its
energy needs. “Something had to change,” says Sayers,
Chief for 265 members of the Hupacasath First Nation. “The island
needed power. We relied too heavily on the mainland, and there were
aging cables that needed upgrading.”
Under Sayers’ leadership,
the Hupacasath First Nation undertook a federally funded Community
Energy Plan in 2002 to investigate local opportunities for reducing
the grid’s dependency on conventional sources of power. “We
looked at the top 10 watersheds suitable for hydro,” explains
Sayers. “We ruled out any that were environmentally sensitive
or sacred.” On traditional First Nation territory just outside
of Port Alberni, however, there was a run of river above an inaccessible
waterfall where water could be responsibly diverted over a steep vertical
drop and harnessed for power before being returned to the creek.
In
partnership with Synex Energy, the Ucluelet First Nation and the
City of Port Alberni, the Hupacasath First Nation co-founded the
Upnit Power Corporation and secured a 20-year contract with BC Hydro
to supply energy to Vancouver Is- land. By 2005, the $14 million
China Creek Hydroelectric Project was completed and ready to blast
out 6.5 megawatts of green energy at peak capacity — equal to the power
used by Port Alberni’s 6,000 homes. Two more projects on other
waterways are already in the plan- ning stages.
“We worked very
hard to ensure China Creek had no negative impacts on the surrounding
land or fish habitat,” says Sayers. “At the outset,
we were told this project was too hard for First Nations. Now, people
come from all over the world to learn the best practices for generating
power.”
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ZEROFOOTPRINT
Carbon-reduction network for consumers and businesses
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| PHOTO: JOE BEVAN/UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
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While an international panel of scientists has reached consensus
on the dangers of climate change, governments debate appropriate
legislation and action to address the impending worldwide crisis.
Meanwhile, Toronto’s Zerofootprint is delivering practical solutions
to consumers determined to do their part in the battle against climate
change.
Founded by former Yale professor and software entrepreneur
Ron Dembo in 2005, Zerofootprint is a not-for-profit environmental
organization whose mission is to support citizens in reducing their
ecological footprint on the planet by raising their awareness of
respon- sible alternatives for travel, food and home. “Lots of people
have goodwill about the environment, but they feel powerless to make
a change,” says Deborah Kaplan, Zerofootprint’s executive
director.
“We’re about reducing, reusing and recycling first,
and we offer online education and access to information and software
that allow individuals, institutions, companies and communities to
measure and manage their environmental impacts.”
With its state-of-the-art
networking tools, Zerofootprint is building an online community
of self-aware consumers. Its site offers online carbon credits and
provides eco-friendly advice on everything from product packaging
and paperless invoicing to energy-reducing green tips. One of the
most impressive weapons in its climate-change arsenal is a carbon-footprint
calculator. “It’s
an objective way of measuring the externalities of consumption,” says
Kaplan. “The online analytical tools help individual consumers
recognize their impacts and create social network groups around shared
environmental goals.”
In May 2007, Zerofootprint launched its first
practical carbonoffset program with Air Canada, allowing consumers
to offset their air travel by supporting the certified restoration
of a degraded urban forest in Maple Ridge, B.C. In February 2008,
the group launched ZerofootprintToronto, an internet portal and
calculator that can help the residents and businesses of Canada’s largest
city measure, track and reduce their carbon footprint. Mayor David
Miller has invited cities across North America to likewise take the
challenge by using Zerofootprint’s Cities software.
“Our
goal is to empower individuals to make better choices,” says
Kaplan. “With education and awareness, we hope eventually
to see a cultural shift that reflects the external cost of these
decisions. With popular support, we can change the marketplace and
drive economic and environmental change.”
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