May 23, 2013
Greening initiatives in energy and gas conservation at Baycrest Health Sciences have caught the attention of Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and its Greening Health Care program.
The TRCA has selected Baycrest as one of a handful of healthcare facilities in Toronto to open its doors to a green tour with representatives of other healthcare organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. The tour at Baycrest campus will take place on May 30th.
“Baycrest has become a leader in green initiatives and we’re honored to share what we’ve accomplished with our health care partners,” said Nabil Khalil, manager, Facilities Services. “Sharing knowledge is an important part of greening healthcare and this is an opportunity for the work we’ve done to have an impact even beyond our campus.”
The TRCA’s Greening Health Care program helps healthcare organizations work together to improve their environmental performance. In 2012, the agency recognized Baycrest as the facility with the most improvement in energy savings and second-most improved in gas conservation. Baycrest’s increased energy efficiency is the result of Facilities Services’ Energy Retrofit and Infrastructure Renewal Project, which launched in April 2011. The project has made upgrades to heating, cooling and air-handling units across the campus. Further upgrades are currently underway to conserve water.
How our infrastructure upgrades are helping the environment
Here’s a summary of some of the changes made as part of the Energy Retrofit and Infrastructure Renewal Project.
To save electricity, Baycrest has installed 10,000 high-efficiency light bulbs, swapped old air conditioner chillers with new high efficiency units and improved our air-filtration system with high efficiency filters. These upgrades save more than 2 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year, enough to supply 113 average two storey homes.
This energy savings also means reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 442,777 kilograms, the equivalent of taking 116 cars off the road each year.
To conserve Natural Gas, Baycrest has replaced old boilers with energy-efficient models and upgraded our hot water systems. This has saved 213,561 metres of natural gas, enough to heat 75 homes.
It’s also resulted in reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 235,530 kilograms. It would take the equivalent of 1,550 trees to offset this amount of carbon dioxide in one year.
Water conservation projects are currently underway. So far Baycrest has upgraded cooling systems in walk-in fridges and freezers, leading to savings of 34,000 cubic metres of water per year— enough to supply 114 two-storey, four-person households.
For more information on this press release, please contact:
Kelly Connelly, Senior Media Officer
Baycrest Health Sciences
416-785-2432
kconnelly@baycrest.org