During a cloudy and questionably rainy June 15th morning, Sheridan College welcomed Partners in Project Green’s Energy Leaders Consortium to their Davis Campus. We arrived eagerly wanting to learn more about district energy, a method of heating and cooling buildings that uses a network of underground insulated pipes to move and store hot and cold water. Instead of focusing on one building, district energy treats an area of land with multiple buildings as if they were one unit, eliminating the need for individual boilers and chillers for each structure.
The session started with a presentation by Evan Green (pictured left) who talked about Sheridan’s commitments to sustainability and the importance of energy efficiencies such as assessing building envelope, building metering, monitoring systems, and lighting controls. We then learned about the steps Sheridan took to install their district energy system, compared it to conventional heating and cooling, and learned about future plans at their other campus locations.
Next up to present was Jeffrey Cowan (pictured right), CEO of Hamilton Community Enterprises which provides community-based network solutions throughout the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area with capabilities extending beyond its facilities-based footprint. As Jeff took us through details on a transforming energy landscape, he showed us how Hamilton is working to conserve, connect, and convert its energy systems as the formula to get to net-zero GHG emissions. We also heard from HCE’s Josh Fitzpatrick who explained the Integrated Community Energy & Harvesting (ICE-Harvest) Methodology.
After our classroom portion, we took a walk around campus to inspect the district energy system ourselves (picture below). Attendees were able to inspect the technology, ask questions, and network with fellow sustainably-minded people on the tour.
We would like to thank Sheridan College- Davis Campus for being wonderful hosts, Jeffrey Cowan and Josh Fitzpatrick from HCE, and all of the participants who joined us for a great morning of learning, networking, supporting efficient energy solutions and making for a very energized Thursday!
For more information on how your business can join the PPG’s Energy Leaders Consortium, please feel free to reach out to Julia Kole, Coordinator for Partners in Project Green, at julia.kole@trca.ca