Trent University Honoured Among Peterborough's Environmental Leaders
Trent's recent energy retrofit project receives Climate Change award at annual Sustainable Peterborough Awards
Trent University’s commitment to enhancing environmental sustainability on campus and throughout the greater Peterborough community was celebrated at the second-annual Sustainable Peterborough Partnership Recognition Awards.
The event, held on April 20 at Market Hall and hosted by Sustainable Peterborough, honoured the efforts of a number of businesses and community organizations that have been leaders and advocates for environmentally-conscious practices throughout the area.
The efforts of Trent University and its Sustainability Office won this year’s Climate Change award for the current energy retrofit project and new Energy Performance Contract (EPC). With the goal of energy savings of 11 GWh in 2016, Trent installed a total of eight high-efficiency boilers throughout the campus, while also making updates to the campus’ sub-metering system in order to link it with a dashboard for better energy efficiency. Trent has also undertaken a large-scale upgrade on lights across the University, replacing 33,167 lights with new LED lights, leading to an annual savings of over 3 million kWh.
Shelley Strain, sustainability coordinator of Trent University, said that Trent is proud to be named the winner of the Climate Change Award and is humbled to be part of this year’s eleven local winners. For Ms. Strain, winning this award was just a reminder of how important finding solutions like the one’s happening at Trent are to the overall health of the environment.
“I think it will become increasingly important to think outside of the box to come up with solutions to address climate change,” said Ms. Strain. “Trent’s EPC is a great example of finding a way to make a positive difference by making changes to the University operates on a daily basis.”