2011 Energy Savings: The Earth Rangers Centre facility team had a target of 10% energy savings for the 2011 calendar year over 2010. The numbers are in, and we surpassed our goal! We achieved a 17.8% savings over 2010, despite an increase in heating requirements. This equates to 123,000 kWh, enough power to supply 9 and a half average Canadian homes for a year! Much of these energy savings can be attributed to the activation of the geothermal, integration of the new building automation system with metering and monitoring and innovative geothermal cooling used in the summer months. The geothermal heating allowed us to reduce our gas consumption by 87%, drastically reducing the carbon footprint of the building’s operations. We are targeting another 10% off 2011 consumption numbers and have some more tricks up our sleeve for the coming year – a lighting control retrofit, security integration and time of day load shedding of large loads.

TUTORIAL: Build your Own Preventative Maintenance Program: The Earth Rangers facility team has developed some unique solutions to building operations problems. We are going to use our building tour and this newsletter to share some of these innovations. The first in this series is our Preventative Maintenance Program, which Brett Sverkas, our Facility Manager, developed. We have implemented our own unique Preventative Maintenance Program that is webenabled. It allows our facility staff to maintain, document and track maintenance of our high performance building systems. Click here to see our video tutorial on how you can build this free application for your company.

Schneider Electric and Earth Rangers Receive Global "One" Award: The ONE Trophy campaign is an internal Schneider Electric competition that showcases key projects and initiatives which support Schneider’s business integration efforts. These efforts are focused in three focus areas: One Team, One Solution Provider, and Planet & Society. Schneider Electric Canada submitted the ‘Earth Rangers EcoStruxure Green Building Solution’ project as a contender for the One Solution Provider Trophy. The project involved integration efforts to combine energy metering, information systems, and building automation into a comprehensive, usable and engaging energy management solution for the building and its occupants.

The objective of ‘One Solution Provider’ is to understand and provide solutions which address Schneider’s customers’ energy needs. Schneider Electric’s ambition is to be recognized as a product and solution player with strong competitive advantages. There were a total of 354 entries for the ‘One Solution Provider’ category globally, with 16 entries from North America. We are thrilled that this project was selected as the GOLD One Trophy Winner for North America and the GOLD One Trophy Winner Globally! This is the first One Trophy award for Schneider Electric Canada. Schneider Electric is proud of the partnership with Earth Rangers and the joint contribution to energy conservation and they are excited about the opportunity to share our mutual story with other Schneider Electric countries, and customers.

Consulting Engineers of Ontario Award: MCW Custom Energy Solutions, our Mechanical Room tour stop sponsor and consulting engineers, are in the running for recognition by the Consulting Engineers of Ontario for their work on our parking lot, geothermal, and HVAC upgrades. You can see by our 2011 energy numbers that they are in a good position for this recognition and we wish them luck in the competition. The awards will be announced in the spring. Good luck MCW!

CBSF New Sponsor of ERC's Green Office Tour Stop: Canada’s Best Store Fixtures (CBSF) helps North America’s most successful retailers create their own flexible, customized fixture program. These fixtures are built with Forestry Stewardship Council Certified Wood (FSC), and all off-cuts are recycled. CBSF has come onboard as a building partner for ERC’s Green Office tour stop. CBSF fixtures were chosen for our print shop, in the form of a light table, printer table, and storage fixtures for our education program materials production, as well as our library and waste diversion stations in our café. CBSF has recently renovated all Starbucks in Canada, updating the look and feel of the retail presence of the stores, as well as upgraded lighting to be more efficient in all CBSF’s manufacturing locations. Like the ERC, CBSF has a large solar array (120kW) on its roof, providing clean local power generation. To learn more about ERC’s Green Office, click here.

BASF Helps to Reduce Environmental Impact via its Concrete Products: Concrete plays an integral role in heating, cooling and ventilation at the Earth Rangers Centre. In almost every space, concrete is visible. Radiantly heated and cooled slabs, earth tubes and the thermal mass construction of the building all rely on concrete as the base building material. The concrete industry is working to reduce the environmental impact of its products and BASF has two innovative solutions: 1. Green Sense Concrete objective is to reduce the impact of new concrete mixes, and 2. BASF’s Zero-C™: objective is to maintain existing concrete to significantly prolong its life. Green Sense Concrete is a concrete mixture proportioning program that optimizes the use of recycled materials to replace cement in concrete mixes without affecting the design specifications of the concrete. Reducing cement content per unit of concrete produced may reduce the overall carbon footprint. The Green Sense Concrete service utilizes recycled materials, fillers, or both, with BASF’s special Master Builders brand Glenium® high-range water-reducing admixtures and/or RheoTEC™ Z-60 workability retaining admixture to meet or exceed performance targets. Green Sense Concrete attains desired setting characteristics, strength, durability and if needed, a higher slump at a reduced cost to the concrete producer, all the while minimizing environmental impact. Because Green Sense Concrete technology incorporates recycled materials and fillers, it may also contribute to earning LEED credits in the Materials and Resources and the Innovation and Design categories. Green Sense Concrete can be quantified through BASF’s innovative Eco-Efficiency Analysis tool which examines the entire life cycle of concrete mixtures. BASF’s Zero-C™ concrete repair solution is working hard to strengthen Canada’s infrastructure. Recently finding application at the Winnipeg Airport and at an Ontario Hydro Generation power plant in Cornwall, Ontario, this crack resistant technology allows repairs to last longer than ever thought possible, requiring less time, money, material and effort. Zero-C is the most important scientific breakthrough in concrete repair solutions in over 100 years. The cutting edge technology and performance of this product changes the way we repair concrete and raises industry standards – making building more sustainable. Imagine a future where today’s aged concrete structures have been repaired with crack-free materials that are durable, sound and lasting. The implications are monumental. In an era driven by sustainability and life cycle costs, Zero-C will play a vital role in strengthening Canada’s infrastructure and buildings.

Tire-Derived Products: Sustainable Materials Build Ontario's Economy: There was a time when the construction industry only cared about tires if it was a tire on a piece of equipment or truck was flat. Now recycled tire products are materials that help create a building, as the importance of sustainable building takes hold and scrap tires are being converted into everything from roof shingles to parking lot materials. From golf cart to open pit mining truck tires, Ontario Tire Stewardship (OTS) helps to divert the approximately 12 million scrap tire equivalents produced in Ontario every year. Our mandate from the Minister of the Environment is clear: deliver a program that encourages the growth of a green economy in Ontario around recycling scrap tires into new green products. To accomplish this, we work to develop economically and environmentally sustainable markets to be able to “consume” 100% of the tire-derived products produced by the Ontario tire recycling industry. And we are proud to say that in September 2011, OTS exceeded the goal of recycling 25 million tires. Through organizations like Earth Rangers (ER), the building industry has become increasingly aware that the performance and sustainability of recycled-content building materials, like those made from scrap tires, often exceed those of traditional building materials, and that using these regionally sourced materials helps drive the economy. The new ER Sustainable Technology Showcase website includes a virtual tour stop that highlights the tire derived products that are being manufactured here in Ontario, as well as educates Ontarians on the importance of a sustainable lifestyle. As a result of increased marketplace acceptance and the efforts of OTS, many manufacturers of tire-derived products have also made significant local investments in capital and people. National Rubber Technologies • Ontario tire recycler based in Toronto Ontario, with integrated Recycled Product Manufacturing operation (RPM) and a spectrum of products serving the automotive to building industries • Entered Ontario market in 1996, operates separate processing and manufacturing facilities in Toronto Fabricushion • Manufacturer of underlayment for all types of flooring, based in Markham, Ontario • 1 facility in Canada Multy Home • Manufacturer of recycled rubber products for mass retail market (patio stones, door mats, rubber mulch) • 1 rubber product manufacturing facility in Canada in Vaughan, Ontario • Expanded sales to major retailers in Canada and USA North West Rubber Mats • Manufacturer of recycled rubber products based in Abbotsford, BC • Entered the Ontario market in 2011, building a rubber product manufacturing facility in Canada in Vaughan, Ontario SofSurfaces • Manufacturer of recycled rubber athletic and play safety products based in Petrolia, Ontario Together these companies employ almost 400 staff directly through their operations, and have procured over $15 million annually in equipment and services from other Ontario businesses.

The advancement of tire-derived products also positively impacts the upstream growth of related businesses. Since the Used Tires Program launched in 2009, four Ontario Processors have added 2.5 million tires of capacity. As well, four new Processors have been established, adding another 7.5 million tires of capacity. The tire recycling industry is innovative, growing and looking for partners to work with to develop new uses for products made from recycled tire rubber. The industry in Ontario is uniquely positioned to accelerate this innovation cycle and OTS facilitates this innovation through R&D, Community Grant and Demonstration Project funding opportunities that enable the establishment of sustainable markets for these products. Beyond the impact these sustainable products are having on building performance, it is certainly rewarding to see the contribution they are making to the changing marketplace dynamic and the Ontario economy. For more information on OTS and the performance benefits of products made from recycled tires, visit www.GreenMyTires.ca or follow us on Twitter @GreenMyTires.

Improving the Global Water Situation Through Sound Plumbing Practices: Ever since the first sewers were built in Iraq in 5000 BC, the first sanitary systems were constructed in India around 2500 BC and much later when the Romans built their famous aqueducts, plumbing has had a remarkably enabling and ennobling effect on human endeavour and progress. When the Romans first developed their aqueducts there were approximately 55 million humans on the planet, less than 1% of the 7 billion or so humans alive right now. Global population has more than tripled over the last 70 years but freshwater use has risen at least twice that. When we talk about a global water crisis, we are not crystal ball gazing about a hypothetical future – it’s here and now. The United Nations says that more than a billion (that’s one in six) humans are already living with severe freshwater scarcity. As nations develop their demand for water rises rapidly. Availability of fresh water is acknowledged as one of the strongest determinants of economic prosperity and hence political stability. Lack of water is, quite simply, keeping billions of human beings poor, sick, uneducated and ill-governed. Clean water is not a luxury, safe clear drinking water and sanitation is possible in any nation, big or small, when simple, sound plumbing practices are adopted. The two major trends of the 20th century, population growth and urbanization, coupled with increasing globalization of the 21st century, pose some real challenges to our global communities in ensuring the integrity of plumbing systems. Whatever the technology, locality or culture involved – quality water supply and sanitation are constant fundamentals of a healthy human society in both the built and natural environments. Technology may change, and cultures may evolve but this fact of life will not. To live together in the world, humans need plumbing…and of course plumbers. Plumbers sit at the cusp of this tenuous balance between our water demands and the need for environmentally conscious usage. As an industry, plumbers are critical for implementing and maintaining new technologies that facilitate using water in ways that are environmentally responsible. Such new approaches to water usage include conserving through implementing low flow faucets and toilets as well as reusing water through rain barrels and sewage water recycling. To acknowledge this industry’s contributions towards protecting our health and the planet’s, we are celebrating World Plumbing Day on March 11. Share this date with your friends and family to raise awareness about the importance of water protection and acknowledge the work that plumbers do to protect this valuable resource. To learn more about World Plumbing Day, click here.