The College of New Caledonia has earned a national award for its energy management and conservation efforts.
CNC has been awarded the 2023 Canadian Region Institutional Energy Management award from the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE).
The award recognizes the college’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint and integrate energy-saving and sustainable practices into daily operations.
“We were thrilled to hear AEE chose CNC for this award,” said Ken Van Aalst, CNC’s director of facilities services.
“Our facilities services team has put a lot of work into minimizing the college’s carbon footprint, so it means a lot to see those efforts recognized on a national scale.”
Since 2020, the college has reduced its annual energy consumption by 2.2 million kWh, conserving about 6.5 million kWh of energy and reducing CNC’s greenhouse gas emissions by 19 per cent.
“Those numbers are huge,” continued Van Aalst. “To put it into perspective, that’s enough energy to toast 23,760,000 bagels or to watch 9,741,600 hockey games on television each year.”
The college has improved the overall energy-saving practices by identifying and correcting building operation inefficiencies, replacing equipment with newer and more efficient alternatives, and adding electric vehicles to its fleet to reduce the use of gas-powered vehicles.
“Reducing our carbon footprint is a big part of CNC’s 2021-2026 Strategic Plan, and this recognition for AEE tells us we’re on the right track,” said Tara Szerencsi, vice president of finance and corporate services.
“Our teams have made this work a priority, so we’re proud to be setting the standard."
The AEE is a nonprofit organization that operates in 105 countries to encourage industry professionals to reach global goals for net zero.
