University of Toronto

Facilities & Services

Sustainability Tip

Use cold water for doing laundry to prevent having to use energy to heat up all that water.

Keep your curtains or blinds closed on summer days to keep out the warming sunlight and reduce the amount your A/C needs to be run.

Keep your curtains or blinds open on winter days to let in the warming sun and reduce how much your furnace needs to be run.

Modern electronics are far more energy efficient than ever before. Ensuring your electronics meet the Energy Star efficiency standards can save huge amounts of electricity.

Using a fan to create a nice breeze can make those hot summer days more comfortable without having to run the A/C as much.

Laptops are the efficient choice. Using a laptop will consume far less power than desktops but is still offer enough computing ability to cover everything you will want to do on a computer.

After lighting, computers and monitors have the highest energy consumption in office environments. Putting your computer to sleep or turning it off when you're not around will drastically lower electricity usage.

Every minute counts when using water. Take shorter showers to reduce the amount of water you use.

Timing is everything. Run your dishwasher, laundry or take a shower in the early morning or late evening to save using peak-hour utilities.

Turn lights off at lunch, at the end of the day and whenever you leave a room empty for a long period of time.

Every little bit counts. Unplug your cellphone charger when you are not actively charging your phone to save the extra bit of power.

Toronto Hydro and the University of Toronto Sustainability Office Celebrate Conservation Savings

TORONTO, June 11, 2013 /CNW/
Read original article here


Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited ("Toronto Hydro") is honoured to receive the 2013 Green Ribbon Award from the University of Toronto's Sustainability Office. For more than five years, the Green Ribbon Awards have recognized the outstanding contributions and achievements of students, staff, faculty and external partners who have minimized environmental impacts, conserved natural resources and promoted biodiversity at the University of Toronto's St. George campus. This year's award recognized Toronto Hydro in the External category for its efforts in assisting the University of Toronto with achieving ambitious energy conservation reduction goals through support from our staff and saveONenergyOM conservation programs. This award marks and celebrates a long standing relationship between the two organizations that is leading electricity savings and shifting conservation behaviour in Toronto.

From 2006 to date, the University of Toronto has:

  • achieved almost 2,300 kW of electricity demand savings;
  • attained over 14,000 MWh of electricity energy savings; and
  • received more than $1 million of reimbursement through various conservation programs.

The University of Toronto has realized these savings through its upgrades to a variety of equipment and systems, including:

  • Lighting
  • Building automation systems
  • Fan variable speed drives
  • Compressed air systems

The University has additional projects planned for 2013 and 2014 and expects to realize even more savings in electricity.

For more information about how Toronto Hydro can help businesses through the saveONenergyOM programs visit torontohydro.com/business.

About the Awards
The University of Toronto's Green Ribbon Award is given to those who may have increased awareness of the need for environmentally sustainable behavior, and encouraged and assisted members of the university to adopt more environmentally sustainable behavior. More information can be found at http://sustainability.utoronto.ca/news/calendar/2013GRAs.htm.

QUOTE - Chris Tyrrell, Vice-President, Customer Care and Chief Conservation Officer

"The University of Toronto has demonstrated a strong commitment to conservation and environmental sustainability. We're pleased to have helped them with their ambitious energy reduction goals and cost savings. Through their efforts, they are making significant contributions to reducing the city's electricity demand. I'd like to commend them on their leadership and congratulate them in saving 10 per cent of their electricity demand on the St George Campus.

Without customers like U of T, Toronto Hydro would not have been able to achieve its own conservation targets. To date, we have achieved an estimated energy savings of 1,034 GWh and total demand reduction of 103 MW, the equivalent of taking the city of Stratford off the grid."

About Toronto Hydro

Toronto Hydro-Electric System owns and operates an electricity distribution system, which delivers electricity to approximately 719,000 customers located in the City of Toronto. It is the largest municipal electricity distribution company in Canada and distributes approximately 19% of the electricity consumed in the Province of Ontario.

Our World. Our City. Our Responsibility. See what we are doing to be safe, reliable and sustainable at torontohydro.com/responsibility.

SOURCE: Toronto Hydro Corporation

For further information:

Tanya Bruckmueller, Toronto Hydro-Electric System
Tbruckmueller@torontohydro.com

W: 416-542-2621

C: 416-903-0440