This Saturday March 30 is Earth Hour, a now twelve year global tradition of turning the lights out to signify a collective commitment to the wellness of our planet. If you’ve ever participated in Earth Hour –whether it was this year or five years ago– you know that it feels good to do. There’s something about taking part in a global movement that makes you feel empowered to make a difference. So the question is, why only do something that makes you feel empowered for an hour?
Category Archives: Beyond Talkin’ Trash
Mehdi Motakefpour
Hello there,
I am Mehdi Motakefpour, the new Energy Project Manager. It has been more than two months now that I’ve joined UHN Energy & Environment team. Our team is one of the behind the scene crew that strives to optimize energy use within UHN facilities and minimize the environmental footprint while providing a healthy, safe, comfortable and sustainable environment for the patients and staff. Continue reading
Actually, don’t skip the dishes
If you don’t know already, you should learn that microplastics are becoming part of our food systems right down to all our soils and growing media. Our addiction to take-out containers means we are unable to avoid consuming plastic microfibres even when Continue reading
Travel, Recycle, Save Lives
Do you love adventure travel? I mean real travel, the kind that gets you muddy and off the beaten path in the developing world. Well, then you should consider Not Just Tourists. This organization collects medical supplies from UHN and other partners, packs them into suitcases, and sends them with travelers (such as yourself) to remote clinics in need. The organization is 100% volunteer based and has been Continue reading
Win-win: Michener Institute saves money while saving the environment
In 2018, the Facilities team at the St. Patrick campus of the Michener Institute of Education at UHN found a way to save money while also reducing the building’s use of chemicals, water, and energy. The building’s cooling system was not operating at maximum efficiency due to heavy scaling of calcium phosphate in the condenser. This scaling led to an increase in energy and water usage in the summer of 2017, and it also required regular acid cleaning. As you might imagine, this type of cleaning comes with both monetary and environmental costs.
Meet the Intern!
For those that haven’t met me yet, I’m Sinthusha, the new sustainability co-op working with Lisa Vanlint! I’m pursuing a double major at the University of Waterloo in Science and Business. When I agreed to this job, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into but I was wrong, very, very, very wrong, in the best possible way 🙂 In the two months I’ve been here, I’ve done so much more and learned so much.
Thank you Kelvin Chan Tung and Blair Gage for remembering to shut the sash of their lab’s fume hood! This saves so much energy! (like, more than a house)
UHN’s CEAL Lab Installs New Lighting System
An innovative new LED lighting system has been installed at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute’s CEAL lab (Challenging Environment Assessment Lab). Researchers in this lab conduct world class experiments to advance knowledge in mobility, aging, accessibility, design safety, and much more. The lab itself is a unique space with high ceilings located in the basement of TRI’s University Centre. Feel free to read more about the exciting research conducted at CEAL and throughout TRI at this link.
Before taking a deeper dive into the project, here are some quick energy savings numbers:
- Electricity Savings: 88,000 kWh
- Cost Savings: $12,300
- Payback: 1.8 years
- Additional benefits: Reliability
The before and after photos below demonstrate how LED lights can improve performance while saving energy at the same time.
Left hand picture shows original fluorescent lighting, right hand picture shows new LED lighting
