SHSC Wins ENERGY STAR® Collaborative Initiative of the Year Award
Yesterday, Social Housing Services Corporation (SHSC) received the Collaborative Initiative of the Year Award at the 2010 ENERGY STAR® Participants Gala, hosted by Natural Resources Canada, in Ottawa.
The award honours those who, through partnerships, help businesses and consumers save money and contribute to Canada’s climate change objectives.
“When we pool our human resources and work across organizations with a shared sense of purpose, the success we can achieve isn’t just incremental – it has the power to be exponential, the power to be transformative,” says Roger Maloney, SHSC Board Chair.
SHSC, in collaboration with its partners, has enhanced the awareness and accessibility of ENERGY STAR® qualified products in Ontario’s social housing sector. This was accomplished through its two award-winning programs: its In-Suite Light Bulb Replacement and Appliance Bulk Buy programs.
Since 2007, SHSC has partnered with Toronto Hydro Electric System Ltd. to create a conservation program in social housing to reduce electricity demand. Over the past three years, SHSC, in collaboration with Toronto Hydro, housing providers, and residents, installed over 136,000 ENERGY STAR® compact florescent (CFL) bulbs in 30,000 housing units and reduced more than 6.5 MegaWatts in electricity demand from the grid.
In 2009, SHSC launched its Appliance Bulk Buy program, offering ENERGY STAR® qualified appliances, as well as the environmental decommissioning of old appliances. This program was made possible through SHSC’s collaboration with not-for-profit housing corporations, municipalities, appliance manufacturers, and government agencies.
“SHSC’s Appliance Bulk Buy program made it easy for us to reduce our environmental footprint with its good standards, public procurement, extended warranties and environmental decommissioning,” says Jennifer Murdoch, Manager, Housing Programs, Regional Municipality of Waterloo.
To date, the SHSC Bulk Buy program has sold over 2,900 ENERGY STAR® qualified refrigerators. According to the ENERGY STAR® Saving Calculator, the direct environmental benefit of the two programs is equivalent to taking 313 cars off the road and planting 160,000 trees.
“Toronto Hydro congratulates SHSC on their success in winning the 2010 Collaborative Initiative of the Year Award,” says Chris Tyrrell, Vice President and Chief Conservation Officer, Toronto Hydro. “They are well-deserving of the award and we look forward to continuing our work together in the years ahead.”
To view the official Natural Resources Canada announcement, click here.