New Windows and Sliding Glass Door Program Built on the Success of the ENERGY STAR® Collaborative Initiative of the Year AwardLast month I attended the 2010 ENERGY STAR® Participants Gala in Ottawa, hosted by Natural Resources Canada.

I was there with SHSC CEO Lindsey Reed and Board Chair Roger Maloney to accept the ENERGY STAR® Collaborative Initiative of the Year Award. This award honours those who, through partnerships, help businesses and consumers save money and contribute to Canada’s climate change objectives.

SHSC captured the award for its light bulb replacement and appliance bulk buy programs. Over these past three years, SHSC in collaboration with its subsidiary GLOBE, Toronto Hydro, housing providers and residents installed over 136,000 ENERGY STAR® compact fluorescent 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 collaboration of not-for-profit housing corporations, municipalities, appliance manufacturers and government agencies has resulted in the sale of 3,000 ENERGY STAR® qualified refrigerators.

According to the ENERGY STAR® Saving Calculator, the direct environmental benefit of these two programs is equivalent to taking over 320 cars off the road or planting 160,000 trees. Roger accepted the award on behalf of SHSC. He shared the stage with other award recipients from different categories, including:

  • Whirlpool Canada
  • Sears Canada
  • Hydro-Québec
  • Veridian Connections
  • Manitoba Hydro
  • Toshiba Canada
  • Climate Change Central
  • All Weather Windows
  • JELD-WEN Canada

2010 Energy Star

But SHSC isn’t resting on this recent accolade. In 2010, both programs are being expanded – with the launch of a new Toronto Hydro ‘Deep Measures Retrofit’ program and a province-wide ENERGY STAR®-certified Windows Bulk Buy program (more about the latter below).

Introducing New Windows and Sliding Glass Door Program
Following the success of these initiatives, SHSC will be launching a new ENERGY STAR® Windows and Sliding Glass Door program soon. Similar to previous bulk buy offering, SHSC acts as the administrator to ensure integrity to the process – we have established product standards, managed a public request for proposals and negotiated competitive prices with a volume rebate based on the participation of housing providers. Look out for the official launch of this brand new ENERGY STAR® initiative.