Okanagan businesses awarded by FortisBC for energy conservation

Some Southern Interior businesses have received a nod from FortisBC for their dedication to conserving energy with their Efficiency in Action awards.

On May 31, FortisBC recognized 10 outstanding B.C. organizations including BNA Brewing Co., Skaha Hills in Penticton, the City of Penticton, Baptist Housing Ministries Society and Interior Health Authority, to name a few.

Together, these organizations have saved enough natural gas to heat close to 150 homes and enough electricity to power close to 340 homes for an entire year.

“The attention these organizations have paid to energy use in their projects is impressive — saving energy at this level requires commitment, careful planning and concrete action,” Roger Dall’Antonia, executive vice-president of customer service and regulatory affairs at FortisBC, said in a statement. “FortisBC works closely with organizations like these to achieve their conservation goals and this is an opportunity to acknowledge their success.”

FortisBC reserves the awards for those with exceptional energy savings in a variety of ways. The winners include businesses, municipalities and institutions that have worked with FortisBC in an effort to reduce their energy use.

Winemaker Andrew Peller Limited took home this year’s industrial award winner for managing both energy and water use while processing the approximately two million cases of wine a year in Kelowna. Peller replaced one large end-of-life boiler with three smaller energy-efficient ones.

“We estimate the typical life of a boiler is 20 to 30 years, so although we are conscious of the initial capital spend, this is long-term play,” Doug Gallagher, director of operations for Western Canada at Andrew Peller Limited said, also in a statement. “It’s more than dollars and cents for us, we all have a role to play in managing our environmental impact for the people who come after us and projects like this put us on the right track.”

After just six months, their boiler project has saved more than 1,700 gigajoules of natural gas—enough to provide hot water for 23 single-family homes for one year.

The Overwaitea Food Group also got top props for making energy-efficient upgrades in their Kelowna, Penticton and Nelson stores. At their Save-On-Foods Kelowna store in the Orchard Plaza, they converted to LED lighting, which will save about 900,000-kilowatt hours of electricity each year, which could power 82 homes for a year.

“We’re guided by a simple but fundamental principle, to run a responsible company in every area of our business,” said Cole Munro, energy manager for Overwaitea Food Group. “We do our part to save energy and create a culture of sustainability, adopt the principles of energy efficiency into our ongoing business management practices and upgrade our existing facilities with energy conservation measures.”

In total, the 2016 winners have saved an estimated 11,000 gigajoules of natural gas and 3,700-megawatt hours of electricity.