Royal Roads gets $1 million to retrofit its heritage buildings

You have to spend money to save money when it comes to energy efficient public-sector buildings.

On Tuesday, Royal Roads University received more than $1 million to retrofit its heritage buildings, which will lower energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The retrofits will save an estimated 317 tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions annually.

Of significant importance is the ability to upgrade Hatley Castle, which has heritage status.

A $7.6-million investment from the Public Sector Energy Conservation Agreement has so far yielded energy upgrades in 23 of the 6,500 public sector buildings in B.C.

Those upgrades have conserved enough power to serve 600 homes a year and cut more than 3,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas and save $400,000 a year in energy costs, according to a government release.

Camosun College is another local leader in energy conservation. More than $1 million has been spent on retrofits to lighting, heating and air conditioning.

"Camosun has had an ambitious energy management project underway for the past four years and this funding to retrofit the Lansdowne campus will help the college deliver on its climate action goals," Peter Lockie, Camosun's vice-president of finance, said in the release.

An earlier retrofit of the Interurban campus reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 261 tonnes, said Lockie.

The province has committed $75 million to the PSECA fund since 2008. B.C. Hydro and Terasen Gas have added conservation incentives.

So far the fund has achieved annual energy cost savings of more than $7.4 million and greenhouse gas reductions of more than 18,700 tonnes.

"These kinds of energy conservation projects help our overall clean energy goal of meeting two-thirds of future demand through conservation by 2020," said Lisa Coltart, executive director of B.C. Hydro Power Smart and Customer Care.

B.C. is the first jurisdiction in North America to commit to a carbon-neutral goal laid out in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act.

Under the Act, all levels of the public sector will see a six per cent reduction in carbon emissions between 2007 and 2012, an 18 per cent reduction by 2016, a 33 per cent reduction by 2020 and an 80 per cent reduction by 2050.

Achieving carbon neutrality is four-step process, says the latest LiveSmart Carbon Neutral Update, dated 2009.

Those steps are: reduce carbon pollution, measure remaining emissions, purchase offsets to ensure net emissions are zero and report on results.