Hospital gets Sunny-er

[attach]813[/attach]Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre has received a prescription for sustainable energy giving it a clean bill of green health for years to come.

The hospital has received an interest-free loan of $1.7 million from the Toronto Energy Conservation Fund and the Toronto Green Energy Fund to retrofit their current energy system and integrate a solar panel system.

The energy generator will compliment a solar panel wall that was installed this spring in tribute to Harry Taylor, a 20-year Sunnybrook employee who pushed the hospital to decrease its carbon footprint. Taylor was killed last November in a traffic accident on the QEW.

The loans come thanks to the Better Buildings Partnership, a city initiative that provides financial aid to property owners constructing sustainable, energy efficient buildings.

Sunnybrook stands to save more than $2.4 million annually once the systems are upgraded.

The city estimates the hospital’s initiative alone will eliminate nearly 18,000 tonnes of carbon emissions, the equivalent of taking 3,600 cars off the road.

Sunnybrook was a good choice for the loan, says Richard Morris, Toronto’s manager of energy efficiency.

“The selection is based on how the loan would affect people, planet, and profit,” Morris says. “The key to the (Better Buildings Partnership) is that it addresses the initial capital cost, and reduces the cost the property owner has to pay in the end.

“It really approaches the implementation from both angles,” Morris says.

According to Morris, since the formation of the Better Buildings Partnership in 1996, the organization has retrofitted nearly 1,000 buildings and reduced carbon emissions by nearly two million tonnes.