Durham College was rewarded for its ongoing commitment to sustainability on August 8th when it received a $12,990 incentive from Enbridge Gas Distribution (Enbridge) for recent upgrades to the boiler room in the Gordon Willey building at the Oshawa campus.

The cheque, presented by Energy Solutions Consultant David Stelzer, is part of Enbridge’s Demand Side Management program, which aims to reduce natural gas consumption. The college recently removed four less efficient two-stage boilers and replaced them with two new near-condensing 88 per cent efficiency boilers that are fully modulating allowing hot water temperatures to be precisely set. Further upgrades to all the boiler control and building automation systems ensures only the required amount of water needed to operate the heating system is used. In addition, new 96 per cent efficiency water heaters were installed. 

“Durham College is committed to sustainable practices and is implementing new measures that will make us better environmental stewards,” said James Webb, sustainability co-ordinator. “The boiler upgrades allow us to use less gas and have better control over the heating plant while significantly decreasing our greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the college’s carbon footprint.”

The college submitted an application detailing the retrofit project to Enbridge and after several site visits and an evaluation conducted by their Engineering department, was deemed eligible for the efficiency incentive.

“The college’s new boilers and control equipment is going to save a lot of natural gas,” said Stelzer. “Our Demand Side Management program is all about reducing natural gas and the greenhouse gases associated with it. This project is a great example of natural gas savings.”

The changes to the boiler system will see a significant increase in plant efficiency and reduced energy consumption with estimated savings of 131,178 cubic metres of natural gas.

Visit www.durhamcollege.ca/livinggreen for more information on the college’s sustainability initiatives.