Toronto Western Hospital gets energy retrofits

TORONTO—Noventa Energy Partners Inc. is retrofitting the Toronto Western Hospital with an energy-efficient system that will supply about 85 per cent of the hospital’s heating and cooling needs and help it save on energy costs.

The Canadian government is providing $3.3 million to Noventa for the project.

The new system will provide clean energy to the hospital using recovered heat extracted from wastewater and the sewage system. Over the lifetime of this project, Toronto Western Hospital will see a cumulative reduction of about 169,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions which is equivalent to removing about 52,000 cars off the road for one year, indicates a release. 

The federal funding comes from the Partnerships stream of the Government of Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Challenge, which invests in projects that reduce carbon pollution, save money and create good jobs.

“In addition to the significant energy and environmental benefits, this project will provide meaningful operating cost savings for the hospital and over 500 person years of employment to help our economy recover from COVID-19,” said Dennis Fotinos, CEO, Noventa Energy Partners, in a statement. “It will also be an early warning system to help us respond quicker to future pandemics as the wastewater will be monitored and tested for pathogens and other harmful toxins. None of these benefits could have been realized without the support of the Government of Canada.”