Fuelling Research While Saving Energy

From early-morning classes to late-night lab work, the University of Toronto’s Medical Sciences Building (MSB) is a bustling hub for thousands of students, scientists and academic leaders. Its extensive, 24-hour wet labs — where researchers handle chemicals, drugs and biological matter — and plethora of offices and classrooms mean it requires more energy than any other campus building to run efficiently and safely.

But thanks to an innovative energy reduction initiative, supported by both U of T’s Facilities and Services Department and the Faculty of Medicine, the MSB is drastically reducing its annual energy consumption and saving more than $600,000 each year.

“With a campus this size, controlling energy spending is challenging, so finding savings within the organization is crucial,” says Ron Swail, U of T’s Assistant Vice-President of Facilities and Services, who likens the operation of the St. George Campus to a city of 70,000 people with massive buildings and distinct energy demands.  “U of T’s investment in reducing energy consumption in the MSB will be realized within only 18 months — one of the best returns on investment I’ve ever seen on a project of this magnitude and complexity.”

Conceived and spearheaded by Chun Lee, U of T’s Manager of Mechanical Operations and Maintenance, the University installed cutting-edge technology to dramatically improve the buildings mechanical systems. This included installation of variable speed drive fan technology, enhanced building automation, and wireless room level thermostatic controls, so air flow and temperature can now be automatically adjusted based on the building’s occupancy needs.   

“Before, fresh cooled or heated air was supplied to empty rooms overnight. The new system delivers air based on time of day and the type of work performed,” says Heather Taylor, Director of Facilities Management and Space Planning in the Faculty of Medicine.

The $1.4 million initiative included $588,000 in incentives from Toronto Hydro and Enbridge Gas, including one of the largest single cheques ever awarded by Enbridge. These cheques were presented to the University today in a brief ceremony.

The primary project team consisted of:  Ron Swail, Chun Lee, Attila Keszei, Heather Taylor, Tim Neff, Tony Kern, Bruce Dodds, Dieter Pfeiffer, Paul Leitch, Samiddha Aryasinghe and Clinton Watkis.

U of T students, faculty and staff who are interested in reducing the university’s environmental footprint can visit the Facilities and Services Sustainability Office’s website and submit ideas to the Energy & Resource Management Fund.

By the Numbers

Sustainability is a core value of U of T Facilities and Services.  Through creative energy-saving solutions, here’s what U of T has achieved over the past 40 years:

• More than 60 billion litres of water saved
• More than 1 million tonnes of greenhouse gas avoided
• More than $200 million in utilities cost savings
• 71.4 per cent of St. George campus’ total waste is recycled — one of the highest diversion rates of any North American university - More than 250,000 trees saved through paper product recycling alone