Charles Labatiuk Award Recipients

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For a number of years, the Charles Labatiuk Award has been awarded to the environmental champions in the City of Edmonton. The 2019 ceremony was held on Thursday June 13 at City Hall.

2019 Showcase Nominations

Composting at Animal Care and Control Center

Trena MacGillivray

Trena started a composter at the Animal Care and Control Centre for staff to participate in composting and help reduce the waste for the Animal Care and Control Centre.

Trena had completed several hours of volunteering work (including participating at Arbour Day to teach students about grass cycling) and became a Master Composter Recycler in 2016. She has since shared her knowledge and passion about reducing her environmental impact with staff at the Animal Care & Control Centre and helped them do the same.

This June, the staff will be able to add the rich soil from the composter to the plants around the Animal Care and Control Center (or take come home for their gardens) to benefit from the nutrient rich material that their waste has now become.

Arena Energy Reduction REALice Technology Trial

Kevin Bokenfohr, Michael Henighan, Ray Burgess, Barry Batke, Tim Harris, Garrett Watson, Jason Joly, Hassan Shahrukh

Operating and maintaining our community rinks is an energy intensive task. The project team developed a scientific, data-driven study to determine if the REALice Technology could reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions without compromising the quality of ice produced.

The team set up shop at the Callingwood Twin Arena and used one ice rink as a control for the current maintenance practices and another rink to test the new REALice technology.

Meters were installed and trackers measured the electricity draw from the ice plant dehumidifiers at both rinks. The amount of natural gas usage from the hot water system fill stations were measured and ice quality measurements were taken at 19 different ice surface locations. The ingenuity of the project was the development of a Measurement and Verification framework to collect robust, comparative data and track the potential environmental outcomes from the study.

Electric Bus Fleet

Samuel Mathewm, Sally Andrichuk, Harold Hale, Amy Cheuk (Ch-Uck), Cindy Kieu (K-Yoo), Norman Hendry, Ryan Birch, Brad Gaiger, Anthony Lam, Ryan Federowich, Daryle Tilroe, Kurt Zills, Kenzie Vye, Paul Netzband, Garry Hurkens

Edmonton’s first electric buses arrive later this year, making Edmonton Transit Services one of the first transit services in Canada to add 25 electric buses to its fleet.

The buses have a range of 400 kilometers, are winter compatible, and are quiet! They are also 30% cheaper to service and maintain than current diesel buses. More importantly, they are a key element of the City’s plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and exemplifies continuous improvement and innovation. The electric buses are a significant shift toward a more sustainable transportation system, a low carbon city, and a high-quality transit service for Edmontonians.

Home Compost Programs Coordinator

Mark Stumpf-Allen

Mark helps Edmontonians compost at home. He gets them started and he keeps them composting by solving any problems or concerns that arise. Home composting has grown in popularity and the City is piloting a new composting program. The number of inquiries about composting have significantly increased and Mark continues to share knowledge and provide helpful advice to Edmontonians, all with a smile.

Over the course of 10 years, he’s developed a suite of programs that are robust and integrated that help Edmontonians at all levels of composting.

Open Science and Open Data Program

Norman Mendoza and Chris Britton

To tackle some of the City’s toughest environmental challenges, we need to engage the best and brightest across the City and arm them with as much data as possible.

Open Science is a program that equips University of Alberta students with Open Data, so they can develop unique approaches to tackling challenges like improving resilience by promoting edible urban agriculture opportunities, identifying neighbourhood challenges by developing a neighbourhood sustainability rating, or using GIS data to develop new urban planning considerations.

This type of approach and program creates an environment of continuous improvement and innovation which can be applied to achieve environmental excellence.

Community Energy Transition Strategy Program Manager

Mike Mellross

Edmonton’s residential labeling program helps Edmontonians understand the energy performance of a home and obtain expert advice on how to make it more energy efficient and comfortable.

The program consists of a home evaluation that includes recommendations on upgrades and renovations and an EnerGuide label with a rating on the energy performance of the home. The labels are then shared on a map that allows owners and buyers to compare their property to other similar properties, giving them the confidence that “energy efficiency” is more than a sales pitch, that it can indeed be measured and made visible.

The EnerGuide Residential Labelling program helps residents and builders alike take meaningful steps towards climate action and reducing emissions. It is an inspirational program that targets market valuation for energy efficiency that is needed for transformative change.

Low Carbon Cities Canada - Project Manager

Robyn Webb

Canada cannot reach its climate targets without reducing emissions from its cities. Seven of Canada’s largest urban areas, representing 43% of the country’s population, and in partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, came together to secure $183 million to help fight climate change in cities.

Though it is the greatest challenge of our generation, finding resources on a large scale to battle climate change is often challenging.

Robyn’s hard work on the Low Carbon Cities Canada initiative for the past year and a half has resulted in a significant achievement: helping secure $22 Million in endowment funding for Edmontonian environmental initiatives. This incredible contribution will impact our community for generations to come.

The Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Installations Project

Shannon Fitzsimmons, Craig Marple, Trevor Jarvis, Steve Garner, Gary Miller, Johnny Mak, John Dizy, Yogi Subramonian, Michael Schneider, Rebecca Olotu, François Cousineau

The CHP Project aims to install building systems that use one source of fuel for heat and power, helping increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions for a facility.

The CHP program was piloted at Terwillegar and Mill Woods Community Recreation Centres and will be online later this summer. Each CHP unit will reduce over 1300 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year, removing approximately 500 cars off the road.

By transferring energy requirements of large facilities from coal-generated electricity to natural gas energy. CHP installations allowed the City of Edmonton to pilot a technology that would reduce GHG emissions and lower our corporate carbon footprint. Reducing our corporate demand on the electrical grid and moving towards a sustainable future requires us to experiment and pilot different technologies and opportunities to continue leading the way for all Edmontonians.

SAP Ariba PaperLess Procurement Team

Roxanne Kits, Lilli Chevrier, Gaetan Demers, Pooja Paigwar, Harishankar Bhagavandas, Marvin Schmidt, Sanu Sasindranath, Edson Gano, Nancy St. Michel, and Linda Miller

Paperless procurement exemplifies environmental excellence as it creates an environment for new ideas, innovation and continual improvement. Finding ways to make everyday processes greener has a significant impact on the City's environmental footprint. By transitioning the City’s procurement process to an electronic system, the SAP Ariba team has significantly helped reduce our paper consumption, which conserves natural resources and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.