Conservation Halton Recognizes the Town of Halton Hills for its Environmental Leadership

On Thursday June 2, 2011, the Town of Halton Hills was recognized for its environmental leadership with a Stewardship Award for the development of two new environmentally-friendly fire stations.

Mayor Bonnette and Council recognized the opportunity to include innovative environmental features into the Town’s two new fire stations. Both fire stations have been designed to meet the LEED ™ Silver Standard. LEED ™ is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a recognized certification system for ‘green’ buildings.

In terms of environmental features, water and energy conservation was a necessity in the new fire stations. In terms of water conservation, a 30% reduction in water usage is anticipated through the use of low flow fixtures and rainwater harvesting for truck fill and washing. Energy conservation initiatives include lighting with motion sensors and dimmers, geothermal (ground source) heating and cooling, high efficiency lights, and solar passive energy using natural light. The buildings were also built with 15% recycled material and 75% of construction waste has been diverted from landfills.

Through the Halton Conservation award the Town was recognized for taking a leadership role in recognizing the need to preserve, protect and enhance the environment, as well as for helping to educate and inspire others to do the same.

The Stewardship Award is another recognition of Town actions which help implement the Green Plan. The Green Plan encourages conservation initiatives and centers around 70 recommendations that commit the Town to actions that demonstrate environmental leadership while meeting the PAREE Principle. The PAREE Principle means that the Green Plan’s recommendations are practical, affordable, reasonable, educational and enforceable. To read more about the Green Plan visit: www.haltonhills.ca/sustainability.

Having learned of the Award, Mayor Bonnette noted: “The Town is committed to Environmental leadership. By designing our corporate buildings to a higher standard such as LEED ™ Silver, we are helping to create a positive future for generations to come. We need to actlocally, while thinking globally. I would like to thank Conservation Halton for the Stewardship Award which recognizes the good work we are doing in Halton Hills.”

Each year, the Awards of Excellence are awarded to people and organizations who make a significant contribution to conservation within the Halton watershed. The awards program has been in place for over 20 years and is presented in six categories, including a stewardship category. The stewardship category is presented to a corporation or a municipality that demonstrates leadership in protecting and enhancing the environment. For more infromation on the awards, please visit Conservation Halton at: www.conservationhalton.ca.

For more information on the Town’s sustainability initiatives and Green Plan implementation, please visit: www.haltonhills.ca/sustainability.

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