This year the Calgary Telus Convention Centre is introducing solar panels, which will generate power for meetings and conventions – and generate some attention for the city too.
The Calgary TELUS Convention Centre (CTCC), one of Canada's premier convention and meeting facilities, helps build the profile of Calgary, provides quality service to visitors and offers strong economic benefits to the City of Calgary. Over the years, the CTCC has continued to evolve its services, facilities and technologies through everything from expansion plans and partnerships to green initiatives.
With Calgary receiving more sunshine hours annually than any other major Canadian city, there was an incredible opportunity to transform this sunshine into a useable source of power. The forward thinking facility is currently installing 10Kw solar panels on the North Building roof, which will harness energy from the sun and ultimately lower the CTCC's carbon footprint.
"The CTCC has always been a leader with environmental initiatives. The solar panels will reduce our draw on the provincial grid by 14,000 kilowatt hours per year " says Heather Lundy, Director of Marketing Calgary TELUS Convention Centre. The energy generated from the panels will feed into the existing electrical distribution system in the North Building, offsetting the emissions by 11 tonnes, which is equivalent to two cars being taken off the streets. In fact, the solar panels could generate enough energy for two average households for an entire year, who on average, consume 600Kwh per month.
As a progressive and responsible facility, the The Calgary TELUS Convention Centre demonstrates a commitment to environmental stewardship. "The CTCC maintains its BOMA Best Level 3 Certification through environment-friendly practices, energy saving efforts and an aggressive reduce, reuse, recycle program that ensures as much material as possible is diverted away from the landfill" says Lundy. Eco friendly building systems, office equipment and low-flow water fixtures are also applied internally and whenever possible every effort is made to use suppliers who employ environment-friendly products and procedures.
The installation is expected to be completed by the end of the summer. Once it is up and running for a few weeks, the solar panels will be viewable in real time online, It's another great example of how Calgary and the The Calgary TELUS Convention Centre are proud to be part of the energy.
