Leading the Way

Located in the beautiful landscapes of London, Ontario, Fanshawe College has made it its mission to not only prepare and teach more than 16,500 full-time students and 38,000 part-time registrants, but to serve as a leader and example in the act of sustainability. While the college’s administrators have made energy conservation a focus for more than three decades, the mission took on a whole new meaning in the last few years. Five years ago, a Honeywell energy audit of the college’s use of electricity, natural gas, and water resulted in $3.5 million worth of projects to become even more energy efficient. And in July 2009, the college signed an agreement with the Association of Canadian Community Colleges to lead the fight in making sustainability a priority for years to come.

When handed a $31.8 million grant, college administrators thought long and hard about not only where the money would go but where it would make the most impact in the future. After looking at the campus landscape and listening to the thoughts of an enormously active and energy-conscious student body, the college found an answer. In 2009, it broke ground for the 148,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Centre for Applied Transportation Technologies. Known around campus as the CAAT Building, it now serves not only as one of the most advanced transportation training centres in the country but as one of the greenest.

In just over two years, builders completed work on Fanshawe College’s Centre for Applied Transportation Technologies, created specifically to house the college’s innovative transportation programs in auto mechanics, auto-body repairs, avionics, aviation, heavy equipment, and farm-equipment technologies. While offering unsurpassed educational opportunities, the building was also equipped with a number of sustainable initiatives.

“Green features include 38,000 square feet of vegetated green roofs, polished concrete floors in the shops, stormwater reclamation for toilet flushing and site irrigation, solar preheating for domestic hot water, natural daylighting and daylight harvesting, lighting and occupancy sensors, and low- to no-VOC finishes,” explains Shawn Harrington, manager of facilities planning and development at the college. “We even installed innovative solar-powered GPS tracking skylights (shown above) that track the sun and redirect the sunlight into the shops throughout the day, reducing the need for artificial light.”

Thus far, the lighting systems have made the most noteworthy change in the facility. “All rooms were put on a series of motion sensors that allow us to control lighting and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning,” says Allan McLuskie, manager of facilities operations. “We also upgraded the building automation systems, which went far in allowing us to set temperatures back during the nights and weekends and evenings, and reduce ventilation when the spaces were unoccupied.”

Administrators say that just these changes alone have resulted in a savings of more than $500,000 in annual ongoing operating costs. The students of Fanshawe College have also played their part within the sustainability efforts. Over the past two years, the students have directed approximately $300,000 of their annual Student Campus Improvement Fee towards sustainability initiatives. While many of the changes have gone relatively unnoticed to the average student population (since they have been completed during the summer—when student population is lowest—for behind-the-scenes areas like mechanical rooms), others have occurred thanks to overwhelming input from the student body.

“We have installed water-bottle refill stations in several locations on campus as a result of the interest expressed by the student representatives,” Harrington says. “So far, the waste from 26,000 disposable plastic water bottles has been eliminated by just one of these units, which we installed less than a year ago.”

In the future, college administrators say they hope to add more green roofs throughout the campus area and take upon a solar photovoltaic project at one of the college’s regional campuses. There is even a plan to hire a full-time sustainability coordinator for the college.

“We are growing to consider sustainability as much more than just energy conservation,” McLuskie says. “It also includes looking into ways to include the sustainable practices into the curriculum and the overall teaching of our students, researching sustainable practices, recycling, purchasing practices, transportation, public engagement, and much more.”