Central Okanagan

The District of Summerland's new RCMP building has earned a PowerSense Conservation Excellence Award at the 2012 FortisBC PowerSense Forum.

File photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

Summerland's new RCMP building has earned the community a PowerSense award from FortisBC.

The award was presented to the District in recognition of the new facility serving as an upstanding example of energy efficiency.

The building makes maximum use of natural light and high efficiency fixtures where artificial light is required.

"We are very proud to receive this award from FortisBC for the energy conservation measures we took at our new RCMP building." says Summerland Mayor Janice Perrino.

"The energy saving solutions we used was not only the right thing to do for the environment, but also the right thing to do for our taxpayers. These measures will reduce our operating costs and taxpayer burden over the life of this building."

The facility uses waste heat from the near by ice plant at the Summerland Arena to heat both the structure and hot water.

The heat recovery equipment installed into the plant also works to heat the dressing rooms inside the arena. In the past, this same heat was simply exhausted into the air.

The District was also recognized for improvements made to its waste-water treatment plant.

The upgrades have reduced power consumption at the plant and extended the life of the equipment being used there.