Fleming College’s 2009 Sustainable Building Design and Construction program students are building the Camp Kawartha Environment Centre in Peterborough, Ontario.
Peterborough constructs one of Canada’s most sustainable buildings
Role of sustainable building in future of business growing, says student
Thursday July 16, 2009 -- Michelle Strutzenberger
When it’s finished, a new centre in Peterborough will be one of Canada’s most sustainable buildings, featuring components like composting toilets, a living roof and rain as the only water source. Materials will be mostly local.

The 2,000-square-foot Camp Kawartha Environment Centre will be used to provide environmental programming to elementary students, as well as showcase sustainable living to the greater community.

Twenty-six students from Fleming College’s 2009 Sustainable Building Design and Construction program are developing the project, slated for completion at the end of summer.

Dave Conroy, a student in the program responsible for the green roof installation and solar hot water, says he sees the role of sustainable building in the future of business growing.

“Where private investment for green building initiatives may have been limited to special interest groups in the past, there seems to be a growing environmental consciousness among the general population, which has created a marketing explosion as corporations are scrambling to be perceived as environmentally friendly,” Conroy tells Axiom News.

His view is that developing green buildings in order to enhance an organization’s profile “will be a major driving force in the sustainable building industry.”

Even more of motivator than that, however, will be the cost-savings related to sustainable buildings, says Conroy.

“Where cost savings are involved, even companies and individuals with little interest in preserving the environment will make the more sustainable decision,” he says, pointing to recent developments in energy efficiency issues as an example.

Business and home owners are facing the decision to go with standard designs, which are energy heavy, or invest in more efficient options.

Although they usually entail a higher initial investment, the energy savings are substantial enough that suppliers can accurately forecast reasonable payback periods for the purchaser in order for them to make the fiscally responsible decision.

“This is the main driving force within industry toward more sustainable alternatives, when it will actually help the bottom line to do so,” says Conroy.

He adds that government can play a key role in environment protection in the short term by helping “long-term environmental ideals become the prudent fiscal decision.”

The recent legislation passed under the Ontario Green Energy Act, which increases the buy-back rate for energy produced from photovoltaic panels from 44 to 80 cents a kilowatt hour for systems under 10 kilowatts is a great example of how government can do this, according to Boyle. If a company or individual is considering investing in a grid-tied system, this will cut the payback period dramatically.

As a student looking to the future of his country, Conroy says his vision is to see Canada change “from a continent of consumers to a nation of Canadian communities.”

He suggests living and buying local is becoming increasingly critical as the “undervalued, non-renewable energy resources” that make “access to all the world’s riches” possible, continue to deplete.

“Subsidizing green technologies and renewable energy sources with money taxed from the sale of non-renewable (resources), or heavy polluters, is one way to help curb our dependence on fossil fuels and position Canada as a leader and innovator in a field that must necessarily grow as we deplete our fossil fuel reserves further,” says Conroy.

“In my opinion we should plan ahead and pay the price slowly, as an investment toward our future, because the price of inaction is bound to be higher.”

To learn more about the Camp Kawartha Environment Centre, visit www.sustainablebuilding2009.ca.

If you have feedback on this article please contact michelle(at)axiomnews.ca or call the newsroom at 800-294-0051.