Every Kilowatt Counts Power Savings Event. What s Inside $2.00 off admission for Green Living Show Get free clothesline at Take a Load Off

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "Every Kilowatt Counts Power Savings Event. What s Inside $2.00 off admission for Green Living Show Get free clothesline at Take a Load Off"

Transcription

1 Spring 2008 Welcome to powerwise, your energy conservation source! powerwise is dedicated to providing you with ideas and resources to save you energy, money and help the environment. What s Inside $2.00 off admission for Green Living Show Get free clothesline at Take a Load Off Toronto events Sign up for peaksaver and get $25 Turn off the lights. Join Earth Hour on March 29 Keep Cool Room Air Conditioning Recyling Program Sign up for new e-newsletter Conservation programs celebrate continued success Once again, business and residential customers answered the call to cut electricity demand in our city through Toronto Hydro s conservation and demand management programs. Thanks to the many that participated, our 2007 conservation programs achieved a total savings of 169 megawatts (enough to power more than 29,000 homes for an entire year!) Below are just a few of the 2007 highlights: 143,038 residential customers received a 10 per cent rebate through our Summer Savings program 12,902 business customers received a 10 per cent rebate during Summer Challenge for business More than 12,700 customers had a peaksaver switch installed Over 17,000 sets of incandescent seasonal lights were exchanged for 8,483 energy-efficient LEDs 6,338 inefficient room air conditioners were recycled through Keep Cool Toronto Hydro worked with Social Community Housing Committee to provide 20,782 compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs to community housing in Toronto to cut electricity use by 1 megawatt Toronto Hydro business customers participated in Toronto Hydro's Business Incentive program to save an impressive 5 megawatts Every Kilowatt Counts Power Savings Event OM From April 18 to June 15, you can take advantage of the Every Kilowatt Counts Power Savings Event. With more than $35 of money-saving coupons at participating retailers when you purchase energy-saving products, you ll save electricity, save money and help the environment. Products being featured in this campaign include: $15 off ENERGY STAR qualified light fixtures; $8 off T8 fluorescent fixtures/ballast replacements (for kitchens, garages, utility rooms); $3 off purchase of 2 or more electrostatic or pleated fabric furnace filters (for air conditioning savings); $4 off ENERGY STAR CFL floodlights (for indoor/pot light use and outdoor); and $5 off heavy-duty timers for use with plug-in pool/spa filter pumps. Coupons for these products will be available at participating retailers or online at While you re shopping for these featured energy-efficient items, look for the new Every Kilowatt Counts Power Savings symbol it will signal that you have found energy-savings products. Be sure to stock up on other proven products that will help you save electricity and money compact fluorescent light bulbs, timers, motion sensors and dimmer switches. Take advantage of today s technologies to lower your electricity use and your electricity costs! These products deliver the same results as older models but use less electricity. There s more than $35 of savings waiting for you at more than 3,000 participating retail locations across Ontario. Visit one near you to get in on the savings! OM Every Kilowatt Counts Power Savings is an official mark of the Ontario Power Authority.

2 Turn off the lights. Join Earth Hour on March 29 Toronto Hydro-Electric System is pleased to support World Wildlife Fund s Earth Hour scheduled to take place on March 29 from 8 9 p.m. Earth Hour is a global lights-out phenomenon, co-ordinated by WWF, that will bring together people from all over the world to show their support for action on climate change. Last year, Earth Hour made its debut in Sydney, Australia and was a huge success. More than two million individuals and businesses participated, resulting in a 10 per cent reduction on the electrical grid, saving 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Toronto Hydro-Electric System will support Earth Hour by measuring Torontonians' success at reducing their collective electricity use. Residents and businesses are getting excited about this great opportunity and participation is growing by the day. Join Earth Hour and see the difference you can make by shutting off your lights and other electrical appliances for only one hour. Toronto Hydro buildings will power down for the event. To sign up or learn more, go to today. Try our online Green Calculator It s a fun and an easy way to see what kind of impact your electricity usage has on the environment. See what it s all about by visiting Toronto Hydro-Electric System is excited to launch its newest conservation program: Take a Load Off Toronto in collaboration with Costco, The Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Zellers. Take a Load Off Toronto is a program that encourages residential customers to reduce the strain on our electricity grid by using a clothesline instead of the dryer, and washing clothes in cold water. Starting April 26 for three consecutive weekends, we ll be available to recommend ways you can conserve electricity, save money and provide you with: a free energy-saving clothesline (limit first 500 Toronto residents, per day, per store) discounts on conservation products, including specialty compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs and cold water laundry detergent! Events run 10 a.m. 5 p.m. For a full listing and campaign details, please visit to find the store nearest you. We look forward to your participation! LIMIT: 1 clothesline per City of Toronto household. Proof of Toronto residency will be required. LIGHTS OUT TORONTO! Toronto Hydro-Electric System is partnering with the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) again this spring for LIGHTS OUT TORONTO! In North America, more birds die colliding with buildings each year than the numbers that died as a result of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In Toronto, thousands of birds comprising of over 140 different species have been killed or hurt by buildings. Spring bird migration starts March 15 until early June. To prevent bird collisions at night, make sure you turn off lights or close the drapes in your home or office. During the day, especially in foggy or rainy weather, birds get confused by the combination of glass and light. Thousands can be injured or killed in one night across the city. Turning off lights particularly between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. will conserve electricity, save money, and help protect migrating birds. Want $25 cash in your pocket? It s as easy as peaksaver! Sign up for peaksaver today and we ll give you $25! Any Toronto Hydro-Electric System customer, residential or commercial, that has central air conditioning is eligible. You ll also be automatically entered in cool peaksaver contests. By participating, you ll join thousands of others who allow us to reduce the strain on the electrical system during summer peak periods. It only takes a little effort to make a big contribution to conserving electricity and improving our environment. Visit to sign up and to get further details. Trademark of Toronto Hydro Corporation used under licence.

3 Business Incentive Program (BIP) rewards Businesses use 80 per cent of the electricity in Toronto and they can do a lot to reduce their demands on the grid. To support them, Toronto Hydro-Electric System launched Business Incentive Program (BIP) for buildings that are 25,000 square feet or less. BIP offers financial incentives to business owners and operators who implement measurable energy-efficient upgrades or retrofits. These include multi-use buildings, restaurants, offices, retailers, grocers, hotels, industrial properties, institutional buildings and residential management companies. To date, BIP approved over 100 projects with potential savings of 10 megawatts. Plant a native tree in your backyard By Janet McKay, LEAF Toronto s trees are one of its most important natural features. In our parks, along our streets and especially in our own backyards, trees beautify our city and make it a better place to live. They also provide shade that can help cut down on your summer air conditioning costs. If you have space in your backyard to plant a tree, there s a non-profit organization that can help. Toronto Hydro has partnered with LEAF (Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests) to offer residents a backyard planting program designed to help you get the right tree in the right place. The cost to property owners ranges from $80 to $160 and includes a 30-minute backyard consultation, 5 to 10 foot tree and full planting service. Native shrubs are also available and provide excellent songbird and butterfly habitat. Learn more by calling or visit Toronto Conserves By Chris Winter, Conservation Council of Ontario Toronto is taking conservation to heart. Saving electricity is just the start; we re also insulating our homes, riding bikes, eating local and organic foods, supporting local stores, and much, much more. Toronto is becoming a conserver society. Sure, we ve still got a long way to go, but if you look around you ll see some interesting trends. First is the growth of organizations that can help you go green by installing solar panels, planting trees, doing an energy audit, or naturalizing your yard. There are also businesses that offer green services and products, or have made an effort to reduce their own environmental footprint. We re all part of a large social and economic movement that s sweeping the country. To find out more about the united conservation movement, visit And look for stores and restaurants with a We Conserve sign and a statement of commitment. It s just one more way we can support the transition to a conserver society in Toronto. Keep Cool Program coming your way! First launched in Toronto in 2005, we re pleased to announce the return of Keep Cool, a room air conditioner (RAC) retirement program. Since 2005, we ve collected 18,717 room air conditioners resulting in electricity savings of 14.8 megawatts. On Saturdays and Sundays between May 31 and June 15, 2008, from 10 a.m. 5 p.m., bring in your old RAC to any of the 12 participating Toronto Home Depot locations and receive a $25 Home Depot gift card, courtesy of Toronto Hydro-Electric System. We ll even recycle your old RAC for FREE and dispose of it in an environmentally-friendly manner. Air conditioning can account for up to 50 per cent of summertime electricity use, causing demand to spiral. Of the estimated 900,000 RACs in use in Ontario, many are old and inefficient. They can use up to 70 per cent more electricity than new energy-efficient models, further driving up peak electricity demand and your electricity bill. For more details and a list of participating Toronto-area Home Depot locations, please visit Keep Cool is open to Toronto residents, 18 years or older. One gift card per unit is available. Limit of five gift cards per household. Stop the paper trail. Stop waiting. Save the environment! Sign up for ebills, the more environmentally-friendly way for you to view your bill. No more waiting for the mail, you ll be notified by Toronto Hydro-Electric System when your ebill is ready for viewing. ebills is a convenient, secure, electronic version of your paper bill that s viewable online 24/7. Don t delay bill the green way at

4 Let s talk Smart Meters Our Smart Meter Installation Team has already installed more than 400,000 smart meters and will continue with installations throughout the year. Here are some common questions our customers have asked. If you d like more information, we invite you to check out our Web site at Will my electricity bill automatically go down once I have a smart meter? Smart meters will not automatically result in energy cost savings. Your smart meter is a tool that measures and records how much electricity you use at different times of the day. When teamed with time-of-use rates, you ll see the results of your conservation efforts and you ll save money if you can shift your heaviest electricity use to lower cost periods. Once my smart meter is installed, will the meter reader still come to read the meter? The meter reader will continue to come and read your meter until the smart meter is integrated with all appropriate systems so it can be read remotely. When will my smart meter become fully functional? Your smart meter will become fully functional when the related systems (communications and billing infrastructure, etc.) are in place and time-of-use prices come into effect. We will notify you in advance. Simple summer savings in seconds. Just point and click. Be friendly to your wallet and the environment this summer by checking out hundreds of easy and effective conservation tips at Stay informed. Sign up for Toronto Hydro-Electric System s new e-newsletter! Get access to the latest news, information, and tips on electricity conservation. Register today. Visit our Web site at Conservation with Social Housing Services A successful Toronto Hydro-Electric System program with Social Housing Services Corporation has resulted in more than one megawatt of electricity demand reduction from Toronto Hydro s grid. Social Housing Services Corporation (SHSC), the provincial umbrella social housing association with over 240 Toronto member organizations, entered into a contract with Toronto Hydro-Electric System in October 2007 to deliver a CFL change-out program. By the end of 2007, 20,782 CFLs were installed in just under 5,000 tenant apartments to replace the standard incandescent bulb. SHSC also delivered an education program in partnership with Seneca College to building superintendents and maintenance personnel to highlight the value of energy efficiency and conservation. A similar education program was launched for tenants. A larger CFL replacement program with SHSC is being planned for Eager to learn more? Check out the following Home Energy Links to help you achieve your energy savings goals: Ministry of Energy Ontario Power Authority Tel: Natural Resources Canada Office of Energy Efficiency Tel: City of Toronto Energy Efficiency Office Tel: Clean Air Foundation Tel: The Lung Association: Your Healthy Home Tel: LUNG (5864) GreenTbiz Tel: Carlton Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1K The figure and star design is a trademark of Toronto Hydro Corporation used under licence. Printed on FSC-certified paper. The best choice for the environment.

5 Come check out the Toronto Hydro- Electric System booth at the second annual Green Living Show, Toronto s only consumer event dedicated to all things green. The show runs the weekend of April at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place. Highlights of our booth include information on programs like Take a Load Off Toronto and Keep Cool, as well as sign-up opportunities for peaksaver. You ll also find featured tips and ways you can reduce your energy consumption and save money! Show Hours: Friday April 25, 10 a.m. 9 p.m. Saturday April 26, 10 a.m. 9 p.m. Sunday April 27, 10 a.m. 6 p.m. The Green Living Show offers over 300 exhibitors with simple, practical greenovations, hundreds of new products and Earth-friendly advice and services. For more information, please visit peaksaver is a trademark of Toronto Hydro Corporation used under licence.

6 COUPON Get $2 off the price of admission at the Green Living Show and check out the Toronto Hydro-Electric System booth! Simply present this coupon upon admission and you ll receive $2 off. Valid for tickets purchased at the door or online. Redeem online with CODE: 20TH. (NO CASH VALUE) The Green Living Show runs April 25 27, 2008 at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place. The figure and star design is a trademark of Toronto Hydro Corporation used under licence.