Environmental Awards Program

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Award Process

The nomination period for the 2019 Environmental Awards is now closed. This year’s recipients will be announced at the Regular Meeting of Council on Monday, May 27, 2019. Thank you to all who supported the awards program by making a nomination.

Awards may be presented in six categories (a maximum of one Environmental Award and two Environmental Stars per category):

• Business Stewardship
• Communications
• Community Stewardship
• Green Choices
• Planning and Development
• Youth

There are two levels of awards:

• Environmental Award, for recognition of environmental achievements of a larger scale, such as long-term commitments to an organization or cause, leadership of other individuals, and projects of a significant size and relatively complex scope that have a broader community impact, and
• Environmental Star, for recognition of environmental achievements of a smaller or more individual scale that may nevertheless serve to catalyze larger initiatives and inspire others.

Background

Since 1996, through the Environmental Awards Program, the City has recognized the outstanding contributions of individuals, groups, organizations, institutions, and businesses to advancing environmental sustainability and protecting and enhancing the natural environment in Burnaby. From the nominations received, recipients are recommended by the City’s Financial Management Committee to City Council for approval. This year, recipients will be announced to the public at the Regular Meeting of Council on May 27, 2019 and will be invited to a reception at City Hall and to receive their awards at the Regular Meeting of Council on June 10, 2019.

The City of Burnaby is pleased to acknowledge the following individuals, community groups, institutions, and businesses who have made significant contributions to the sustainability of Burnaby’s environment:

2018 Environmental Awards

SHAPE Properties, in the category of Business Stewardship, for environmental sustainability achievements in operating Brentwood Town Centre Mall and Lougheed Town Centre Mall.

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  • SHAPE Properties owns Brentwood Town Centre Mall and Lougheed Town Centre Mall. Both malls are operated by their property management group. This award recognizes their environmental sustainability achievements with regards to the operation of both malls over the past decade. During this time, both facilities have partnered with BC Hydro and invested in new technologies for more efficient heating and cooling systems and LED lighting systems resulting in significant energy savings and greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions. Two level 2 electric vehicle charging stations have been installed at each mall to support EV drivers and reduce GHG emissions. Both facilities have long standing recycling programs that they continue to improve upon. Organics recycling is a recent addition to each program. Both facilities have also implemented water conservation measures and have a sustainable purchasing policy for products required for mall operations. Both Brentwood and Lougheed Town Centre Malls collect data to monitor their sustainability programs and chart progress toward their goals.

British Columbia Institute of Technology for the Energy OASIS Project, in the category of Planning and Development. This Project showcases how renewable energy and energy storage can be integrated with electric vehicle fast charging stations and electrical grids.

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  • The Energy OASIS (Open Access to Sustainable Intermittent Sources) Project aims to demonstrate solutions that could be used to help reduce the potential impact of fast charging (DC Fast Charging) electric vehicle charging stations on the electrical grid. For the project, a facility was constructed at BCIT consisting of two DC fast chargers and six Level 2 chargers for electric vehicles, located beneath an overhead parking canopy containing photovoltaic solar panels and paired with a lithium ion battery storage system and energy management system. The facility was completed in September 2014 and can be used by BCIT students and faculty and the general public to charge electric vehicles.

    Technology demonstrations, data collection and analysis for this project continue to today. BCIT reports that the project has successfully demonstrated how fast charging EV stations can be integrated into an existing electrical grid system with minimal impact on its reliability by incorporating power storage and management systems and a renewable energy source, solar photovoltaic cells in this case. BCIT reports that the knowledge gained from this project has been disseminated to many different stakeholders in Burnaby, British Columbia and across Canada.

Brennan Strandberg-Salmon and Kevin Lin, students at Moscrop Secondary School, in the category of Youth, for their outstanding leadership and environmental achievements.

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  • From 2014 to present Brennan Strandberg-Salmon and Kevin Lin have been members of their school’s environmental club. As co-chairs of the club this year, they have launched a campaign for School District 41 institutions to switch to sugarcane copy paper, which helps to reduce deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. The campaign has involved presentations to school district’s procurement department and to the Burnaby Youth Sustainability Network.

    Brennan and Kevin led an initiative this year to have Moscrop Secondary School designated a Bee School by Bee City Canada. This involved creating a working group of teachers and students to develop a plan to improve bee habitat at the school and receiving support of the school’s administration. Moscrop is the first school in the lower mainland to achieve this status and the second in British Columbia.

    Brennan and Kevin are active members of the Stoney Creek Environment Committee, a local Streamkeeper group, since 2016. As members they have participated in many stewardship activities and created a bee pollinator awareness display for the Great Salmon Send-off. They are also active members of a non-governmental organization that promotes community action on climate change and renewable energy. As members, they have participated in several campaigns to encourage citizens to be politically active and local governments to incentivize technologies that utilize renewable energy.

2018 Environmental Stars

Burnaby Mountain Secondary School, in the category of Green Choices, for their ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability in the operation of the buildings and in school programs.

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  • Burnaby Mountain Secondary School has a well-established history of environmental sustainability achievements beginning with the design and construction of the school, which opened in 2001. The school was designed to use primarily geothermal energy for heating and cooling. The school reports that it measured the lowest energy use intensity (electrical and natural gas usage by area) among all secondary schools in the province from January to December 2016. The design of the school incorporates many other green building features, including LED exterior and parking lot lighting, an interior greenhouse, water bottle refill stations, and gardens for students. New features include the installation of three electric vehicle charging stations in 2017 to support the school district’s long term plans to incorporate EVs within their fleet and planned upgrades to LED lighting in the school with daylight sensing technology to auto dim the lights.

    The design of the school continues to support a culture of environmental sustainability with students and teachers and through many of the school’s programs. Student clubs and classes continue to use the urban gardens at the school for various projects. The school also holds several health and motion days where students receive a healthy breakfast if they walk or cycle to school.

Alexander College Green Committee, in the category of Green Choices, for integrating environmental sustainability into the operation of the school and for growing awareness of sustainability amongst their students.

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  • Alexander College is a post-secondary institution with its main facility in Burnaby that offers programs to assist with English language skills and preparation for university and life in Canada. Many of its students are international, coming from outside of North America. In early 2017, the school created a green committee to integrate environmental sustainability into the administration of their programs and facilities and to help grow awareness and education amongst their students. Achievements include acquiring new sorting bins for recycling, compost and trash and staffing the bins with volunteers during the first week of school, using compostable plates and cutlery for campus functions, holding a variety of ‘green’ events to encourage waste reduction and community gardening, and reducing paper consumption by administering many programs online.

Alan Russell, a member of the Stoney Creek Environment Committee, in the category of Community Stewardship, for his significant contributions to the Stoney Creek Environment Committee and the stewardship of Stoney Creek.

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  • Alan Russell has been active with the Stoney Creek Environment Committee (SCEC), a local environmental stewardship group, for over 20 years. During this time, Alan has volunteered his time to lead many of the group’s stewardship programs. He is an avid birder and shares his knowledge during regular bird walks scheduled by the SCEC. Alan also has led the annual fall spawner surveys of Stoney Creek that are undertaken every Saturday from October to mid-December. Other environmental achievements over his 20 plus years volunteering with the SCEC include organizing the first GPS survey of Stoney Creek watershed, conducting small mammal inventories, preparing funding proposals, and undertaking water quality testing.

Carrie Ng and Victor Yin, students at Ecole Alpha Secondary School, in the category of Youth, for their outstanding environmental leadership.

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  • Carrie Ng and Victor Yin are the co-chairs of the Burnaby Youth Sustainability Network (BYSN) and the Enviro Club at Ecole Alpha Secondary School for 2018. In these roles they have helped lead many environmental initiatives for their fellow classmates and students across School District 41. Achievements include managing the BYSN, organizing a clothing swap that diverted many clothing articles from landfills, helping to organize environmental workshops, organizing a school district wide sustainability art contest, working on a sustainability project at Simon Fraser University, organizing and participating in a local clean up at Confederation Park, and implementing a ‘salmon in the classroom’ project for the ACCESS program (a program that promotes inclusion and independence for individuals with physical and cognitive challenges) at their school.

Past Recipients

View a complete list of past recipients.