BC Hydro Power Smart Awards & Forum » New Technology of the Year

NEW TECHNOLOGY OF THE YEAR

It’s a rare organization that steps forward to pioneer the use of new energy-efficient technologies. The Provincial Health Services Authority is one of them.

In 2007 the Provincial Health Services Authority became the first organization in Canada to use two new technologies. In one application at Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Vancouver, they installed light-emitting diode (LED) rooftop lighting powered by wind turbines and photovoltaic panels, completely independent of the BC Hydro power grid.

In another application at Children’s and Women’s and the BC Cancer Agency, the Authority installed high-efficiency LED outdoor streetlights.

The adoption of these two technologies across the province has the potential to greatly reduce electricity demand and help the environment. In their willingness to promote these technologies to others, the Provincial Health Services Authority has carved an energy efficiency path to the future.

dark green line

The University of British Columbia has developed a new solar canopy technology that could revolutionize the way office buildings are lit. The new system, which will be implemented in a demonstration project at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, collects sunlight and distributes it into the core areas of high-rise buildings, displacing about 25 per cent of the electricity used for conventional lighting. If adopted in office buildings province-wide, the technology could save approximately 73 gigawatt hours of electricity per year.