Ottawa Contributes Funding For Energy Projects In Saint John

The federal government committed up to 4 million dollars in funding for energy projects involving the City of Saint John and Saint John Energy.

The Municipal Deep Energy Retrofit Project involves implementing energy efficiency measures at up to 50 buildings.

Samir Yammine, manager of asset and energy management for the city, says the project will help them reach greenhouse gas targets by 2025.

“We are looking at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre, the City Market, Saint John Transit, the police headquarters, water facilities, everything,” Yammine said.

Speaking in the Market Square Atrium, Yammine described the geothermal project which involves using water from the harbour for heating and cooling.

“Use the harbour as a geothermal to be able to use it to heat and cool this building as efficiently as we can. Ten times as efficiently as other buildings conventionally. Also, to make a provision to connect any future development on the Fundy Quay which could be up to 1,000.000 square feet.” Yammine said.

He called it a very exciting project.

“We [will] try to start this project as small as we can and hopefully by 2030, we’ll have up to 20 or 30 buildings. By 2030, we hope to have a full-scale project,” Yammine said.

Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long making an announcement at Market Square in Saint John. It involves the city and Saint John Energy. pic.twitter.com/Y84xESsSPo

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The federal government also announced up to $570,600 in funding for Saint John Energy to replace around 1700 existing lights with high-efficiency LED lights.

This work will begin in the summer months and take about a year to complete.

The lights being replaced are being rented for use in commercial settings such as apartment buildings, driveways and parking lots.

Ryan Mitchell, vice-president of Saint John Energy, said there is a lot of change and innovation in their sector.

“As a utility, having a sustainable electricity brand designation, we feel it’s very important. Our customers have told us it’s a concern for them to look at how their energy supply impacts the environment. We continue to weigh that heavily against the economic attributes and investment we would make. We have been trying to identify projects that have both an environmental and economic benefit attached to them and then look to lean forward with those initiatives,” Mitchell said.

The funding announced by Saint John-Rothesay member of parliament Wayne Long on Wednesday morning in Saint John, N.B.

It comes through the Government of Canada’s low carbon economy fund.