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Toronto Hydro's Featured Conservation Customer: Toronto Catholic District School Board

    TORONTO, June 8 /CNW/ -

    NEWS

    Toronto Hydro-Electric System ("Toronto Hydro") is pleased to showcase
its first Company for Conservation this year. Companies for Conservation is a
campaign to recognize business customers that 'walk the talk' and bridge the
gap between wanting to conserve electricity and actually doing it. The Toronto
Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) has been an active participant in
Ontario's mobilization to reduce electricity use and create a culture of
conservation. Most recently, the TCDSB Facilities Services department
participated in Toronto Hydro's Power Savings Blitz Program.
    Toronto Hydro's Power Savings Blitz Program was developed for small
businesses and individually-metered buildings using 50 kW or less. The program
focuses on efficient lighting upgrades and allowed TCDSB to upgrade lighting
in 62 of its portable classrooms, and EXIT signs in 10 schools. The estimated
value of the project invested in TCDSB facilities by Power Savings Blitz was
approximately $44,000.
    As a result of these measures, TCDSB will save approximately 70,000 kWh a
year, removing nearly 14.7 tonnes of green house gases from the environment,
the equivalent of removing 8 homes off the electricity grid each year. This is
in addition to extensive electrical savings over the past two years achieved
through other programs such as:-  A night time computer shut-down program;
    -  Increased staff and student awareness through the EcoSchools program;
       and
    -  Numerous capital renewal projects for lighting, roofs, windows and
       building automation.

    QUOTES

    "TCDSB has a commitment to reducing the impact on the environment. The
Toronto Hydro Power Blitz program was a simple way of meeting this commitment,
by using an incentive to improve energy efficiency, increase portable
classroom light levels for student learning, and improve our community
partnership with Toronto Hydro." - Ann Perron, Director of Education, TCDSB.

    FACTS

      -  The TCDSB's Central level Environmental Committee, which includes
         staff from various departments, as well as students and parents, has
         implemented various other programs aimed at reducing the energy
         consumption of the Board, while improving the environmental
         footprint. The most successful to date has been the Ontario
         EcoSchools program, which now has 45 TCDSB schools as certified
         Ontario EcoSchools.
      -  Power Savings Blitz is an energy conservation program offered by
         Toronto Hydro-Electric System, in partnership with the Ontario Power
         Authority. This program provides small businesses with up to $1000
         in free energy-efficient lighting and equipment upgrades - all with
         the aim of helping businesses like yours save money on your utility
         bill.
      -  To date, Toronto Hydro has paid $1.2 million to cover the cost of
         lighting retrofits for more than 1,000 businesses in Toronto. It is
         estimated that this will save a total of 1.9 megawatts (MW) of
         electricity.Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited is the regulated "wires" affiliate
and is one of the largest municipal electric distribution utilities in Canada,
delivering electricity to a broadly diversified, economically robust,
residential, commercial and industrial customer base in the City of Toronto.
The utility serves more than 687,000 customers.

    The Toronto Catholic District School Board educates more that 90,000
students from diverse cultures and language backgrounds in its 201 Catholic
elementary and secondary schools and serves 474,876 Catholic school supporters
across the City of Toronto.