City of Fredericton
The City of Fredericton, New Brunswick's capital city, is situated along the banks of the beautiful St. John River. Fredericton is home to approximately 48 000 people and the municipality employs 630 people and provides over 150 services to its citizens. The City has initiated a wide variety of innovative pollution prevention projects since 1990.
Description
The City undertook many of its pollution prevention initiatives specifically to reduce its air pollution in the form of greenhouse gas (GHG) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions. With its "First to Kyoto" project, the City aimed to be the first in Canada to attain Kyoto Protocol objectives and reduce its corporate GHG emissions by 20 percent below benchmark (2000) levels by 2010. The City conceptualized and committed to this project when it joined the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). The project received funding from FCM under the Green Municipal Enabling Fund and was developed in partnership with the Environment and Sustainable Development Research Centre at the University of New Brunswick.
One of the City's first pollution prevention projects was initiated in 1990 when it tested water-based paints for traffic line applications. Fredericton was the first city in Canada to do so. Acrylic waterborne traffic paints are safe, non-toxic and less hazardous to the environment and people who handle them than conventional solvent-based paints used in those applications. They are generally classified as non-hazardous waste and can be disposed of economically as they are formulated with very low levels of solvent (usually alcohols) and often contain very low or no levels of lead or chromates.
The second project, the Municipal Buildings Initiative (MBI), began in 1999 with a major retrofit of 18 city-owned facilities that were deemed high-energy users. Upgrades were made to lighting, heating/ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) and arena ice plant systems. In the arena, an "Energy Management Control System" was installed including lighting controls (high bay arena lighting with dimming feature and motion controlled lighting sensors); ice plant controls; air filtration and dressing room heat controls as well as vending misers (machines go to sleep when not in use). For city buildings, furnaces and burners were upgraded and new individual thermostats allowing for adjustments to the room temperature within 2 oC of the preset, as well as new super T-8 technology fluorescent lights were installed. While the retrofits of the original 18 facilities were finished in 2001, additional retrofitting has occurred since, on these as well as on other facilities, including increasing the R-value of roofing insulation when buildings require new roofing; replacing HVAC equipment that has exceeded its life expectancy with high energy efficiency equipment; and replacing overhead doors with high R-value doors as required.
With the Lights Conversion to LED Initiativefor traffic and walk signal lights , power reduction was achieved by converting 65 traffic signal lights in the city to LED (light emitting diode) lamps. Other advantages of using LEDs include longer life with moisture and dust resistance; UV stabilised shell; lower maintenance; increased safety with no sudden failure, and sun phantom protection (minimizes bright sun interference). The City is also in the process of reducing its energy consumption for streetlights by 20%, from a baseline level established in 1998, by installing lower wattage light bulbs while maintaining a consistent and appropriate level of service to citizens.
Benefits
Environmental
It is estimated that with the use 11 630 litres of water-based paints for traffic lines in 2005, the city has prevented approximately 3.7 tonnes of VOCs from being emitted to the atmosphere in that year alone. Given that the City has been using this type of paint for over 15 years, the cumulative effect is significant. The City of Fredericton was the first municipality to convert to water-based paints and with its long experience the City has proven to be a leader and expert in this area. Many municipalities have yet to convert, despite upcoming proposed federal regulations mandating that VOC content for traffic and zone marking coatings should not exceed 150 grams/litre.
The energy efficient improvements as a result of the Municipal Building Initiative and continued aggressive upgrading, resulted in savings of 1 828 086 kWh of electricity between 2000 and 2004 or an average of 457 021 kWh annually. Equivalent GHG emissions in 2004 were 20.5% lower than in 2000, the benchmark year.
The installation of LED traffic lights features an 80 to 90% reduction in energy consumption over incandescent lights, which represents savings of 1552 kWh per month while the reduced wattage on street lights will save 228 036 kWh per year when the project is completed at the end of 2006.
Economic
Over the long term, it has been calculated that building upgrades will reap financial savings to the city in the order of 20 to 25% over the next 20 years.
With a material cost per traffic signal of $3300 and $5000 for 4-phase and 8-phase signals respectively, the cost of replacing all traffic and walk lights with LEDs amounted to over $ 210 000. On the other hand, the retrofits are expected to result in energy cost savings of at least $100 000 per year ($172 per signal per month).
The Streetlight Power Reduction initiative, when complete, is anticipated to reduce energy consumption by 20% (over 1998 base year), which equates to savings of $43 000 per year.
Social
There are additional benefits for workers using the water-based paints such as reduced odour, fewer concerns over exposure to hazardous solvents such as toluene, lower risk of fire from handling the flammable solvents, easier and safer cleanup and less hazardous disposal. The building retrofits have increased safety and comfort for the staff, and traffic light conversion has also enhanced safety due to their higher reliability.
Recognition
2006 Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Pollution Prevention Award - Greenhouse Gas Reduction category
Awarded recognition for completion of Milestones 1, 2 & 3 - "City of Fredericton Corporate Action Plan for GHG Reduction" - by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Partners for Climate Protection Program.
Contact Information
Sonya Hull
Environmental Initiatives Coordinator
P.O. Box 130, City Hall, 397 Queen Street
Fredericton, New Brunswick
E3B 4Y7
Phone : (506) 460-2942
Fax : (506) 460-2469
E-mail : sonya.hull@fredericton.ca
Website : http://www.fredericton.ca
Date Submited
September 2006
Note: The purpose of this sheet is to give recognition to this specific activity in pollution prevention. Environment Canada does not per se endorse the company.