Scotiabank EcoLiving Awards

June 5th saw nine finalists compete for $75,000 in prizes at the Scotiabank Ecoliving awards. At the gala event at the AGO, three winners were recognized for their excellence in the development of home energy efficiency products, services and solutions.

The Scotiabank EcoLiving program is designed to disseminate information on the benefits of home energy efficiency and green home design.

Event judge Valérie Bécaert; “While most Canadians are aware of and concerned about climate change, there is still a gap between the way we think about it and the way that we use energy in the home.”

Here are the winners (from the EcoLiving site):

Scotiabank EcoLiving Business Leadership Award ($50,000)

Jennifer Corson and Keith Robertson — Halifax Nova, Scotia

Solterre Design expands the boundaries of green building through three steps: shape, study and share.

It’s shaping efforts start with eco-friendly materials, most of which are recovered and recycled — such as salvaged oak timber frames and walls packed with recycled newsprint insulation. Designs include south-facing windows for passive solar energy and dynamic rooftops that collect rainwater for household use.

Solterre studies the energy and performance data of all its projects to better understand and improve future designs.

Then they share the knowledge. Solterre has been invited to teach their green building techniques across Canada, and around the world in England, Ghana, Israel, Mexico and beyond!

Scotiabank EcoLiving Innovation Award ($15,000)

Tim Johnson — Ottawa, Ontario

EnergyMobile Studios Inc. builds easy-to-use and beautifully designed smartphone applications that help consumers better understand and take control of their home energy consumption.

Its current products include two five-star Apple featured apps: Powercents and Gridwatch. Built specifically for the Ontario Time-Of-Use market, Powercents helps homeowners track the changing price of electricity, shift their usage and save money. Gridwatch shows exactly where Ontario’s electricity comes from, when the grid is clean and when it’s not, including details about generation, demand, carbon pollution and more.

Scotiabank EcoLiving Student Leadership Award ($10,000)

Yuan and Tegho are in their last year of electrical engineering at McGill University and are keen about sustainability and energy conservation. Together they designed an “energy management and power disaggregation” system that helps homeowners and businesses better monitor, control and manage the energy use of individual appliances.

Their system records and monitors energy consumption of appliances using a power meter that is installed at the source of distribution. Advanced processing software then takes that information and breaks it down into how the energy is being consumed. It then feeds that information to a mobile app, giving businesses and homeowners better control over energy consumption.