Thompson Nicola Family Resource Society

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Non-profit children's society retrofits "recycled" building

Nina Winham
For bchydro.com

"Basically our building is a... mature building, to put it nicely" says Mary-Ellen Everatt with a chuckle.

Everatt is the executive director of the Thompson Nicola Family Resource Society, housed in a donated two-storey building in Kamloops. The building was gifted by Highland Valley Copper and relocated in pieces to its current site in the early 1990s. Now, more than 80 staff work at the Children's Therapy and Family Resource Centre, offering a wide variety of services to children with special needs and their families.

"We realize that the cost of running this building is going up – the electricity, heating, all of those expenses," says Everatt. "We decided to start looking at ways to improve building efficiency, so the money that we receive goes to families and children needing service in our community, not to the building."

Everatt says upgrading the furnace was the first step. Next came a lighting retrofit.

"BC Hydro came and did an [energy] audit, and that was just wonderful. They said if we did a retrofit we could save energy. It was such a big help; we probably wouldn't have thought of it if we hadn't had that audit."

She says the building's previous lighting was so old that when ballasts would break down, they couldn't be replaced because they were too outdated.

"So it was a matter of doing one ballast at a time, or basically biting the bullet, replacing them all, and getting the rebate back. We decided the retrofit was the way to go, to help the environment and also to help with maintenance costs. Now it's all excellent lighting throughout the building." says Everatt.

The retrofit replaced 190 older-style fluorescent tube ballasts and lamps with Energy Saver T8 fixtures. The new lights are projected to save 31,000 kWh of energy per year – more than $1,700 in electricity costs. The upgrade also qualified for an incentive of nearly $6,000 from BC Hydro's Product Incentive Program, which helps small business and organizations with energy efficiency upgrades.

"Because we have so many staff working in the building, I thought lighting was quite important," says Everatt. "The new lighting gives a much cleaner, brighter light; it's like night and day. We couldn't believe how much brighter it is – there's not that yellowy tinge anymore."

Everatt says the new lighting has eliminated the "buzz" she used to hear from the old ballasts – and the fact that the new tubes last longer will mean less time climbing on ladders as well. "I think it's nicer for the staff and the clients."

"It was a win-win for us," Everatt continues. "Having the incentive really helped us, and now having the savings. Within a few years we will have totally paid for this retrofit.

"For non-profits, this is something that you tend to say, 'Oh, we can't do that,'" she says. "But you save money in the long run. And it's that sustainability you want to work for, because non-profits always face cuts and more cuts. If you can be more efficient, you're more accountable."

Nina Winham is a Vancouver-based sustainability consultant and regular contributor to bchydro.com.