Recreation Oak Bay was the recipient of the Climate Action Award for the work that has been done on the Energy Management Project presented at the EcoStar award ceremony on Wednesday, June 1st. These CRD awards celebrate and honour individuals, organizations and companies working to preserve our natural environment and improve the quality of life in our region.

Over the last couple of years Recreation Oak Bay has installed a UV system in the pool, replaced lighting in all buildings, replaced boilers at Henderson and Monterey as well as a number of other items to improve the air quality systems as well as purchasing an electric zamboni.

This is the second time Recreation Oak Bay has been acknowledged for the commitment to improving energy efficiencies – in 1996 the BC Hydro Powersmart Award was presented for energy improvements made at that time. The department has a long history of implementing energy efficient measures even before it was the popular thing to do, such as installing 144 solar panels on the pool roof in 1985 that are still in place and working today.

None of these measures would have happened without the vision of the maintenance staff and in particular Ken Olson who has worked tirelessly to come up with energy savings projects and applicable granting opportunities to implement them. The Director congratulated Ken and his staff for their vision and forward thinking – and most importantly for helping to save the environment.

This year the CRD held a competition for song writers to submit an environmental song for an EcoStar Award – auxiliary staff member, Rhonda Broadfoot, was one of the top three submissions and was honored at the awards.