Through research and development, we’re looking at new ways to provide energy solutions to make the communities we serve more sustainable.
As an active member of Sustainable Waterloo Region and ClimateActionWR, we’re on the leading edge of sustainability efforts in the communities we serve and we work closely with community leaders to implement meaningful climate action and reduce emissions. We also work daily to embrace new technologies and advance environmental stewardship throughout our organization and in the natural environment.
Our 2023 Sustainability Highlights
Our Country Squire office is LEED Silver certified and Enova is a bronze member of Sustainable Waterloo Region (SWR). Our Country Squire office surpassed its Greenhouse Gas Emission target of 20 per cent in 2022 and reduced water usage by 76 per cent. We met our 2025 waste diversion goal of 80 per cent, as 88 per cent of our waste from the Waterloo office had been diverted from landfills by 2023. Enova is working with SWR to evaluate our future targets for emission reduction across both our facilities.
Both offices are equipped with solar arrays, which generated 612,931 kWh of electricity in 2023. That’s enough energy to power 73 homes.
Our offices have comprehensive recycling programs, including battery recycling, electronics, construction materials, cardboard and more. We also provide annual reforestation grants of $50,000 each to the City of Kitchener, the City of Waterloo, and the Townships of Woolwich, Wilmot, and Wellesley to compensate for the impact of our vegetation management program on our community tree canopies.
Other highlights include:
- We partner with Alveole, an urban beekeeping organization, to maintain a pair of bee hives at our Country Squire office. The 48,000 bees provide benefits to local plant life, and our environment provides a safe space for honey bees. The two hives produced almost 200 pounds of honey last year.
- The ongoing conservation efforts at our Country Squire office resulted in a 38 per cent decrease in electricity consumption since 2014. Both Enova offices are committed to conservation through energy-saving building features, solar arrays, and regular system maintenance.
- Our solar arrays at our Victoria Street and Country Squire offices returned 81,866 kWh to the grid. That’s enough electricity to power nine residential homes for a year.
- Enova’s vehicle fleet includes five electric vehicles. Typical Enova vehicles travel less than 100km each day, making EVs an ideal transportation method.
Our Waterloo Service Center:
Our Waterloo Service Centre is an LEED certified building with energy efficiency features including:
- Environmentally-focused design feaures, such as rainwater diversion, ground source heat pumps to cool office space, LED lighting, and drainage designed to reduce runoff and prevent contaminants from flowing into the Conestogo River.
- A recycling and waste diversion program that includes the recycling of industrial waste, old poles, wire, metal materials, and electronics, as well as pens, printer cartridges, various types of lightbulbs, coffee bags and depleted batteries.
For more information on the environmental features of our Waterloo service centre, please see the posters below:
Reforestation
Enova places great value on our urban forest. Although trees provide many benefits to our community, tree limbs and branches near powerlines can also be dangerous.
Tree branches can hit or fall on power lines and become energized, posing a safety risk to anyone who is nearby. They can also cause damage to the powerlines, causing unplanned outages.
Our Forestry Crew works year-round to trim tree limbs and brush that are too close to powerlines to ensure a safe, reliable supply of electricity to homes and businesses.
To help minimize the impact of our work, we provide an annual forestry grant to communities we service. These funds are used to plant new trees to help restore and enhance our local tree canopy.
