Manitoba Hydro employee with a lake sturgeon
Chosen as one of Canada's Greenest Employers for 2013:
By Richard Yerema and Julien Gagnier, Mediacorp Canada Inc. staff editors
(Apr 21, 2013)
Some of the reasons why Manitoba Hydro was selected as one of Canada's Greenest Employers (2013):
- its head office building is a unique, state-of-the-art "climatically responsive" office tower, equipped with two weather stations measuring ongoing climatic conditions and over 10,000 sensor points that audit energy levels on a daily basis and assist in minimizing the building's energy consumption
- the building also makes use of a number of technologies including an automated solar shading and geothermal heating and cooling systems -- the building is currently targeting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification
- in partnership with "Manitoba Education", the public utility offers the "Education for Sustainable Development Grants Program" which promotes classroom education in sustainable development, providing up to $2,000 per grant to cover expenses such as teacher time and professional development courses, as well as teaching and learning resources
- participates in the "Commuter Challenge" every June (over 800 employees participated last year) and participates in the "Winnipeg Transit Eco Pass" program by offering to cover 36 percent of the cost of monthly bus passes, thereby encouraging employees to leave their cars at home
- has an "Environmental Management System" designed to ensure the corporation addresses the environmental impacts of its ongoing and future operations, and the utility's Purchasing Department operates through a formal Green Procurement strategy to ensure that it considers the potential environmental and social consequences of product and service selection
- along with recycling programs to divert waste from the landfill, the utility operates a centralized facility to ensure the proper disposal of both hazardous and non-hazardous waste and ensures that used computer equipment is disposed of properly or donated for use at non-profit organizations, such as the local "Opportunities for Employment Program
- a relatively unique power producer -- virtually all (over 99%) of the electricity the utility produces comes from self-renewing water power generated at 14 hydro-electric facilities along the Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and Nelson rivers
- continues to green its fleet whenever possible through the purchase of hybrid and electric vehicles, use of bio-diesel and continues to review its purchase policies to consider electric bucket trucks, pick-up trucks and natural gas-powered vehicles
- as a major hydro-electric producer, the utility supports several programs at work to address its own operational impacts, including work to preserve lake sturgeon (funding of a sturgeon hatchery as well as research field studies to understand sturgeon population dynamics in lakes across the province); caribou and wolf collaring in partnership with Manitoba Conservation
- the utility also manages "The Environmental Partnership Fund" to support community-based environmental education and sustainability awareness programs across the province
Background Information
Major Canadian hiring locations: Winnipeg MB, Brandon MB, Selkirk MB, Thompson MB, Gillam MB.
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