Carleton University
PRE-2: Points of Distinction

Carleton introduced a new waste program in its central Food Court to both improve and educate our campus community towards recycling and waste diversion. The program was recognized for an award by CAUBO for the efforts to transform the University Centre Food Court into a zero waste facility.

Prior to the the implementation of this program, only 12% of waste materials in the Food Court were being correctly recycled. In 2019, 92% of all non-franchise packaging in the Food Court is now recyclable or compostable, in addition a number of student staff have been hired to help customers learn how to reduce their environmental impact. The recycling rate has year on year improved the diversion rate in the Food Court from that dismal 12% to an astounding 90%, giving the Food Court its first Zero Waste Certification (“zero waste” means 10% or less of all waste goes to a landfill”).

Since the introduction of the waste diversion program in the food court, the program has been expanded out to include all dining operations on campus. This has also been followed up with a campus wide program of installing 4 sorter waste bins (mixed, paper, organic and landfill) and the removal of over 200 single stream bins on the general campus. In addition all office bins were also removed (over 1000) and staff asked to use the 4 sorter bins in common areas.

Sprott School of Business was recognized for its social impact and sustainability achievements with the announcement of the 2021 Positive Impact Rating (PIR) results launched at the UN PRME Global Forum. Sprott was one of 47 business schools from 21 countries worldwide that took part in the rating, achieving Level 4 of five levels, making it a Transforming school within the PIR.

The PIR is a rating conducted by students, for students. For the second time, students worldwide assessed their business schools on how they perceive their positive impact in the world. The positive impact of business schools goes beyond their contribution to business and the economy; it addresses the need for their positive impact for society.

In addition, each year, Corporate Knights magazine released its Better World MBA Ranking, which ranks global MBA programs on the degree to which sustainability and responsible management are integrated into the curriculum, research and activities at the business school. For the past two years, Carleton University’s MBA program at the Sprott School of Business earned a place on the prestigious top 40 list in the Better World MBA Ranking.

Carleton University is expanding its research in modern sustainable residential design. The Carleton Research and Innovation in Sustainable Energy (C-RISE) house makes use of solar thermal energy, seasonal thermal storage, and provide a test bed for various innovative concepts with the aim of reducing the overall energy demands. Single-family detached is the dominant form of housing in the residential sector which contributes to 17% of Canada’s total energy end use. As such, the research conducted on C-RISE will be invaluable in finding ways to reduce energy consumption in the residential sector.

The C-RISE project is largely funded by grants from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. Urbandale construction and Panasonic are valuable industry partners. Urbandale Construction is a local Ottawa home builder who is donating the house itself. The C-RISE house will be a full-scale, single-family detached house built on campus by Urbandale Construction to meet the 2012 R2000 standard. Urbandale views this facility as a research project to explore innovative concepts before introducing them to market, and have stated in a letter of support that topics explored in C-RISE “may influence the way we construct our buildings in the future”. Panasonic will contribute both expertise and materials to incorporate high-performance vacuum insulation panels (VIP) into C- RISE. They see this proposed facility as an opportunity to learn methods to employ VIPs and to assess their long-term performance through research. In both examples, a long-term collaborative research relationship will be established, leading to mutual benefit and significant technology transfer. Similar partnerships will be built with additional industry partners over the lifetime of C-RISE.

C-RISE will attract high-calibre graduate students to Carleton’s Master of Applied Science (M.A.Sc.) in Sustainable Energy Engineering and Master of Architecture (M.Arch) programmes, as well as its Ph.D. programmes in engineering and architecture. It will also recruit top students graduating from its Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering Bachelor of Engineering and Conservation and Sustainability Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Applied Science programmes into graduate studies. The infrastructure will provide vital training for these graduate students in the design and execution of experiments related to solar thermal systems, solar energy utilization in buildings, thermal storage, thermally activated thermodynamic cycles, and building envelopes. Graduate students will develop research skills by working directly in C-RISE on an ongoing basis. A unique advantage of the proposed approach is that graduate students will be exposed to the benefits of multi-disciplinary methods involving architecture, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and home building. This innovative multi-disciplinary approach is not only unique, but also critically important to achieve transitional changes in the way houses are designed and built.

Results of this work have lead to increased energy efficient and sustainable design in the Canadian residential sector. Having a real house to evaluate sustainable energy concepts can reduce the energy impact of the residential sector both annually and during high usage (peak) hours of the day. Reduced impact on energy production requirements results in lower greenhouse gas production and reduced environmental impact.