EKOS Communications, Inc.

Lower Fort Garry made history as the signing place of the Stone Fort Treaty (the first treaty in Western Canada), as a historical hub for the Hudson’s Bay Company fur trade and as home to one of the finest collections of early stone buildings in Western Canada. Now, over a century since its inception, the heritage site continues to define Canada’s cultural history with the installation and demonstration of some of the newest developments in energy efficient technology.

In May 2006, as part of Parks Canada’s mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, the facility incorporated a vivid, integrated and fully functioning display of green technologies. Using technologies such as geothermal heat pumps, a solar wall, vertical light tubes, solar panels and electric carts, Lower Fort Garry has reduced its greenhouse gas output by over 66 tonnes a year. To put that into perspective, the volume of one tonne of greenhouse gases would fill a two-story, three-bedroom house. Now imagine multiplying the volume of that space by 66!

So why reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Greenhouse gases are a major cause of climate change, and scientists around the globe agree that climate change has serious environmental impacts on the earth’s temperatures, air and water quality and human health. In Canada alone, greenhouse gas emissions increased 15 per cent between 1990 and 2000. And while Canadians emit only 2.5 per cent of global emissions, they are the world’s third largest emitter of green houses gases, behind the United States and Australia.

In Canada melting permafrost in the north, droughts, floods, ice storms and sporadic weather patterns across the country, are only a few of the indirect outcomes of increased greenhouse gases in our environment.

For the average person, finding ways to reduce personal greenhouse gas use can be an overwhelming and daunting experience. The purpose of the energy efficient technologies demonstrated at Lower Fort Garry (besides reducing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions at the site) is to showcase to the public, the simple energy saving ideas and activities that people can incorporate into their home and offices. Both residential and commercial buildings can incorporate green technologies, such as using more natural light or using the sun’s energy for heat, to reduce their daily operational impact on the environment.

Over 60,000 visitors each year will visit the renewable energy and energy-conserving features at Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site.

For more information on reducing greenhouse gases and energy efficient technology visit:

• www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/mb/fortgarry
• www.climatechange.gc.ca