Jon Douglas and Amanda Ford, students in the Architecture - Project and Facility Management degree program at Conestoga College, have each received $1,500 from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) as winners of the annual Energy Ambassadors student competition, open to Canadian post-secondary students who have devised projects that develop practical solutions that apply innovative technology in the interest of reducing energy consumption.
Douglas and Ford, who are in the second year of their four-year baccalaureate program, are among a select group of 39 winning students (involving 20 winning projects) from across Canada. They received their prizes from Hon. Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources, at Globe 2006, the biennial trade fair and conference on business and the environment held at the end of March in Vancouver.
The Energy Ambassadors program, delivered by NRCan’s Office of Energy Efficiency, draws attention to the role of energy efficiency in reducing consumption and conserving energy resources.
The competition entails completion of a recent academic project on energy efficiency. Entrants who have been selected as qualifying for the national event must create and complete a poster that describes and promotes their project, then make a full presentation on the project at the Globe conference.
The Douglas-Ford project, conducted under the leadership of Professor Andrew Chatham, is entitled Building Green. The project looks to energy efficiency and environmental sustainability as guiding principles for architectural design. The students developed plans for a business facility incorporating the latest in integrated energy efficiency/environmental solutions.
Amanda Ford is from Cambridge, while John Douglas is from St. Pauls Station, Ontario. Conestoga College and the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology were the only two technical institutes to produce winning projects; the other winners were from institutions such as the University of Toronto, HEC Montreal, the University of Waterloo and the University of British Columbia.
CONTACT: Jal Wadia, 519-748-5220, ext. 2240