The Ontario Power Authority has granted a consortium of local
researchers and energy professionals $99,800 to link water and electricity
conservation incentives. Utilities Kingston is proud to be a part of this team.

The Sustainable Energy Applied Research Centre (SEARC) at St. Lawrence College
is partnering with Utilities Kingston and the Queen's Institute for Energy and
Environmental Policy (QIEEP) on this initiative.

The six-month project will determine how much electricity is used to transport
and treat water and wastewater in Kingston Hydro's electricity distribution
territory. It will also identify a number of cost-effective water conservation
measures that could be implemented in local businesses and institutions.

"Electricity for transporting and treating water and sewage is the single
largest municipal energy expenditure. Each time a cubic metre of water is
saved by one of our customers, Utilities Kingston reduces its consumption of
electricity and its long-term infrastructure costs," says Utilities Kingston
Conservation Officer Stephen Sottile. "This project will determine if there is
a cost-effective opportunity for stacking existing provincial electricity
conservation incentives with Utilities Kingston's water conservation
incentives, allowing us to offer more attractive conservation incentives for
investments that save customers and the utility money while reducing our
environmental impact."

"SEARC and St. Lawrence College are proud to be a part of this project, which
aligns with the College's focus on community leadership and the promotion of
environmental sustainability," said Gordon C. MacDougall, Interim President &
CEO of St. Lawrence College. "The resulting strategies for water and
electricity conservation have the potential to not only benefit our local
community in Kingston, but communities across Ontario as well."

The project team includes students in the Energy Systems Engineering
Technology program at St. Lawrence College, led by SEARC Lead Researcher
Adegboyega "Babs" Babasola. The team is being supported in their efforts by
IndEco Strategic Consulting Inc. The project is funded by a grant from the OPA
Conservation Fund, SEARC's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
of Canada (NSERC) funded grant, funding and in-kind support from Utilities
Kingston, and in-kind contributions from QIEEP. The total cost of the project
is over $150,000.