Student Residence Deep Energy Retrofit

Project Description

Nunavut’s infrastructure is aging. Most buildings were built in the 1970’s before the advancements in energy efficiency technologies. The old building designs, coupled with the cold environment, means high impact building retrofits. Through improving the energy efficiency of these buildings, we can reduce Nunavut’s reliance on fossil fuels.

Qikiqtaaluk Properties Inc. purchased an old hotel in 2017 and now leases the building to Nunavut Arctic College. It functions as a student residence with a cafeteria, administrative offices and classrooms.

This retrofit project features a 100kW rooftop solar installation, heat recovery systems, significant improvements to the building envelope including triple pane windows, and upgrades to LED lighting and low flow fixtures.

Energy modelling projects 62 percent in energy savings after the retrofit. This means reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 352 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂eq) annually which is equivalent to taking 65 cars off the road annually.

The project creates training and career opportunities for highly qualified clean energy personnel. It includes an occupant education project to educate the students on how to improve their energy use-behaviours.

The project is a partnership with Natural Resources Canada. It is a demonstration project to support national and territorial building energy codes and will verify the feasibility of Arctic deep energy retrofits.

For more information contact qbdc@qcorp.ca