Greenbuild 2011 & Canada House Showcase

Provident Energy is excited to participate in the Canada House Showcase, October 4^th-6^th at the Steamwhistle Brewery Roundhouse. We are a supporting sponsor and exhibiting company. In conjunction with North America’s largest green building event, Greenbuild, the Canada House Showcase will explore technologies, products, services, and expertise in the Canadian green building industry.

Access to the Canada House Showcase is free. Please come down and visit our table! In addition to the exhibiting companies, there are parties, Taste of Canada lunch, Meet the Expert sessions, and much more. For more information, please visit the CaGBC website. 

For more information or to register for the Greenbuild Conference, please visit their website.

Warden Hilltop Community Centre

Provident Energy was the LEED/sustainable design consultant for the new City of Toronto Ward 35: Warden Hilltop Community Centre. We were on hand at the grand opening to provide area residents with information on the centre’s various green features. The LEED target community centre has geothermal heating, water efficiency technology, solar panels, daylight harvesting, and a green roof.

Project: Warden Hilltop Community Centre

Description: 24,000 sq ft community centre, LEED Target

Client: CS&P Architects, City of Toronto

Services Provided: LEED Project Management, Energy Modelling, Measurement & Verification

More information can be found on the City of Toronto website.

Change-Over Time!

It's September and the leaves are already beginning to change colour. That means it's change-over time! Here are a couple of quick tips for condos...


- Condominium Boards determine the changeover date for their facilities. This matter should be brought up at Board meetings in September.

- Change over times are the busiest times of the year for Contractors. Call ahead by at least two weeks to schedule your changeover.

- In some facilities, it may be possible to change over the corridor make up air units prior to converting the in suite fan coils to heating. This gives you the option of heating the Building should a cold spell occur prior to the change-over.

- You can speed up changeovers by shutting down Chillers prior to the arrival of your Contractor. Most Boilers should not be started if the water in the pipes is still very cold.

- Facilities with Energy Management Systems have further options including “Cooking-Time” Only Schedules, Duty Cycling, Outdoor Air Temperature Fan On/Off, and other advanced options.

- Reduce complaints and service calls by posting any changes that must be made to Thermostats on Bulletin Boards. Make it clear that there will be NO Suite Air Conditioning after your changeover date.

Take a Minute. Save a Life.

Volunteers from Tridel Corporation, Toronto Police Service, and IBM Canada Ltd.,

have formed a community support partnership to help combat Leukemia. The volunteer group, who all have friends, family or work colleagues affected by Leukemia, are striving to build awareness, better education and to grow  the stem cell donor base with the OneMatch Program.

Join the Community Swab Event

August 20, 2011 - Saturday (9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.)

Vaughan Cultural Interpretive Centre, 9541 Weston Rd, Woodbridge

For more information, please click here or please visit the onematch.ca website.

Provident Energy on YouTube

Sometimes seeing is believing...

We've started uploading short video clips of garage lighting retrofits onto our youtube account:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ProvidentEnergy

At the moment, most of the videos show examples of garages that have installed motion sensors to control the underground lighting. Another popular lighting retrofit is converting high pressure sodium (HPS) lighting to the more energy efficient T8 lighting technology. Not only can you save energy but the light output will be significantly higher. Click here to see a comparison of the HPS to T8 lighting.

Interested in a lighting retrofit for your apartment or condominium? Please contact the sales department for more information: 416-736-0630 or info@pemi.com

Tech Corner: Summer Inspection

Summer is upon us and now is a great time to have your superintendent take a stroll around your building to check on your building systems. Here are some things your superintendent can look for:

-     Cooling Towers – check for water draining out of the main drain on the sump. There should be no excess water draining from the main drain or the float and sump levels might need to be adjusted. Also check for bacterial growth on sump surfaces, the fill, and metal components and even on the rocks around and under the tower.

-     Air Intakes are often overlooked in the winter. Take the time to check any openings in the building for leaves, grass, bird nests or other obstructions. It is also a good time to clean vertical openings such as air plenums for garage exhaust fans.

-     On a warm day, take a few minutes to observe how many windows on the building are open. If there are too many windows open, supply air temperatures and chiller operation may need to be adjusted. Keeping windows closed during cooling operations is a must. Drapes and blinds can also be surveyed.

-     Check the roof envelope integrity. Look for missing rain hoods on stacks and ensure roof drains are clear.

-     If possible, vent pool mechanical rooms. Moist, mildly corrosive air in these rooms can wear out equipment – venting can prolong equipment life.

-     Check lockers and other below grade areas for condensation dripping from water lines and equipment. Ceilings should be checked for water stains.

-     In the summer, pipe tracing, stair melting and other under-slab electric heating systems should be turned off.

Provident Online: E-billing & Consumption Information

Provident Energy Management provides our utility submetering customers with a couple of websites full of information.

The main Provident Energy website (http://www.pemi.com/) is your main portal. From there, you can sign up for electronic billing and online consumption views (more information below). You can also find answers to most general submetering questions on the FAQ section http://www.pemi.com/customers.php

Provident Energy now offers Electronic Billing – Electronic billing (e-billing) allows you to view your bill online. Electronic bills (e-bills) provide many benefits:

-          E-billing is better for the environment (reduced paper usage).

-          E-billing is accessible 24 hours a day 7 days a week. 

-          E-billing allows you to view previous bills from the past 12 months (no need to file paper copies or request invoice print outs).

-          Please be advised if Canada Post is still on strike, all payments are still due on the due date. We encourage you to register for e-billing so you can receive you bill on-line and avoid late penalty fees.

To register for e-billing:

·          Visit our web site www.pemi.com

·          Click on “sub metering customers”

·          Scroll down, until you see a small yellow box on the right “To register for e-billing, please click here”.

·          Once you click “here” you will be directed to Provident – Online Customer Information System.

·          Follow all the registration prompts to create a new account and in the end, you will receive an e-mail from Provident asking you to confirm.  Once you click on the link in this e-mail, your e-billing will be activated.

Residents can also view your consumption online – You can see how much electricity, heating, cooling and/or water you consume. The website has a variety of graphing options to help you track your consumption on an hourly, daily and monthly basis. This will help you determine what periods of the day you consume the most and hopefully help you reduce your utility bills.

In order to view your consumption:

·          Visit our web site www.pemi.com

·          Click on “sub metering customers”

·          You will see “to view your consumption, please click here”

·          Once you “click here” you will be directed to Provident Energy Management powered by Obsidian.

·          Your user name is your location ID, and your password is your six-digit customer number, both of which can also be found on your bill.

If you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact our billing department at 416-736-0630, extension 2.