Sheridan receives 2020 EnVisioneer of the Year award

Sheridan has been recognized as the EnVisioneer of the Year by Danfoss, a global supplier of energy-efficient solutions, for developing innovative energy savings systems leveraging Danfoss technology. Sheridan uses pre-engineered, factory-built energy transfer stations (ETS) from Danfoss in its recently-upgraded district heating system. 

Launched in 2010, the annual EnVisioneer of the Year award competition recognizes North American original equipment manufacturers, building owners, municipalities, contractors, and end users that have introduced a new product, opened a new facility, or invested in a building or system upgrade in the past 18 months using Danfoss products or solutions to realize significant energy and environmental savings.

The EnVisioneer of the Year award is judged by an independent panel of experts and recognizes engineering solutions that improve performance and profitability; energy efficiency that meets higher standards and lower operating costs; environmental sustainability that provides a financial and social payback; and engaged partnerships that foster quality, reliability, and innovation.

The award was presented at Sheridan’s Trafalgar campus in Oakville today by John Galyen, President of Danfoss North America. Herbert Sinnock, Sheridan’s Director of Sustainability, accepted the honour on behalf of Sheridan. The official presentation was postponed due to the pandemic. 

“This is the first time we’ve presented our EnVisioneer of the Year award to an end user for their success in implementing new district heating technology,” said Galyen. “Danfoss has been engineering district energy systems and technologies for global installations for more than 80 years, but the potential in the North American market has only recently begun emerging and is greatest in campus and microgrid environments. District heating offers tremendous opportunity to look beyond the component or building to even greater levels of energy efficiency and decarbonization.”

Sheridan began a three-year project in 2016 to decommission its nearly 50-year-old steam plant that served six of its buildings with a new hot water district heating system capable of serving centralized heat to the entire campus. It elected to utilize energy transfer stations — the interconnected system of heat exchangers, valves, pumps, programmable controller, piping, and controllers that takes the central heat and transfers it into individual buildings — engineered and built by Danfoss.

“The amount of energy lost in the old steam system was enormous. Our old steam plant was experiencing more than 65 per cent heat loss throughout the system; before it even heated the building,” said Sinnock. “By converting to a hot water system, we have reduced our annual natural gas consumption by more than 280,000m3 — which equates to an annual carbon reduction of 530 Tons. And we expect to further increase energy savings as we optimize and expand the system throughout the upcoming heating seasons.”

The Sheridan initiative was partially funded through the Greenhouse Gas Campus Retrofit Program, a combined federal/provincial initiative to reduce carbon emissions at 24 colleges and 21 universities across Ontario.

About Danfoss

Danfoss engineers advanced technologies that enable us to build a better, smarter and more efficient tomorrow.  In the world’s growing cities, we ensure the supply of fresh food and optimal comfort in our homes and offices, while meeting the need for energy-efficient infrastructure, connected systems and integrated renewable energy. Our solutions are used in areas such as refrigeration, air conditioning, heating, motor control and mobile machinery. Our innovative engineering dates back to 1933 and today Danfoss holds market-leading positions, employing 28,000 and serving customers in more than 100 countries. We are privately held by the founding family. Read more at www.danfoss.com.

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Pictured at top, from left to right: Wayne Steffler, Vice President of Finance and Administration; Michelle McCollum, Associate Vice President, Capital Development and Facilities Management; and Herb Sinnock, Director of Sustainability accept the EnVisioneer of the Year award on behalf of Sheridan from Danfoss President, John Galyen at Sheridan's Trafalgar Campus in Oakville, Ontario. 

Pictured above, left to right: Steffler, Galyen, McCollum and Sinnock at the District Energy Centre at the Trafalgar Campus in Oakville.