Cover
Story
DIenetop:the
Enwave taps
lake water to
cool Toronto
Lisa Bélanger, Manager, Customer
and Public Relations, Enwave
Energy Corp.
Nearly one year after the infamous blackout
of summer 2003, which cast 50 million
people across Canada and the northeastern
United States into darkness, a Toronto-based sustainable
energy company has shed some light – or cool comfort,
actually – at the end of three long, icy-cold tunnels. On Aug.
17, 2004, Enwave Energy Corp. (formerly Enwave District
Energy Ltd.) switched on its revolutionary new deep lake water
cooling (DLWC) system. The startup occurred at Enwave’s
“Cooling the Core” media event, held at Toronto’s Steam Whistle
Brewery, one of the system’s cool customers. Business leaders, government officials, customers and actor/renewable-energy activist Alec
Baldwin joined forces to praise Enwave and its leading-edge system.
“This is a day that we have all been waiting for,” announced Dennis
Fotinos, Enwave president and chief executive officer, at the event. He
thanked many of Enwave’s partners, including shareholders OMERS (the Borealis
Penco Fund) and the City of Toronto, contractors and customers for their support
of the new system. Fotinos noted that the corporate social-responsibility movement
is gaining momentum worldwide and that Toronto’s DLWC is a great example of a
system that meets the ‘triple bottom line.’ “Enwave is redefining renewable energy to
mean smart energy – environmentally friendly, socially responsible and financially sound,”
he said.
The system launch was attended by more than 500 guests and 50 media outlets. It generated a significant amount of press coverage, creating a ‘bump and buzz’ in the industry. It
also led to negotiations with more than 30 buildings that are now considering DLWC as an alternative to conventional chillers.
