Offering green power to event planners

The Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC announced that it is the first convention centre in Canada to offer green electricity to clients and event planners to help them reduce the environmental footprint of their events. In addition, the MTCC will use green electricity to power its administrative offices and electronic signage.

To achieve this, the MTCC is partnering with Bullfrog Power, a leading Canadian provider of 100 per cent green electricity.

Representing another industry first, this bold environmental step is the Centre's latest green innovation. The MTCC has a long tradition of providing leadership in the area of environmental stewardship, and has won numerous awards for its efforts in recent years.

The MTCC has been recognized for its Zero Waste Event concept, for its massive green roof and for being among the first to utilize Toronto's Deep Water Cooling system, among many other initiatives.

Founded in 2005, Bullfrog provides homes and businesses with an easy way to go green and help create a cleaner, healthier environment for future generations. In Ontario, all of Bullfrog's power comes from clean, renewable EcoLogo-certified wind power and low-impact water power, displacing polluting and carbon-intensive sources like coal.

Under this innovative agreement, Bullfrog will work with the MTCC to calculate the expected electricity usage of participating events. Bullfrog will then inject the equivalent amount of clean, renewable power onto the provincial electricity system on behalf of the event. In other words, the event's electricity usage will be matched with green power, helping to reduce the environmental footprint of the event.

"Bullfrog Power is delighted to join the MTCC in this innovative partnership," said Josephine Coombe, Bullfrog Power's Vice President, Marketing. "By bullfrog powering its offices and signage, the MTCC is able to reduce its own emissions footprint. And by offering green power as an option to its clients, the MTCC is able to extend that same opportunity to its event organizers, helping them create a healthier environment for families, communities and future generations."

The Centre, which hosts more than 750 events annually, representing a large part of Canada's meeting and conventions industry, will offer the green power option to clients along with its existing "green meeting" programs such as the Centre's award-winning Zero Waste Event approach. Bullfrog has been named an Official Supplier to the Centre, and as such will join a select list of outstanding MTCC suppliers the Centre recommends to its clients.

In addition, Bullfrog will supply the MTCC with about 577 megawatt hours of green electricity per year to power the Centre's own administrative offices and electronic interior and exterior signage throughout the building. This is expected to reduce the facility's electricity-related CO2 emissions footprint by another 126 tonnes annually.

"We are very excited to be in on the ground floor of this unique opportunity," said Barry Smith, the Centre's President & CEO. "We believe that this move will have a tangible impact on the environment. We are proud and honoured to be able to provide leadership in such a critical field within the meeting and conventions industry as well as within the broader corporate, business and institutional communities in the City of Toronto, and across Ontario and Canada," he said.