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Sustainability Star Program

VANOC’s Vancouver 2010 Sustainability Star program recognizes initiatives by Games partners, sponsors and VANOC that demonstrate positive and measurable social, economic and environmental impacts.

Six Government of Canada initiatives have earned a Sustainability Star. Click on one of the projects below for more information:

The BC Hydrogen Highway
Canada Line
Homeless Partnering Strategy Funding for Trainee Housing
LEED® Business Case
Richmond Oval
Transport Canada “Green” Vehicles

The BC Hydrogen Highway

The BC Hydrogen Highway was developed through collaboration between many government and industry partners, including the Government of Canada. This project showcases hydrogen and fuel-cell technology including fuel-cell vehicles and fuelling stations.

With federal government support, BC Transit is operating 20 hydrogen fuel-cell buses as part of Whistler’s public transit fleet during the 2010 Winter Games. These buses do not emit air pollutants or greenhouse gases. A hydrogen fuelling station is also operational in Whistler.

Canada Line

Funded under the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund, the Canada Line is a 19 kilometre rail transit system that links downtown Vancouver with central Richmond and the Vancouver International Airport. This route includes important transportation linkages to the Vancouver cruise ship terminal, float plane terminal and heli-base all located at the north end of Vancouver’s downtown. The Canada Line also provides connections to a number of key Olympic venues.

Homeless Partnering Strategy Funding For Trainee Housing

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s Homeless Partnering Strategy (HPS) makes strategic investments in community priorities. It encourages cooperation between governments, agencies, and community-based organizations to find local solutions for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

For the 2010 Winter Games, training participants of the RONA Vancouver 2010 Fabrication Shop had support for their housing needs provided for through an HPS pilot project.

LEED® Business Case

Using the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre curling venue as a case example, the Government of Canada partnered with VANOC on an independent study demonstrating the business case for improving the environmental and energy performance of Olympic and Paralympic facilities.

Conducted early in the design stage, this study helped demonstrate the practicality of many sustainable design features, including the waste heat recovery systems and the rainwater and stormwater capture systems that have been built into many of the venues.

These features have resulted in large energy savings and reduced water and resource consumption for the venues. Moreover, the results of the study have been used in training workshops for the local construction industry. The workshops have demonstrated how to incorporate sustainable building solutions at the lowest cost into venue construction for the maximum environmental benefit.

The Richmond Oval

Built by the City of Richmond with support from the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia, the Richmond Olympic Oval is best known for its one-of-a-kind “wood wave” roof made from pine beetle-salvaged wood. The multi-purpose facility qualifies for LEED Silver building certification.

Transport Canada “Green” Vehicles

Transport Canada’s ecoTECHNOLOGY for Vehicles (eTV) program helps accelerate the introduction in Canada of light-duty vehicle technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollutants and fuel consumption. Through partnerships with industry, eTV helps identify potential barriers to the introduction of clean vehicle technologies in Canada, and works with consumers and industry to help remove these barriers.

During the 2010 Winter Games, eTV is providing several advanced “green” vehicles to be used by Transport Canada’s safety and security inspectors working to support the 2010 Games. On-road performance data gathered from this project will help assess whether emerging vehicle technologies can help build a cleaner transportation system for Canadians.

In addition, capital and other financial investments made by the Government of Canada for the 2010 Winter Games have indirectly supported these additional Sustainability Star projects: