TD FEF $100,000 Go Green Challenge

Congratulations to our third-annual $100,000 Go Green Challenge winners!

Thinking green has paid off for the winners of our third-annual $100,000 Go Green Challenge!  A total of 124 teams, representing 329 students from 45 Canadian universities and colleges, submitted proposals on how to address this year’s theme, “Reducing our ecological footprint.”  The Go Green Challenge judges selected the winners based on creativity, originality, viability and the positive impact the submission would have on Canadian communities.

Queenie Bei and Jessica Cho, University of British Columbia
Faculty sponsor: Brent Skura, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Food Nutrition and Health
UBC Farm Sustainabili-Tea

While tea has become a popular beverage for many Canadians, it is often overlooked as a food item. The UBC Farm Sustainabili-Tea project proposal outlined how a local herbal tea enterprise could contribute toward a more sustainable food system in the city of Vancouver.  Teaming up with the acclaimed Centre for Sustainable Food Systems on University of British Columbia’s Farm, it was proposed that a 363 sq. ft. plot be cultivated with plants suitable for the mild West Coast climate. This proposal offered a thorough analysis of the current tea industry, a review of the production process of a local herbal tea enterprise, and addressed the challenges and the advantages of a business plan. 

Aileen Zubriski and Kathryn Voroney, University of Manitoba
Faculty sponsor: Anna Thurmayr, Landscape Architectures
Uncovering Water: Exposing the storm water system through sustainable design

With no true beginning or end, water is constantly moving and interacting with its surroundings. Through varying forms and states, water alters every element it contacts, shaping both immediate and distant environments. This proposal investigated storm water management issues in an urban context, and provided design-based alternatives for creating a more sustainable city. Contributing factors such as peak storm water flow, runoff, and pollution were examined and the principles of bio-retention were proposed as a method to mitigate these issues.

Mariane Maltais-Guilbault and Nicolas Vincent, Université de Sherbrooke
Estomper son empreinte pas à pas / Softening our footprint, - one step at a time
Faculty sponsor: Alain Webster, Vice President, Sustainable Development and Government Relations

The project proposed integrating a vertical farm to increase yield and promote local production, thereby reducing emissions associated with agriculture and food transportation. An intelligent electric network would enable the electric production to be delocalized and would promote renewable energy. Furthermore, this model city would operate without cars thanks to a highly efficient public transit system, combined with active transportation (cycling, walking, etc.). Finally, given that city-dwellers’ cars would be parked immediately outside the city, cars that were rechargeable would be used to bank network electricity in order to partially offset the intermittency of certain renewable energies.

Peter Schnurr and Hilary Booth, University of Western Ontario
Sustainable Food and Energy Production: Closing the loop from farmfield waste
Faculty sponsor: Amarjeet Bassi, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Currently, organic matter from municipal waste often ends up in landfills, thereby wasting precious stored energy and nutrients.  The proposed technology for the TD Canada Trust Green Fund would utilize organic waste diversion systems to create renewable energies and organic fertilizers.  This would be done by anaerobically digesting separated municipal organic waste to create methane gas, by taking the nutrient rich liquid bi-product to grow algae for the production of biodiesel and other bio-products, and lastly, by taking the nutrient rich solid digestate from the anaerobic digesters to replenish lost nutrients in farm fields.  This integrative technological system has the potential to solve many of the world's environmental issues if implemented in major cities around the world.

A special thank you to this year’s judging panel:

• Cynthia Wright, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Stewardship Branch, Environment Canada;
• Jed Goldberg, President, Earth Day Canada;
• Henry Sauvagnat,Vice-President, Sustainable Development, Cascades Inc;
• Karen Clarke-Whistler, Chief Environment Officer, TD Bank Financial Group.

Check back in September for details on how to enter the fourth annual $100,000 Go Green Challenge