Richmond School District’s efforts to reduce energy consumption has earned it an Efficiency in Action Award from FortisBC on Oct. 22.
Specific efforts taken by the school district include installing a solar wall at McMath Secondary School and gas absorption heat pumps at both Richmond and Cambie Secondary School.
Richmondite Thi Nguyen, an energy specialist at Richmond School District, told the Richmond News that energy conservation is a great way to reduce everyone’s carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emission, and he attributes the project’s success to ‘collaborative and strong teamwork.”
“Without my team, I couldn’t go anywhere. The district started working on related projects to save energy costs way before I joined them. I just collaborated with my colleagues and members from FortisBC to work towards our goals,” said Nguyen, noting that the district adopted the Environmental Stewardship policy as a framework over 20 years ago.
Nguyen, who immigrated to Canada four years ago from Vietnam, had been dreaming of working as an energy specialist before coming to Canada. He encourages other immigrants to find their passion, work hard, and never hold back from pursuing the Canadian dream.
“Some immigrants might feel it’s difficult to navigate their professional career. The most important thing is figuring out what skill sets you have and what the local job market needs. If you can find common ground and work on it, you will embrace a bright future.”
