Island Health’s goal to cut the organization’s greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 is gaining momentum — a goal that aligns with the Earth Day 2026 theme of Our Power, Our Planet.
That momentum is supported by a growing number of projects guided by Island Health’s Low Carbon Resilience Roadmap (LCRR). Developed with BC Hydro, FortisBC and several Island Health departments, the roadmap helps guide the organization toward a more sustainable and climate resilient future.
James Montgomery, Island Health’s director of Energy, Environment and Climate Change says the projects also reflect Island Health’s culture of taking climate action seriously and making it part of everyday work across the organization.
“I'd say it shows that we have a deep and real commitment to making progress on climate change,” he said.
Central to the LCRR’s success is broad support across the organization. Currently, 24 active capital projects focused on emissions reductions and climate resiliency are underway – progress worth recognizing on Earth Day and every day.
Brain Boost
One example is the upgrade to high performance building controls underway at Victoria General Hospital, Royal Jubilee Hospital, Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and Tofino General Hospital.
Justin Blanchfield, Island Health’s manager, Energy Management, describes these control systems as “the brains” of a building.
Building automation systems control HVAC equipment and systems. The controls read sensor data and then make decisions on what changes to the HVAC system need to occur to maintain comfort within the building.
“There’s a big positive energy savings impact,” he said. “The building automation system is the primary tool that facility maintenance teams use to operate a building efficiently — so in that sense, it's the brain. This makes it an ideal area for investment.”
Harnessing Heat
Another area of focus is recovering heat generated from mechanical processes and repurposing that heat throughout a building.
Ryan Galloway, Island Health’s technical lead for Major Capital and New Construction, compared the process to how a human body works.
“As with a body, energy moves around the building as a single integrated system,” he said. In our buildings heat reclaim coils capture heat as it tries to leave the building and heat recovery chillers repurpose that captured heat to warm other areas.”
As a result, gas-fired heating boilers don’t have to turn on. In addition to reducing heating demand, the process improves a building’s ability to reject heat, allowing it to be cooled more effectively during warmer weather without the need for expensive single purpose heat rejection equipment like cooling towers.
These systems were implemented at West Coast General Hospital in 2025, resulting in emissions reductions of more than 60%.
The Road Ahead
From large urban hospitals to smaller facilities in remote communities, Island Health will continue to make changes to improve building performance while preparing for a changing climate.
Backgrounder
Below are more current and recently completed projects with a climate/emissions reduction focus:
- Cairnsmore Place Long-term Care Home Air Handling Unit and Chiller Replacements: New outdoor air handling units and chillers have greater efficiency and building climate control (Complete)
- Nanaimo Regional General Hospital Old ICU Air Handling Unit Replacement: A new high efficiency air handling unit to replace the old end of life system (Complete)
- Nanaimo Wellness and Recovery Centre Air Handling Unit: Two new Air Handling Units and a new Variable Air Volume Direct Digital Control system with improved efficiency and building climate control (Complete)
- Cumberland Health Clinic Building Automation System Upgrade and Optimized HVAC system performance: Implemented energy conservation measures to optimize the HVAC system performance, reducing energy consumption and GHG emissions (Complete)
- Yuculta Lodge Heat Pumps and Building Automation System Upgrade: building automation system upgrades, including new controllers throughout the facility (Complete)
- Nanaimo Regional General Hospital In-Patient Tower HVAC Upgrade: To improve ventilation and cooling systems for the patient tower (Expected completion: Spring 2026)
- West Coast General Hospital Building Controls: Control systems upgrade with improved sequences to enhance comfort and decrease energy consumption (Expected completion: Spring 2026)
- Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Society Heating Plant Renewal and HVAC: To ensure continuity of service and reduce reliance on fossil fuels (Expected completion: Summer 2026)
- Tofino General Hospital Air Handling Unit and Building Controls Replacement: Replace four main rooftop air handling units and the building automation system (Expected completion: Summer 2026)
- Priory Long-term Care Home: Retrofit Air Handling Unit with VRF heat pump coils for heating and cooling (Expected completion: Summer 2026)
- The Summit Long-term Care Home Optimized HVAC system: To reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions (Expected completion: Fall 2026)
- Victoria General Hospital High Performance Controls Upgrade: Upgrade of the building automation system and implementation of high-performance control sequences to improve building efficiency and reduce emissions (Expected completion: Winter 2026/27)
- Nanaimo Regional General Hospital Replace Kitchen Ecology Air Handling Unit: A new high efficiency heat pump air handling unit to replace the old end of life system (Expected completion: Winter 2026/27)
- Nanaimo Regional General Hospital Heat Recovery: Mechanical, electrical and control retrofits required to implement a Thermal Gradient Header with additional heat recovery (Expected completion: Winter 2026/27)
- Nanaimo Regional General Hospital Controls System Optimizations: Implementation of high-performance control sequences to improve building efficiency and reduce emissions (Expected completion: Winter 2026/27)
- Royal Jubilee Hospital Diagnostic and Treatment Centre High Performance Controls Upgrade: Upgrade of the building automation system and implementation of high-performance control sequences to improve building efficiency and reduce emissions (Expected completion: Winter 2026/27)
- Westhaven LTC Heat Recovery and Cooling – West Coast General Hospital: Addition of a two stage, 55-ton air cooled chiller supplying chilled water to newly installed hydronic cooling coils in each of the three Air Handling Units (Expected completion: Winter 2027)
- Tofino General Hospital Battery Energy Storage: Implementation of a Battery Back-up system to provide the hospital with an additional source of power during outages (Expected completion: Fall 2027)
- Victoria Regional Laundry Heat Pump Domestic Hot Water: A repurposed heat pump hot water tank is replacing an old steam-heated hot water system (Expected completion: Fall 2027)
- Victoria Regional Laundry High Efficiency Boilers: Replace the existing process steam generators and associated equipment with modern high efficiency boilers to supply steam to the tunnel washers (Expected completion: Fall 2028)
- Nanaimo Regional General Hospital Chiller System Optimization Phase 1: Retrofit to upgrade the main chilled water plant to address capacity, redundancy, reliability and energy efficiency (Expected completion: Spring 2027)
- Serenity Lodge Cooling System: Cooling and additional heating capacity to the southwest wing and common areas of Serenity Lodge (Expected completion: Summer 2026)
- Saanich Peninsula Hospital HVAC System Optimization: Optimize Saanich Peninsula Hospital's HVAC system to decrease energy usage and GHG emissions (Expected completion: Fall 2027)
- Saanich Peninsula Hospital Window Replacement: Remove end-of-life windows and replace with new code-compliant windows (Expected completion: 2027)