$1 million investment for cleaner, healthier air, energy savings at CHEO

CHEO is seen in this undated file photo. (Aaron Reid/CTV News Ottawa)

The federal government says the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario's (CHEO) will have major updates, resulting in healthier and cleaner air, and energy savings.

An investment of up to $1 million from the Low Carbon Economy Fund (LCEF) will go to the hospital to support its Deep Energy Retrofit Program, the government announced on Thursday.

While two new heat pumps will be used at the hospital to save energy, the heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems will be re-engineered at CHEO, reads the release.

CHEO emits over 6,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in an average year. With the new upgrades, the children’s hospital will be able to reduce its overall “emissions by over 2,500 tonnes per year, the equivalent of approximately 600 homes' energy use for one year.”

Improving air quality for sick children has positive impacts on the healthcare system, said Adam van Koeverden, parliamentary secretary to the minister of Environment and Climate Change.

“Our children and grandchildren will have cleaner air to breathe. Helping hospitals make these changes just makes good public health sense,” said van Koeverden.

Meanwhile, Alex Munter, president and CEO of CHEO says reducing energy costs gives the hospital bigger room to invest in healthcare.

“Reducing our carbon emissions helps kids today and tomorrow. Spending less on energy now means we can spend more on patient care. And reducing emissions for good will pay dividends far into the future,” Munter said in the release.

The LCEF helps Canada achieve its net-zero emissions goal by 2050 by supporting projects across the country to lower greenhouse gas emissions, reads the release.