YYC Makes Sustainability a Focus 365 Days a Year

June 01, 2015   |  

The City of Calgary’s Mayor’s Environment Expo takes place June 2 – 4, and The Calgary Airport Authority has been proud to participate in this event for more than a decade.

We are committed to environmental stewardship at our airport and in our community. For example, did you know that Calgary International Airport (YYC) is Canada’s first GoGreen-certified airport? As part of this designation, YYC was recognized as a leader in reduction of resource consumption, waste reduction and recycling.

As one of Canada’s busiest airports, here are some things we are doing to reduce our environmental footprint.

We made it our mission to make Canada’s longest runway sustainable. YYC’s newest runway features:

  • 5,000 LED lights, which are used on the runway and taxiways
  • 100 per cent LED lighting that will save over 41 tonnes of CO2 a year
  • Nearly 50,000 m3 of recycled asphalt, concrete and gravel
  • 5.4 million m3 of material that was graded or excavated for future re-use

In further support of our goal to continue to be leaders in sustainability at YYC, our new International Terminal, now under construction, includes industry-leading features such as:

  • 588 geothermal wells to heat and cool the building
  • 660 kilometres of in-floor radiant heating tubing
  • Co-generation power, which will save 4,900 tonnes of CO2 a year
  • Rainwater harvesting for low-flow plumbing fixtures

Furthermore, YYC has an extensive recycling program aimed at minimizing our environmental footprint. In 2014, YYC recycled:

  • Over 350 tonnes of paper, newspaper and cardboard
  • More than 500,000 containers, which were collected from recycle bins around the airport
  • Almost 50,000 lbs of used vegetable oil

The purpose of the Mayor’s Environment Expo is to educate and inspire students and families to get involved in helping protect our environment. Here at YYC, we are very focused on doing our part, during the Expo and every other day of the year.