Canada's Greenest Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 58
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CANADA'S GREENEST EMPLOYERS (2025)
NovAtel’s green programming affects all its operations
E
nergy efficiency is a
challenge for tech
companies like
Calgary-based NovAtel
Inc., which requires
labs and server rooms operating
with air conditioning 24/7 to
support its business of providing
positioning solutions for
agriculture, aviation, marine,
transportation and other uses.
And yet NovAtel, part of
Hexagon, has implemented an
impressive environmental
management system that includes
everything from solar panels on
the roof to LED lighting in the
offices and free electric vehicle
charging for employees in the
parking garage of the Calgary
office.
which requires meeting sustainability standards in materials,
energy efficiency, water usage and
indoor air quality. They also
installed solar panels on the roof.
“It’s not enough to cover our
entire energy consumption, but
we were able to cover some of it
— as much as we’re allowed to in
Alberta, since there are limitations
on solar panels,” says Sieben.
The next challenge is a mandate
from NovAtel’s Stockholm-based
parent company, Hexagon, to
eliminate all carbon emissions by
2030.
“We’ll have to convert our
natural gas boilers to geothermal,
heat pumps or electric boilers,”
Sieben says. “Europe has green
mandates for suppliers and
customers, and with Hexagon
being a global company, it is
important for us to accommodate
many of these initiatives in our
facilities.”
As the company’s continuous
improvement specialist, Cathy
Hopkins oversees its
environmental management
system and chairs its
environmental committee.
“The building management
system was built to a green
standard with high-efficiency
systems,” she says. “We’ve
replaced fluorescent bulbs with
LEDs and installed blinds that
automatically lower and rise
according to the sun, and lights
that turn on when you walk into a
room and turn off on a timer.”
The green initiatives extend to
individual office and eating areas.
“We’re constantly looking at
waste management and how to
educate our employees,” Hopkins
says. “We made a decision not to
put garbage bins at every desk. We
want people to think about using a
reusable container instead of a
plastic bag, and in the cafeteria,
we have china place settings
instead of paper plates.”
Hopkins’ committee also
established a bike-to-work
program that includes a bike
It’s about identifying things
like energy use and waste
generation, tracking them
and continuously working to
improve them.
— Mike Sieben
Senior Director of Infrastructure
and Standards
“The first thing we achieved a
decade ago was getting certified to
the ISO 14001 environmental
standard,” says Mike Sieben,
senior director of infrastructure
and standards for Hexagon’s
Autonomous Solutions division.
“It’s about identifying things like
energy use and waste generation,
tracking them and continuously
working to improve them.”
The Calgary office obtained
LEED construction certification,
NovAtel obtained LEED certification, ensuring the construction of its Calgary office building met all
sustainability standards required.
