Awards and recognition for Drake Landing, 2005 to 2007
Between November 2005 and January 2007, Drake Landing Solar Community and its partners received five awards, from a United Nations-endorsed liveability prize to a national solar industry award. All five went to the Town of Okotoks or Sterling Homes.
Awards listed
- 4 November 2005: the Town of Okotoks received a Gold Award for Environmentally Sustainable Project at the International Awards for Liveable Communities (LivCom), which is endorsed by the United Nations Environment Programme.
- 14 February 2006: Sterling Homes received the Alberta Home Builders Association SAM Award for Best New Idea of 2005.
- 3 June 2006: the Town of Okotoks won the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Sustainable Communities Award for Energy/Renewable Energy.
- 14 June 2006: Sterling Homes received the 2006 Emerald Award for Climate Change from the Alberta Emerald Foundation.
- 5 January 2007: the Town of Okotoks won the CanSIA 2006 Solar Award for Solar Thermal Project of the Year.
Why the timing matters
Every one of these honours came in the first years, before long-term performance data existed. They recognised the concept and the construction: a design that was still being built, with the first long-run results yet to come. The numbers that followed, including 97 percent solar space heating by 2012, are on the performance results page.
Notice the categories: sustainable project, new idea, renewable energy, climate change and solar thermal. Five different juries, from a United Nations-endorsed programme to a solar industry association, looked at the same neighbourhood from five angles. A 2005 piece on the project's construction start, Going for the Sun, shows what the recognition was building on.
Who was honoured
The recipients were the municipality and the builder, but the work behind them came from many organisations, all on the partners page. The builder's show home from the same period is covered in the Solstice show home article, and the homes page describes the standards the houses met.
Reading the list today
Two of the five awards went to the builder and three to the municipality, which matches the split of the project's visible work: the houses and the community-scale planning. The awards say nothing about long-term operation, which is why the later monitoring data matters. For how the system actually ended up, read the overview.
Quick answers
Which awards did Drake Landing win?
LivCom Gold, an Alberta Home Builders Association SAM Award, an FCM Sustainable Communities Award, an Alberta Emerald Award and a CanSIA Solar Award.
Did the awards go to the Town of Okotoks?
Three went to the Town of Okotoks and two to Sterling Homes.
When was the first award?
The LivCom Gold Award was presented on 4 November 2005, the earliest on the list.
Were any awards given after 2007?
None are recorded on this site. The five listed ran from November 2005 to January 2007.