Scotiabank’s Real Estate Department develops real estate solutions for the Bank and its customers with due consideration to environmental matters. The group adheres to an Environmental Compliance Policy that respects principles of sustainable development. Several of the Real Estate Department’s efforts involve ensuring that our facilities minimize their energy consumption.

Our energy-saving innovations include:

Ballasts and light bulbs

• Lighting retrofit in over 275 branches across Canada, where we upgraded ballasts and light bulbs, switching from old “T-12” technology to more energy-efficient “T-8” incandescent lighting.
• Additional upgrade of ballasts and light bulbs in major owned corporate premises to“T-8” incandescent lighting to be completed in 2008.

These two projects will lower greenhouse gas emissions by 4,367 tonnes per year and reduce energy consumption by 2,434 kilowatts, which equals enough power for 800 average Canadian homes for a year.

External signage

For our external signage in both domestic and international locations, we include significantly more efficient LED lighting for new individual letter signs. We are also installing timers and light sensors on selected exterior signs.

Roofing

We include white-coloured roofs in most of our new domestic and international branch design specifications. These roofs reflect heat during the warm months of the year which, in turn, reduces our air conditioning consumption.

HVAC

We continue to maintain the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in our branch network through a national contract with a third-party supplier, to ensure that all of these systems across our network operate as efficiently as possible.

Employee awareness

Our branch administrative manuals for both domestic and international locations contain instructions and information to help employees reduce environmental impacts in the workplace.

Sustainable Real Estate Development

In 2007, we opened six new “green” branches, including four in Ontario and two in Quebec.

• Three of the four new Ontario “green” branches participated in the “Green Globes” benchmarking program. As part of this internationally recognized environmental program, these branches were audited by an independent third-party assessor, and will be certified as Green Globes facilities, indicating excellent progress in achieving eco-efficiency results through current best energy and environmental design practices. The fourth new Ontario “green” branch incorporated features and innovations from previously constructed “green” branches.
• The two new Quebec “green” branches also incorporated successful features and innovations from previously constructed “green” branches.
• Over the next year, we will analyze the effectiveness and benefits of our six new “green” branches and look to replicate, in other locations, the benefits that we have achieved when opening new locations or renovating existing ones.
• To encourage car-free commuting, we continue to install bicycle racks in front of most new branches and, wherever practical, in front of newly renovated branches.