Maybe it has something to do with the shock of winter utility bills. Saving energy seems to be on the minds of many people this February.

In an effort to promote and encourage 'green' practices around their offices, the Whitehorse staff of Environment Canada is undertaking a thorough energy and waste audit this month. The exercise involves a detailed audit by energy specialists and a waste audit conducted by Raven Recycling.

"We want to be a role model for businesses and other agencies and government departments, particularly given Environment Canada's overall mission, which is a commitment to sustainable development," says Environment Canada's Paula Pacholek.

Pacholek heads up the in-house 'Green Team', a committee of local Environment Canada employees who want to promote environmental practices at the office. With the blessing of senior managers -- which included a commitment to pay for the audits -- the Green Team is looking for ways to improve environmental performance by using the department's environmental management system.

"One of our priorities is that we want to track waste appropriately," she says. "But first we needed some data so we can quantify and compare our practices, and find out how we can improve."

They decided to proceed with a solid waste audit, but they didn't want staff to alter waste patterns during the week of the audit. So an email was sent to all staff advising them that the waste audit will take place sometime 'in the next two months.'

"It will happen very soon," confirms Erin Spiewak, the Environment Canada employee who is coordinating the audit. "The staff doesn't know it yet, but we will have the janitor collect and label all waste from our two buildings over the course of a week."

"We want to find out how much waste employees are producing, and how much is being diverted from the landfill," says Spiewak.

Raven Recycling personnel collect the bags daily and process them at a sorting station. They divide all of the waste into several categories, and each pile will be weighed at the end of the five-day business cycle. The contract with Raven includes interviews and a staff survey, with a detailed report and recommendations to follow when the audit is complete.

"The staff gave us waste targets. They want to know if they're diverting seventy per cent of their waste from the landfill," says Raven's education coordinator, Johanna Martin.

"We'll see if they generate over 38 kilograms of waste per employee per year. Environment Canada wants to maintain or reduce this number for all employees," says Martin.

Raven Recycling has conducted waste audits for local businesses before, and the organization also provides information for do-it-yourself waste audits.

"You can audit your waste even for just a day to see where improvements can be made," says Martin. "Increases in tipping fees mean that businesses will pay less if they can take steps to divert more from the landfill."

The other focus of the Green Team's audit is energy. Environment Canada employee George Mackenzie-Grieve contracted with local firms to evaluate energy consumption and loss in two office buildings with a combined area of about 2,000 square metres.

"They examined our infrastructure and how much energy we've used over the past five years and made a number of recommendations," says Mackenzie-Grieve.

"The quickest solution with the best return was probably the installation of a thermostat control on the propane tank blankets. We usually switch the blankets on in the fall and turn them off each spring, but the message was that they're not really necessary until it dips below minus 20."

"We're going to see major savings for implementing that one change. The payback period was calculated to be just one-sixth of a year," he adds.

Eric Albertini with Northern Climate Engineering says his firm has experienced a resurgence in demand for energy audits in recent years.

"We saw lots of audits in the late 1980s and early 90s, and then a decade went by with few requests for energy audits," he says. Albertini attributes the spike in interest to rising oil prices, and also to awareness generated by the Energy Solutions Centre.

"An energy audit is usually the first step you can take to save energy and cut down on operational costs," he says.

"People's primary motivation is usually to save money or perhaps access improvement grants," says Albertini. "And the larger the structure, the greater the possibility to save."

For more information about commercial or residential energy and waste audits, contact the Energy Solutions Centre (393-7063) or Raven Recycling (667-7269).