Type of initiative: Green Buildings
Population: 900,000 city / 5.6 M metropolitan area (Greater Toronto Area)
Greater Toronto has diversified economic sector, including manufacturing, high-tech, and agriculture.
Targeted upgrades to an administrative complex resulted in a 14% (1 million KWh per year) overall reduction in electricity use and a 41% (211,098 m3 per year) reduction in natural gas consumption.
The Regional Municipality of York, north of the City of Toronto, launched its Energy Management Program in 2003. The program started as an internal initiative of the Region's Property Services division, championed by the division's director. A new subdivision within Property Services, called Corporate Energy Services, was created to oversee the program. Initially, the program's main goal was to reduce energy expenses through energy-efficiency measures and through energy procurement strategies. In light of the Region's new sustainability strategy, the goals of the Energy Management Program now also include improving the Region's sustainability profile.
The program, which targets energy use in the municipal corporation's facilities, has five key axes of intervention: (1) energy data management; (2) energy supply management; (3) energy demand management; (4) sustainable buildings program; and (5) organizational integration. The first axis, energy data management, is the foundation on which the rest of the program was built. The Region, with the assistance of a software developer, established its own energy consumption monitoring and tracking system, dubbed the Energy and Environmental Management System (EEMS). The second axis, energy supply management, consists of optimizing electricity and natural gas procurement methods to cut costs. The third axis, energy demand management, consists of performing Building Energy Feasibility Studies to identify energy saving opportunities in existing buildings. Another aspect of the same axis is to develop peak demand management strategies. The fourth axis, the sustainable buildings policy, requires that all new Regional facilities with a floor area over 500 m2 meet or surpass the Canada Green Building Council's LEED Silver standard. The fifth and final axis, organizational integration, consists in developing a comprehensive Strategic Energy Plan (SEP) that will encompass the activities of all Regional departments, setting short-, medium- and long-term energy management objectives.
Since the launch of the Energy Management Program in 2003, the main achievements include the development of the Region's proprietary EEMS; the completion of three major Building Energy Feasibility Studies and the resulting implementation of a series of energy-efficiency upgrades to the Region's large Administrative Building; and the construction of the Region's first LEED-certified facility. The EEMS has proven very effective and is currently being licensed to other municipalities. The Building Energy Feasibility Studies and subsequent upgrades to the Region's Administrative Building have resulted in a 14% overall reduction in electricity use and a 41% reduction in natural gas consumption. For fiscal year 2006, this translated into cost savings of $186,288. The Region's first LEED-certified facility is a joint fire and emergency medical services station. The station is a “greened up” replica of an existing station; it consumes 35% less energy annually and produces 58.6 tonnes less of carbon dioxide emissions than the original version. The station was awarded a LEED Gold rating and recieved the 2007 Canadian Project Excellence Award in the Vision category from the Canada Green Building Council. Going forward, Corporate Energy Services expects to complete its Strategic Energy Plan, continue energy efficiency retrofits, and build more LEED-certified facilities.
The Regional Municipality of York, 1 or York Region, is in south-central Ontario, immediately north of the City of Toronto. It encompasses an area of 1,762 km2 and regroups nine local municipalities, including Aurora, East Gwillimbury, Georgina, King Township, Markham, Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, and Whitchurch-Stouffville. The region had a population of 892,712 in 2006 and is projected to reach 1.5 million by 2031.
The region has a very diverse economy. A number of high-tech firms are headquartered and have manufacturing facilities in the southern part of the region, near the border with Toronto. Richmond Hill, in the south-centre of the region, is among the wealthiest jurisdictions in Canada, with an average family income over $100,000. Further north, agriculture remains an important sector of the economy, but is in decline as new developments continually consume farmland.
In 2001, the Region's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) created the Property Services division, a new administrative unit responsible for managing all of the Region's properties. The director of the new unit understood the importance of monitoring and tracking utility consumption. He championed the idea of establishing an energy management section within Property Services. The new energy section, called Corporate Energy Services, was given a broad mandate to set up a utility consumption monitoring and tracking system and to undertake projects to reduce the Region's energy costs. The Energy Management Program was launched in 2003.
Senior administrators and the Regional Council welcomed the launch of the Energy Management Program. The program has since received ongoing Council support. Overall, the program has had little visibility outside the Regional administration, remaining largely unknown to the general public.2 There has not been any kind of public consultation nor any public awareness or marketing campaign associated with the program. Nevertheless, the Region's Corporate Communications section has provided regular updates on the program's progress to the media.
1 In Canada, a regional municipality is an upper-tier municipal government, on par with a county government. Regional municipalities are generally set up in highly populated areas to provide oversight for services shared by several local municipalities, such as police and other emergency services, public transit, waste management, and water.
2 The program has however been showcased to various organizations, including the Internation Facility Management Association (IFMA), the Ontario Regional Facility Managers Association (ORFMA), and the Canadian Green Building Council, as well as at the 2006 Energy Matters Conference.
In its present incarnation, the main concerns of York Region's Energy Management Program are improving the Region's sustainability profile and cutting the Regional government's operating costs. These are addressed through five key axes of intervention: (1) energy data management; (2) energy supply management; (3) energy demand management; (4) sustainable buildings policy; and (5) organizational integration.
Energy Data Management
The York Region has developed its own energy data management system, called the Energy and Environmental Management System (EEMS). At the core of the EEMS is software that helps track the energy and environmental performance of a number of Regional operations, including: municipal buildings, street and traffic lights, water and wastewater facilities, power generation facilities, and the vehicle fleet. In collaboration with PowerStream and Hydro One, two private electricity distribution companies, Corporate Energy Services staff have set the system up to electronically collect monthly utility bill data.3 The EEMS allows the Region to compare the performance parameters of its facilities and allows it to target specific buildings for retrofits.
Supply Management
The Region has been engaging in strategic procurements of natural gas and electricity, primarily as a means of cutting costs. For gas, the Region has been participating in a bulk natural gas purchasing program administered by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. For electricity, the Region is in the process of implementing a new procurement strategy that will use a combination of Regulated Price Plans, the Spot Market, and Fixed Price Contracts. The three-phased implementation plan involves gradually shifting municipal facilities that are currently on either Regulated Price Plans or Fixed Price Contracts to the Spot Market, a move that is expected to save money but will not lead to energy savings per se.
The Region will begin purchasing EcoLogo-certified green power for two facilities in 2008. A media campaign, to increase public awareness and benefits of green power, is planned for the upcoming launch.
Demand Management
The Region is currently in the process of performing feasibility studies on certain Region-owned assets that will eventually lead to the implementation of energy saving and cost-cutting measures. Presently, the Region is performing Building Energy Feasibility Studies on 13 buildings (representing a floor area of over 446,000 square feet). The goal of the studies is to identify and quantify the energy and cost-saving potential of capital improvements, such as ‘green building' retrofits, and of operations and maintenance improvements to energy-consuming systems, particularly lighting and HVAC systems. The Region is also currently assessing the feasibility of several energy-efficiency upgrades to water and wastewater treatment facilities, which have the potential to yield cost savings in the 14-19% range. Furthermore, the Region's housing provider, Housing York Incorporated4 is performing energy audits at its housing facilities and implementing energy saving retrofits.
The Region has also undertaken two Demand Response initiatives to help attenuate concerns about the reliability of its distribution grid during peak load periods. The first initiative consisted of a Demand Response program designed to cut energy consumption in the Region's Administration Building by at least 50 kW for a six-hour duration within 2 hrs of receiving a directive to do so. The second Demand Response initiative consisted of upgrading an existing electric generator to provide supplemental power to the sewage pumping station. The generator is to be used in periods of peak demand to supply the pumping station with electricity, thereby lowering demand on the local grid by 1.5 MW.
Sustainable Buildings
As of April 2006, the Region requires that all its new facilities with a floor area greater than 500 m2 meet a minimum standard of LEED Silver. The Region is also committed to retrofitting existing Regional facilities to improve their energy efficiency, although no explicit standard has been set. A number of retrofits have been completed at the Region's headquarters and projects in other buildings are presently underway.
Organizational Integration
The Region is committed to developing a Strategic Energy Plan (SEP) that will encompass the activities of all Regional departments, setting short-, medium- and long-term energy management objectives. The Region's goal is to move from “energy management to the preferred state of energy sustainability” (RMY, 2007 a, p. 9).
The Energy Management Program is overseen by Corporate Energy Services, a section of the Region's Property Services division. Key partners within the municipal corporation include the other sections of the Property Service Division, notably Capital Projects, which is responsible for the construction of new buildings and major renovations of existing buildings, and Facilities Management, which is responsible for equipment upgrades and maintenance. Housing York Incorporated, the Region's housing arm, is also a key partner in implementing energy efficiency measures in public housing projects.
Beyond the municipal corporation, two key partners are the local electricity distribution companies (LDCs), namely PowerStream and HydroOne, as well as the smaller Newmarket Hydro. The two LDCs have played a crucial role in developing the EEMS, enabling it to automatically collect electricity meter readings and billing information. The other municipalities that have licensed EEMS are also important partners; continuous feedback from these municipalities has helped Corporate Energy Services improve the system.
3 York Region has licensed its EEMS system to a few municipalities in Southern Ontario, including the Region of Waterloo, Halton Region, the Town of Oakville, and, within York Region itself, the Town of Markham and Richmond Hill; others have expressed interest.
4 Housing York Incorporated (HYI) is the York Region's housing arm. HYI builds, owns, and manages public housing facilities. HYI offers (subsidized) social housing and (unsubsidized) market-rate low-cost housing.
At the municipal level, the York Region Sustainability Strategy (RMY, 2007 b) calls for continuing “to increase the energy efficiency and sustainability of York Region buildings through retrofits, procurement and conservation measures” (p. 11) under the theme of Corporate Culture of Sustainability; continuing to “construct energy efficient affordable housing projects” (p. 15) under the theme of Healthy Communities; and to “investigate and adopt principles for sustainable green communities in order to create more liveable, energy efficient communities with smaller ecological footprints” (p. 18) under the theme of Sustainable Natural Environment. York Region's recently updated Official Plan (RMY, 2007 c) also makes reference to energy conservation and green energy, albeit more obliquely. It refers to energy conservation in the context of improving air quality through reduced dependence on motorized transportation (p. 20) and creating environmentally-friendly affordable housing (p. 42).
Each of the the lower-tier municipalities within York Region are responsible for their own energy management efforts. Nevertheless, there are examples of colaboration between the Region and lower-tier municipalities. In colaboration with the City of Vaughan, the Region has recently built an LEED Gold-certified fire and emergenecy services station. Also, the Region organized a workshop called Green Building: Policy to Practice, which was attended by representatives of the lower tier-municipalities, the York Region District School Board, and representatives from all department of the Region's municipal corporation. Moreover, the Region is collaborating on energy management with the City of Toronto and the other surrounding upper-tier municipalities.
At the provincial level, Ontario's Energy Conservation Responsibility Act (Bill 21) of 2006 (LAO, 2006) supports the Energy Management Program. Bill 21 paves the way for the provincial government to compel municipalities to engage in conservation planning and to adopt conservation measures in their internal operations.5 Under this law, like every other municipal corporation in Ontario, the Region is required to periodically prepare and publish energy conservation plans. These must include (1) summary of annual energy usage; (2) itemized description of significant energy consuming technologies and operations; (3) a description of current and proposed activities and measures to conserve energy; (4) a summary of progress and achievements in energy consumption and other reductions since the previous plan (RMY, 2007 a).5 The bill “paves the way” in the sense that there is as of yet no legal remedy for non-compliance. It is expected that the government will soon designate an enforcement authority that is able to undertake legal remedy against municipalities that do not comply (Efficiency Engineering Inc., 2007).
The main expenses incurred by the Energy Management Program were those related to the development of the EEMS and those related to the Building Energy Feasibility Studies and resulting energy efficiency upgrades to the Region's administrative building. The Region spent approximately $82,500 on the development of the EEMS. Specifications for the new system were developed in-house, but development of the software was outsourced to the Mission Systems Development Corporation. The Region pays Mission Systems an additional $5,000 to $6,000 a year for support costs for the software (RMY, 2004). Part of the cost is recovered through the licensing fees collected from other municipalities to which Corporate Energy Services has licensed EEMS6. As for retrofits to the administrative building, the price tag has been around $1.6 million to date. Funding has come from the Region's general fund and from a variety of external funding sources.
As of late 2007, Corporate Energy Services has obtained a total of $470,925 from various energy efficiency grants. Grants for energy conservation studies and for the design and construction of retrofits have been obtained from three different organizations, including (1) Natural Resources Canada ($155,000); (2) the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Green Fund ($276,700); and (3) Enbridge Gas Distribution ($41,225). In addition, Corporate Energy Services recieved wage subsidies totalling $12,000 to date from the Environmental Careers Organization. The Region has also secured $403,000 in capital funding from PowerStream's Conservation and Demand Management Program that will fully cover the costs of an upgrade to an emergency generator at the Aurora Sewage Pumping Station; the generator will help with peak demand management.
The principal ongoing expenses of running the Energy Management Program are for staff. Corporate Energy Services has five permanent staff members including: (1) a Program Manager, who oversees all aspects of the Energy Management Program; (2) a Housing Sustainable Building Engineer, who oversees energy management projects in Region-owned housing; (3) a Sustainable Building Engineer, who oversees energy management projects in properties other than housing; (4) an EEMS Coordinator, who oversees all systems related to tracking energy use data; (5) an Energy Analyst, who monitors energy use in the Region's water and wastewater facilities.
6 In FY 2006, Corporate Energy Services collected $20,000 in licensing fees from other municipalities.
Beyond the successful development of the EEMS, the most significant accomplishment of the Energy Management Program is the series of energy-efficiency retrofits performed on the Region's administration centre. Interventions have included: (1) replacement of magnetic fluorescent lighting ballasts with electronic ballasts; (2) installation of daylighting control in private offices; (3) installation of occupancy sensors for controlling lights in private offices, meeting rooms and washrooms; (4) installation of automatic sensor-operated faucets; (5) installation of variable-speed drives and return air ducting on air handlers; (7) installation of variable-speed drives on heating and cooling pumps; (8) replacement of heating boilers; and (9) installation of booster heat pumps for police call centre. They have resulted in a 14% (1 million KWh per year) overall reduction in electricity use and a 41% (211,098 m3 per year) reduction in natural gas consumption.
Since the Region mandated that all new buildings over 500 m2 meet the LEED Silver standard, one new facility has been built. The facility in question is a joint fire/EMS station, built in collaboration with the City of Vaughan. The new station, number 79, is a “greened up” replica of an existing station, number 78 (Enermodal Engineering, 2007). Compared to its Station 78, the new station consumes 35% less energy and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 58.6 tonnes annually. It also cuts potable water use by 55% and apparently offers a more comfortable indoor environment. The project exceeded the LEED Silver requirements; the Canada Green Building Council awarded it a rating of LEED Gold. The project also recieved a 2007 Canadian Project Excellence Award in the Vision category.
In financial terms, the outcome of the Energy Management Program is annual utility bill savings estimated at $401,688 for the fiscal year 20067. The retrofits performed on the Region's administration centre alone are believed to have saved $186,288. Energy retrofits at the Region's Blue Willow housing project saved $35,400, while retrofits at Region's Bales Drive Transportation and Works Operation Centre saved $25,000. Entering the Association of Ontario Municipalities' group procurement program saved another $135,000; unlike the aforementioned savings, these did not result from improving energy efficiency.
According to an official at Corporate Energy Services, the program has achieved all of its expected outcomes to date.
7 2007 results were not yet available at the time of writing.
According to an official at Corporate Energy Services, virtually all of the initiatives undertaken under the Energy Management Program to date have worked well. There have been a few unforeseen delays in the implementation of energy-efficiency retrofits. Prior to installing energy-saving retrofits, Corporate Energy Services performed Building Energy Feasibility Studies that identified opportunities for energy-efficiency upgrades and proposed an implementation schedule. On several occasions, further energy-saving opportunities were identified during the detailed design phase. This prolonged the detailed design phase and resulted in a longer project schedule than initially anticipated.
The program's success to date is attributed to a number of factors. These include the strong support of senior management and a supportive Regional Council. The program also owes much to solid financial support both from the Region itself and from external funding sources.
The greatest challenge that the program has faced, and continues to face, is the limited availability of local expertise and resources in energy management and green building design. In particular, the Region has found it difficult to find design consultants and contractors familiar with integrated design processes and with proven project experience to carry out green design and various energy efficiency projects. The current manager of Corporate Energy Services says that, while this type of proven expertise remains hard to find, it is quickly becoming more available on the market in the Greater Toronto Area. He believes that universities and trade schools have an important role to play in creating and further developing expertise in this field. The onus is on them to train more people and to further develop expertise through research.
According to the manager of Corporate Energy Services, the only thing he would have done differently in retrospect would have been to develop a comprehensive, strategic energy plan earlier on in the program. Not having established strategic medium- and long-term goals has meant that the program has proceeded on a piecemeal basis. Corporate Energy Services is now developing a strategic energy plan to address overall energy management objectives and to identify the resources needed to achieve them.
The manager's main advice for other cities wishing to undertake an energy management program is to implement an energy monitoring and tracking system, like York's EEMS. Having such a system helps to identify poor performers in the municipality's existing building portfolio and to prioritize energy efficiency and cost saving interventions. He also recommends adopting a widely-accepted minimum standard for new buildings, such as LEED.
Ideas such as implementing an energy monitoring and tracking system to identify opportunities for energy efficiency improvements or setting an accepted minimum standard for new facilities are ideas that many municipalities across North America could try. One constraint, however, might be the lack of the necessary financial and administrative capacity; smaller municipalities might not be able to attract the specialized staff needed to oversee the various components of an ambitious energy management program.
The most important current project related to the Energy Management Program is the development of a Strategic Energy Plan (SEP) by Corporate Energy Services. The SEP will set short-, medium- and long-term objectives for the Energy Management Program. The main objective of the SEP is to move the Region from “energy management to the preferred state of energy sustainability”. The SEP will encompass all of the Region's departments, setting timelines for further energy efficiency projects. It will also set targets and a timeline for increasing the Region's supply of renewable energy.
In the near- and medium-term, the Region will be implementing another series of energy efficiency upgrades to its admistrative building as well as in other facilities. The Region also expects to complete a number of new, LEED-certified facilities in the coming years. In collaboration with Corporate Energy Services, Housing York Incorporated (HYI) is currently in the process of building the Region's first LEED-certified multi-unit residential facility. The new facility, called Tom Taylor Place, is expected to consume 58% less energy and produce 147 tonnes less of carbon dioxide annually than a comparable existing facility. After Tom Taylor Place, the next LEED-certified project will be the first of three proposed Community Environmental Centres (CECs). These are to be small, community-level waste management facilities where residents can drop off a variety of resuable and recyclable materials as well as organic yard waste. Another project on the drawing board is a LEED-certified pumping station, to be the first sustainable water and wastewater facility in the Region. Corporate Energy Services is particularly interested in energy efficiency at water and wastewater treatment facilities because they currently consume nearly two-thirds of the energy purchased by the Region.
The Region is also envisaging the installation of a wind turbine at the Sutton Water Pollution Control Centre (WPCC) in the Town of Georgina. Currently, a feasibility study is under way; a meteorological tower has been installed at the WPCC to measure the capacity of the wind resource at the site.
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