The mandate for the Environmental Task Force was transferred to the Sustainability Roundtable and then to the Roundtable on the Environment. The following material is provided for archival purposes.

The Sustainable Energy Plan for Toronto
The Sustainable Energy Workgroup
October 14, 1999

Executive summary

The development of civilization has to a great extent been shaped by its exploitation of energy resources. When vast forests and arable lands were overexploited, great city-states and empires declined. The same fate would have befallen European expansion had not the Industrial Revolution resorted to mining coal, once banned for burning by British Royal Decree on threat of death. Steel and steam power thrust the capacity of human invention into global conquest and commerce. Armed with mechanical know-how, the process kicked into high gear with the advent of oil and electrical power generation, transforming our intervention into the familiar modern world. Following the massive genocidal demonstration of nuclear power that ended WWII, the dream of infinite wielding of power captured the spirit of the Age. The geopolitics of warfare and finance are largely founded on the control of fossil fuel resources and nuclear capacity.

The specters of planetary annihilation through global nuclear war, poisoning of the atmosphere, radioactive contamination, the impacts of the Greenhouse Effect, and decimation of biodiversity haunt all our lives. The pursuit of sustainability beckons a vision of a civilization living off solar income in balance with natural processes that will stop the burning of fossil fuels and put the nuclear genie back in the bottle. It is also a call to sharing the plenty with all peoples and creatures.

A strong undercurrent of sustainable energy technology has flowed through this history of the rise of fossil fuel and nuclear energy and our growing awareness of their dangerous side-effects. Solar, wind, water, geothermal, and biomass have long been harnessed by human ingenuity. Ontario's industrial strength was founded on tapping Niagara Falls. The oil price shocks and rising cost of nuclear power in the 1970s spawned a worldwide pursuit of sustainable alternatives and our region was no exception. With the widening awareness of ecological crisis in the 90s, the fruits of these technological advancements are ready to be harvested. Indeed, governments around the world are positioning themselves in these new markets.

Toronto, in no small way, participates in the realization of this great transformation. Flanked by coal and nuclear generation, congested and polluted by its transportation system, bounded by the last of the endangered Great Lakes, and diminishing farm and forest lands, we witness the consequences of continuing the assault. As host to many significant gatherings that direct global attention to addressing the global plight, we have already played a significant part. Our citizenry, educational institutions, businesses and City Council have begun the planning and implementation necessary to realizing a habitable world and a healthy city.

Torontonians purchase approximately $3 billion of electricity, natural gas and heating oil yearly. This is largely lost to the local economy. Import displacement through demand management, local generation, investment in sustainable energy production, and integrated resource management can yield sizable benefits to Toronto's economy through direct jobs created, financial returns, and retention of currency for local spending and investment. The economic potential for end-use efficiency improvements alone has been assessed at greater than 50 per cent with readily available technology. Demonstrated technical potentials of over 90 per cent are economically achievable if knowledge and production were nurtured in a supportive marketplace.

Many supply options, such as solar thermal, district energy with trigeneration, methane from waste, deep lakewater cooling, energy recovery systems, and passive technologies are cost-effective now. Wind turbines, small hydro, and biomass conversion are inexpensive enough to attract investment for green power markets. Their extensive development in other jurisdictions is a reflection of public policy not resource availability. To date, the Government of Ontario has designed its restructuring of the electrical sector to sustain coal and nuclear assets and ignore environmental externalities. Emergent technologies such as photovoltaics and fuel cells are experiencing worldwide annual doubling growth rates with anticipated price breakthroughs within a decade.

With an aggressive sustainable energy policy and concerted effort, Toronto can catch up and partake in the multiple benefits of this revolution in benign energy use. The scale of the undertaking is daunting but it is the initiation of commitment that will decide the outcome.

Introduction

This report is another milestone in Toronto's development of a sustainable energy policy. In 1988, Toronto hosted the first international conference on climate change. Shortly after, the former City of Toronto was the first in the world to adopt the target of reducing CO2 emissions by 20 per cent from 1988 levels by 2005.

Following amalgamation with the five surrounding municipalities in 1997, the new City of Toronto formed the Environmental Task Force to provide advice to Council. At the beginning of 1999 the Task Force initiated a Sustainable Energy Working Group and began a consultation process to develop a Sustainable Energy Plan for the city. After 4 meetings of the Working Group with presentations and discussion, it was decided that this task would require further research and analysis.

With funding provided by the Toronto Atmospheric Fund, Toronto Hydro, Enbridge Consumers' Gas and the Toronto District Heating Corporation, a team lead by Allen Kani Associates, including Renewable Energy in Canada, Local Solutions, Access Capital and Bridget Haworth, was contracted to prepare a report on a Sustainable Energy Plan for Toronto. This report has been reviewed by members of the Working Group, key City staff, representatives of the funding bodies, and other interested parties. The comments received have been categorized and are appended to this report. In general the report reflects a wide consensus of the viability and advisability of undertaking a Sustainable Energy Plan for Toronto.

This plan, as part of the Environmental Task Force's recommendations to Council, is directed primarily towards energy use in the built environment; transportation issues are dealt with in a separate report. Also not included is a consideration of the embodied energy of materials used and consumed in the City. The report is based on information currently available through the City and other agencies. For example, an end-use analysis of city-wide energy use has never been done for the amalgamated City, but such research was well beyond the scope of this study. Also, while the horizon of consideration extends to 25 years, the primary focus of the report is on meeting the City's objectives over the next five years.

• Presents an overview of sustainable energy and what would comprise a sustainable energy infrastructure when it is fully built out,
• Shows how Toronto can meet its near-term target for emission reductions, both at the corporate level and city-wide,
• Offers recommendations and next steps to achieve the interim targets and build a foundation for further development,
• Provides information on the financial options available to the city to stimulate investment in components of a sustainable energy infrastructure, and
• Presents case studies of innovative undertakings in other cities in Europe and North America.

Perhaps the best way to view the Sustainable Energy Plan is as a living document; the report is simply the first draft. It is not the objective of the report to detail a specific prescription of what a Sustainable Energy Plan for Toronto would entail nor what a final outcome would be. Rather, the objective is to set out a course of action that City Council could implement based on a conviction that we can, and will, develop the means of accomplishing this great conversion project.

Sustainable Energy Use (S.E.U.) Working Group - Minutes
February 9, 1999
March 11, 1999
March 25, 1999
April 8,1999

Back to Environmental Task Force