May 3, 1999

To:Board of Health

From:Dr. Sheela V. Basrur, Medical Officer of Health

Subject:Changes in Ontario's Electrical Sector and Air Quality - Follow-up

Purpose:

To respond to four Board of Health requests emanating from the April 6, 1999 meeting discussion of the report entitled, "Changes in Ontario's Electrical Sector and Air Quality".

Resource Implications:

Not applicable at this time.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that the Board of Health:

(1)revise the first and second recommendations embodied in the communication dated April6, 1999, from Councillor Jack Layton, to indicate that air conditioners in City buildings, and in buildings belonging to others in the City, be set at an average temperature of 23 degrees Celsius during summer months; and

(2)encourage the Ministry of Environment to take all steps necessary to shorten the time frame between the collection of air samples and the reporting of air sampling results to the public.

Background:

On April 6, 1999, the Medical Officer of Health tabled a report entitled, "Changes in Ontario's Electrical Sector and Air Quality", which contained four recommendations that were directed at the Ontario Minister of Environment and the Ontario Minister of Energy, Science and Technology. The Board of Health:

(1)adopted the report from the Medical Officer of Health;

(2)directed that:

(i)the report be forwarded to Council for information;

(ii)the report also be forwarded to the Minister of Health and circulated to all Boards of Health across the Province of Ontario;

(iii)the Commissioner of Urban Planning and Development Services be requested to include Public Health in work to develop a new Official Plan with respect to energy use and other public health issues;

(iv)the Chief Administrative Officer be requested to involve the Energy Efficiency Office and the Medical Officer of Health in City discussions with respect to the development of the proposed shareholders agreements between the City of Toronto and Toronto Hydro and the Toronto District Heating Corporation, respectively;

(v)Toronto Hydro be requested to work cooperatively with the Toronto District Heating Corporation to ensure that deep lake water cooling takes effect in Toronto; and

(vi)the Chief Administrative Officer be requested to ensure that adequate resources are available to the Energy Efficiency Office to investigate measures that could be taken to reduce energy usage; and

(3)requested the Medical Officer of Health to report back to the next meeting of the Board of Health, scheduled to be held on May 6, 1999, on:

(i)the recommendations embodied in the communication dated April 6, 1999, from Councillor Jack Layton, including the health impact of turning down air conditioners in City buildings to maintain an average temperature of 25 degrees Celsius;

(ii)the feasibility of providing to the Board, on a quarterly basis, an analysis of Ministry of the Environment and Environment Canada air quality monitoring data for the Toronto region;

(iii)the effect of deep lake water cooling on Toronto's ecosystem; and

(iv)the feasibility of establishing voluntary agreements with key industries that are high energy users.

Recommendation (3)(i) refers to the following four recommendations:

(a)That all City of Toronto building managers be requested to immediately turn down air conditioners in City buildings so that the average temperature is 25 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit), except in buildings where medical and other circumstances require a different temperature.

(b)That the City of Toronto call on all building owners, tenants and anyone else responsible for controlling temperature in buildings to turn down the air conditioning so that the average air temperature is 25 degrees Celsius.

(c)That the Medical Officer of Health and the Energy Efficiency Office approach the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) to develop a "Dress Cool, Breath Well Challenge" that is paid for by a percentage of savings from reduced energy bills that come from participants involved in this initiative.

(d)That the Medical Officer of Health, in conjunction with the Energy Efficiency Office, calculate the potential reduction in CO2 emissions and other harmful pollutants from a city-wide reduction in air conditioning use.

This report responds to the four requests captured by recommendation (3).

Comments:

(1)Temperature in Buildings During Summer

In order to respond to recommendations (3)(i)(a) and (b), Public Health has consulted with an Energy Management Consultant in the Energy Efficiency Office of Works & Emergency Services and with an Industrial Hygienist in Occupational Health, Safety and Workers' Compensation in Corporate Services to determine the building temperature that is optimal for the summer months from both an energy efficiency and human comfort level.

The American Society for Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard (55-1992) on Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy recommends 23 to 26 degrees Celsius as an acceptable temperature range for summer months provided that relative humidity does not exceed 50%. However, it has been the experience of the professionals consulted that temperatures greater than 23 or 24 degrees Celsius can increase the number of complaints received by occupants within a building. Discomfort can be related to temperature variations between locations within a building or humidity variation between buildings. A temperature of 23 degrees Celsius (or 73.4 degrees Fahrenheit) is a reasonable temperature that gains acceptance by a large majority of occupants in buildings. For this reason, it is suggested that recommendations (3)(i)(a) and (3)(i)(b) be revised to incorporate an average temperature of 23 degrees Celsius.

(2)Carbon Dioxide Calculations

Public Health has discussed recommendation (3)(i)(d), which asks for a calculation of the potential reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from a city-wide reduction in air conditioning use, with the Energy Efficiency Office. While it is relatively easy to calculate the CO2 emissions reductions once the reduction in kilowatt-hours is known, the Energy Efficiency Office has indicated that it is very difficult to calculate the kilowatt-hours of energy that would be reduced by a city-wide reduction in air conditioning use because there is so little known about the number of air conditioning units being used across the City, the space they are being used to cool, their efficiency, the diversity in their use, and because air conditioning levels are greatly affected by variations in temperature, sunlight, and humidity. It is possible that Toronto Hydro, with its knowledge of the market and electricity load patterns, working in consultation with the Energy Efficiency Office, could provide a rough estimate of the energy savings and the CO2 emissions reductions that could be gained with a city-wide reduction in air conditioning use.

(3)Quarterly Air Quality Reports

The Environmental Monitoring & Reporting Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Environment conducts air sampling for criteria air pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter (PM10), at six sampling stations in the City of Toronto. Some samples are collected with instruments that provide instantaneous readings on a continual basis. Other samples are collected at the sampling stations and then analyzed in a laboratory.

Data from six criteria pollutants, including ozone, are used to produce the Air Quality Index (AQI). The AQI is an indicator of air quality that can be used by individuals and institutions to determine when there is a poor air quality episode that warrants changes in individual or institutional behaviour. The AQI is reported daily by the Ministry on its phone line, on its web site, and in the newspaper.

The Ministry also analyzes and summarizes air sampling data in an annual report entitled, "Air Quality in Ontario". This report provides maximum concentrations and annual averages for a number of different air pollutants including ozone, PM10, and sulphates, for all of the sampling stations in the province. This report includes the summaries of air sampling data collected at the six sampling stations in Toronto. This information can be used to identify the air pollutants of concern to a particular community and the changes in the concentrations of those air pollutants from one year to the next. In Public Health, this air sampling data has been used for special projects as was the case with the recent electrical sector report. This data can also be used by public health and other organizations for the preparation of health status reports. For example, Toronto Public Health has submitted Ministry data related to ozone and PM10 to the Children's Committee to be included in the Children's Report Card that has been proposed as an annual report.

Unfortunately, there is a time lag of approximately 12-18 months between the time that the air sampling data is collected and the time that the Ministry's air quality report is published. The time lag results from the time required by the Ministry to collect the sampling data, calibrate air sampling equipment, check the data for its accuracy, analyze the data, and write the report. The Ministry is currently upgrading its computer system which could shorten the time lag in the future. It is also possible that the Environmental Monitoring & Reporting Branch could report air sampling results in a more timely fashion and produce quarterly AQI summaries if it had additional human resources with which to quality assure/quality control the air sampling data.

Therefore it is recommended that the Board of Health encourage the Ministry of Environment to take all steps necessary to shorten the time frame between collecting air samples and reporting air sampling results to the public. It is also recommended that staff in Public Health meet with the Ministry to discuss the means by which this information is disseminated to the public and the timing of its release.

(4)Deep Lake Cooling

In the Spring of 1998, Public Health staff reviewed the consultant's report, "Deep Lake Water Cooling Schedule B Class Environmental Assessment" that was prepared for Toronto Works & Emergency Services on the Deep Lake Water Cooling (DLWC) project. Staff also participated in two meetings of the DLWC Public Advisory Committee, attended two public workshops sponsored by Toronto Works & Emergency Services, and met with staff from Toronto Works & Emergency Services to discuss the issue on June 9, 1998. Attached for the Board's information is a copy of the letter sent on the issue from the Medical Officer of Health to the General Manager of Water & Wastewater Services, dated July 30, 1998.

The current Deep Lake Water Cooling project involves circulating drinking water, drawn from a depth of 70 meters in Lake Ontario, through heat exchangers belonging to the Toronto District Heating Corporation (TDHC), to extract heat from the TDHC cooling system. The drinking water would then be returned to the city's water distribution system for distribution to Toronto residents. The TDHC would operate a cooling water loop on the other side of the heat exchangers that would circulate the water to cooling systems in downtown buildings.

The Environmental Assessment (EA) report identified the transport of sediment-bound contaminants and the formation of zebra and quagga mussels at the DLWC intake as ecological concerns that could result from the DLWC project. However, the EA report concluded that these concerns were not sufficient to advise against carrying out the DLWC project. The EA report notes that site-specific sampling will be used during the design phase to validate the EA conclusions. The EA report also identified a number of environmental benefits that would accrue from the project including: reduced energy use in buildings serviced by TDHC; a reduction in the burning of fossil fuels for electricity; reduced carbon dioxide emissions; and a reduced need for environmentally damaging refrigerants.

The EA report identified cross contamination of drinking water with non-potable TDHC water as a paramount concern. This was the focus of Public Health's review. Toronto Works & Emergency Services indicated that modeling of possible failure scenarios demonstrated that the potential for cross-contamination was low. Engineering measures proposed include a monitoring system designed to detect cross-contamination and an automatic shut-down of the DLWC system in the event of cross-contamination. Public Health has been advised that the DLWC project is currently in a pre-design stage in preparation for construction.

(5)Voluntary Agreements with Industrial High Energy Users

With respect to request (3)(iv), the Board has asked the Medical Officer of Health to investigate the feasibility of establishing voluntary agreements with key industries that are high energy users.

If voluntary agreements were established with high energy users to reduce their long-term energy use, it is possible that carbon dioxide and other air emissions could be substantially reduced in the City. However, the establishment of voluntary agreements could be a resource intensive exercise that involves several time-consuming steps. For example, an energy use inventory would have to be conducted, high energy users would have to be prioritized, key industries would have to be approached to determine their level of interest, and agreements would have to be negotiated with each of them. Public Health will consult with Toronto Hydro, the Energy Efficiency Office, Works & Emergency Services and the Ministry of Environment to determine the resources and expertise that would be required for such an undertaking and the environmental benefits that could be gained from it.

Conclusions:

The Medical Office of Health has responded to several recommendations related to item 2 in Board of Health's April 6, 1999 Decision Document. The Medical Officer of Health is proposing that recommendation (3)(i) be revised to recommend an average temperature of 23 degrees Celsius for City buildings during summer months. In addition, a new recommendation is proposed in response to recommendation (3)(ii) which requested air monitoring reports for the Toronto region on a quarterly basis.

Contact Name:

Kim Perrotta, MHSc

Environmental Epidemiologist

Health Promotion & Environmental Protection

Toronto Public Health

Tel: 416-392-6788

Fax: 416-392-7418

E-mail: kperrott@toronto.ca

Dr. Sheela V. Basrur

Medical Officer of Health

Attach.