Energy Conservation & Management
The City has a number of programs and initiatives in place to reduce energy use in its facilities and ultimately meet the greenhouse gas emissions outlined by TransformTO’s Climate Action reduction target of 80 per cent by 2050.
The City’s Energy Conservation & Demand Management Plan profiles over 600 of the City’s corporate buildings based on energy use and operation type. The plan revisits the work that has been done and helps the City to identify buildings with the highest potential for energy savings.
The plan has been updated in accordance with the Ontario Government’s Electricity Act, Regulation 507/18.
Building Automation Systems optimize the performance of a building’s heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration and lighting control systems.
The benefits of Building Automation Systems include:
- energy and maintenance savings;
- longer equipment life;
- the ability to monitor multiple buildings remotely and implement energy management strategies.
View the Standard Building Automation System (BAS) Specification for City Buildings (2018).
A number of City-owned buildings, including City Hall, Metro Hall, Police Headquarters, Union Station and Old City Hall, are kept cool in the summer by an innovative deep lake water cooling system. Provided by Enwave Energy Corporation, the system uses cold water from Lake Ontario to cool buildings, replacing conventional chillers and cooling towers.
The system is ideal for heritage buildings such as Union Station and Old City Hall since cooling can be provided without major renovations.
The use of deep lake water cooling at City Hall, Metro Hall, and Police Headquarters reduces electricity use by 12 million kWh annually.
The City manages its energy costs by purchasing and hedging energy commodities directly in the wholesale markets. Purchases include electricity, natural gas, and vehicle fuel for the City and its agencies.
All major City buildings have undergone energy efficiency retrofits, with the savings from these retrofits helping to offset the cost of the investments.
Recent retrofits include:
- lighting retrofits completed in over 33 ice rinks in 26 City arenas in 2015, which are expected to reduce energy bills by about $170,000 per year
- water fixture retrofits at Metro Hall and City Hall in 2016, which will avoid costs of about $70,000 per year, based on 2016 water rates
- LED lighting retrofits, which began in 2017 in Parks Forestry & Recreation pools, EMS stations, Long-term Care Homes and Civic Centres (City Hall, Metro Hall, Scarborough CC, North York CC, East York CC, York CC and 18 Dyas Rd.), expected to avoid costs of $800,000 per year, based on 2016 electricity rates
The City tracks, monitors and verifies energy and cost data for over 4,500 utility accounts, to identify and select buildings for energy retrofit projects.
The City produces an annual Energy Consumption & Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report to comply with the Ontario Government’s Electricity Act, Regulation 507/18.
Previous years’ data can be found on the City’s Open Data website.