Energy Management
Real estate makes space for climate capitalism
The 2020 race2reduce field boasts more than 1,730 buildings encompassing 248 million square feet of space in common areas and tenant premises — an increase from 650 buildings covering 95 million square feet in 2019.
Report suggests new building codes aren’t tough enough on energy efficiency
An Efficiency Canada report suggests a lack of mandatory air leak testing in buildings hinders attempts at net-zero energy efficiency.
Feds to invest $2 billion in energy retrofits
A promised $2 billion investment in large-scale building retrofits will be central to the Canadian government’s job creation ambitions. Energy efficiency champions have plenty of ideas of how and where the funds could be best leveraged.
COVID-19 confounds electricity system models
After scrambling to recalibrate their models in the early days of COVID-19-related shutdowns, analysts with Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator faced more uncharted territory when the hot weather arrived.
Ontario consults on next conservation framework
Residential consumption is identified as a primary concern and opportunity for the 2021-24 period, along with a continued emphasis on reducing system-wide peak demand
Ontario Electricity Rebate applied unevenly
Many hydro accounts specifically tied to the common areas of multi-residential buildings will no longer qualify for the 31.8 per cent rebate beginning in November 2020.
Ontario stalls energy management paybacks
A temporary adjustment to Ontario’s electricity pricing scheme eliminates cost-saving opportunities that many operators of large commercial buildings were anticipating this summer.
Public disclosure could foil energy reporting
The City of Winnipeg has invited commercial building owners and institutional facility managers to affix their Energy Star Portfolio Manager results on a publicly accessible map.
Canada wavers on airtightness testing
The timing might have been opportune for uptake of the measure — provided it was adopted into provincial and territorial building codes — because it would have applied broadly in what is currently Canada’s most buoyant commercial real estate sector.
COVID-19 incubates global adjustment 2021-22
For Class A consumers, cost-saving potential will be diminished even if they successfully curtail demand during the five peak hours since those peaks are expected to be lower than usual.
Ontario to temporarily offset electricity costs
Commercial and industrial electricity customers will pay the differential above 11.5 cents per kilowatt-hour in added monthly increments beginning in January 2021.
Ontario electricity prices flout sliding demand
Despite a steep drop in province-wide energy consumption due to COVID-19 triggered business shutdowns, many building owners/managers expect a more modest flow-through dip in operating costs.
Energy demand load shifts to residential base
The energy demand load has shifted in sync with much of Ontario’s workforce from commercial to home offices, prompting calls for suspension of time-of-use pricing during the current COVID-19 related upheaval
Windows and doors in the net-zero frame
A wider selection of high-performance windows and doors is expected to hit the market as Canada's National Energy Code continues to push the envelope toward net-zero-energy-ready development.
Setting a new standard at Ken Soble Tower
With mechanical systems nearing end of life, inadequate ventilation and other issues, the 50-year Ken Soble Tower was in critical need of an upgrade.
Smaller buildings spared Ontario benchmarking
Owners of smaller commercial and multi-residential buildings in Ontario will still be welcome to voluntarily share energy and water consumption data, but a looming deadline for mandatory disclosure has been withdrawn.
Friendlier CHP environmental approvals welcome
It's still unclear how the process of securing environmental approvals for combined heat and power systems will be streamlined, but the Ontario government's recent pledge has been greeted enthusiastically in the buildings sector.