Project Addresses

Villa Charities Inc. – Head Office
901 Lawrence Avenue West, Toronto, ON

Caboto Terrace
3050 Dufferin Street, North York, ON

Casa DelZotto
3010 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON

Casa Abruzzo
338 Falstaff Avenue, Toronto, ON

Key Contacts

Property and Operations Manager: Joe Gianna, Villa Charities Inc.

Project Background

Established in 1971, Villa Charities Inc. is an organization created to meet the needs of an ever-growing multicultural community in the Greater Metropolitan Toronto Area. In addition to providing culturally sensitive care for the elderly, the Villa Charities family of organizations is also committed to providing homes that offer independent and assisted living to seniors and adults with intellectual disabilities.

Following energy audits conducted in 2008, Villa Charities observed several opportunities for energy efficiency improvements to its buildings that would result in substantial cost savings; and, ultimately enhance the homes of the hundreds of senior citizens they serve.  Villa Charities embarked on energy efficiency lighting retrofit programs for three of its buildings:  Caboto Terrace, Casa DelZotto and Casa Abruzzo.

This approach and planned energy conservation program included facilitating two separate energy efficient lighting retrofits conducted by Enerlights at the Casa Abruzzo facility.

Desired Outcomes

Growing concern about the environment and steadily rising energy costs have made effective energy management in multi-residential buildings more important than ever before.

To continue to carry out its mission to provide culturally sensitive care and residence for seniors in the Greater Toronto Area, Villa Charities’ family of organizations need to carefully manage the significant costs associated with operating and maintaining its facilities. In addition, maintaining environmentally sound operations enhances and preserves the asset value of the buildings and demonstrates Villa Charities’ environmental stewardship.

Solution and Results

Villa Charities embarked on lighting retrofit programs for Caboto Terrace, Casa DelZotto and Casa Abruzzo, with the aim of learning from these initial retrofits so that further energy plans could be developed and implemented in other buildings.

Villa Charities teamed up with the City of Toronto’s Better Buildings Partnership to evaluate the incentives available to offset the costs for their energy conservation efforts for the three buildings.

Combining the energy efficiency lighting retrofits of the three buildings, nearly 10,000 lighting fixtures were upgraded, saving 2,300,194.80 kWh in electricity annually.

Some of highlights for the electricity enhancements included:

• Retrofitting existing 60W incandescent bulbs to more energy efficient 26W Landlite CFLs in the suites at Casa DelZotto
• Upgrading the in-suite lighting of the bathrooms at Casa Abruzzo from 60W incandescent bulbs to new fixtures featuring 4 Landlite 9W ELG’s
• Retrofitting Caboto Terrace’s stairwell, ground floor and hallways from 2 – 32W T8 electronic ballasts with higher efficiency alternative 28W T-5 fixtures

As a result, Villa Charities was awarded $96,000 in BBP incentives for the successful completion of these three energy efficiency lighting retrofits.

Three energy efficiency lighting retrofits at Villa Charities’ buildings were successfully implemented and the resulting reduction in greenhouse gas emissions achieved through energy conservation is equivalent to removing 443 cars from the road annually.

The retrofits will result in annual savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars in operating costs for Caboto Terrace, Casa DelZotto and Casa Abruzzo, and will allow Villa Charities to demonstrate environmental stewardship and contribute to building a healthy and clean city.  In addition, working with the City of Toronto’s Better Buildings Partnership allowed Villa Charities to fulfill their plans and continue to plan for the future.

“Villa Charities’ commitment to the community spans almost 40 years and is rooted in providing care and services to seniors, adults with intellectual disabilities and the general community in ways that strengthen and uphold Italian customs and traditions,” said Palmacchio Di Iulio, President and CEO, Villa Charities Inc.  “We welcome opportunities to partner with other community and governmental groups, such as the Better Buildings Partnership, to find innovative ways to make our service delivery better.  We are proud to be able to offer culturally-sensitive programs and services at Caboto Terrace, Casa DelZotto and Casa Abruzzo that are now environmentally friendly and economically sound.”

Project Snapshots

Caboto Terrace

• Project cost: $71,736.00
• Annual electricity savings: 1,072,434.20 kWh
• Annual CO2 savings: 1,032 tonnes
• Incentives received: BBP ($29,062.00)

Casa DelZotto

• Project cost: $73,163.00
• Annual electricity savings: 253,999 kWh
• Annual CO2 savings: 244 tonnes
• Incentives received:BBP ($28,000.00)

Casa Abruzzo

• Project cost: $106,260.00
• Annual electricity savings: 973,761.60 kWh
• Annual CO2 savings: 937 tonnes
• Incentives received: BBP ($40,075.00)

About the City of Toronto

Toronto is Canada’s largest city and sixth largest government, and home to a diverse population of about 2.6 million people. It is the economic engine of Canada and one of the greenest and most creative cities in North America. Toronto has won numerous awards for quality, innovation and efficiency in delivering public services. Toronto’s government is dedicated to prosperity, opportunity and livability for all its residents.

For more information please contact:

Better Buildings Partnership
Tel: 416-392-1500
bbp@toronto.ca

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