Project Address

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Bayview Campus
2075 Bayview Ave, Toronto

Key Contacts

Laura Bristow, Communications Advisor,
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Laura.Bristow@Sunnybrook.ca

Project Background

As a teaching hospital, Sunnybrook leads by innovation and learning in both their medical practices and the maintenance of their three campuses. Sunnybrook’s environmental principles are part of the organization’s corporate culture.

Desired Outcomes

In an effort to reduce the hospital’s environmental impact and to create safer, more comfortable conditions for patients, staff, and visitors and a greener Toronto, a comprehensive energy efficient retrofit plan was developed for the Bayview Campus. Also, with increasing pressures on the cost of patient care, there was a desire to reduce non-patient care costs such as energy operating costs.

Solution and Results

To help cut operational costs and utility expenses, and reduce environmental impact, Sunnybrook teamed up with Honeywell Energy Solutions to implement a $28 million facility renewal program. The renewal program included the installation of new lighting and heating, ventilation and cooling equipment, and has ongoing plans to make improvements to mechanical and building automation systems.

Sunnybrook also accomplished an innovative solar photovoltaic installation. More than 140 solar panels spanning two stories of a parking garage were installed and are expected to generate nearly 27,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually – enough energy to power 150 medical ventilators. Serving as a visual reminder of the hospital’s commitment to conserving energy, and producing clean renewable energy, the solar panels are mounted vertically on the wall of the parking garage. In addition, a display near the parking garage educates visitors and staff on photovoltaic technology, and provides real-time information on power generation and carbon emissions reduction.

Sunnybrook engaged with the City of Toronto’s Better Buildings Partnership to determine the availability of zero interest loans through the City’s Sustainable Energy Funds (SEF) and incentive grants through BBP’s Energy Conservation program. Since the overall project included both energy conservation measures and a renewable energy installation, the hospital was able to arrange loans through both available SEF loan funds – the Toronto Energy Conservation Fund and the Toronto Green Energy Fund to a total of $1.78 million, in addition to BBP incentives of almost $960,000 for energy savings achieved.

Upon completion, the facility renewal program is expected to result in cost savings of approximately $2.6 million per year and reduce annual greenhouse emissions by an estimated 10,000 tonnes, the equivalent of taking over 2,000 cars off the road per year.

Project Snapshot

Energy Conservation

• Project Cost: $26,400,000
• Annual electricity savings: 10,500,000  kWh
• Electricity demand reduction: 787 kW
• Annual cost savings: $2.6  million
• Annual CO₂ savings: 10,000 tonnes
• Incentives received: BBP $960,000
• Toronto Energy Conservation Fund zero interest loan: $1 Million
• Simple Payback: 10 years

Solar Panels

• Project Cost: $ 1,605,000
• Annual electricity generated : 111,500 kWh
• Annual ‘Feed in Tariff’ revenue: $80,000 approx
• Toronto Green Energy Fund zero interest loan $787,000
• Simple Payback: 20   years

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

Click here to download this case study in a PDF format

PROJECT ADDRESS

Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Health Complex
600 University Avenue, Toronto, On

KEY CONTACT

Altaf Stationwala – Senior Vice President, Operations and Redevelopment, Mount Sinai Hospital

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) is one of Canada’s leading academic health science centres affiliated with the University of Toronto. It is recognized internationally for its excellence in the provision of compassionate patient care, innovative teaching and research. MSH has taken a leadership role in environmental sustainability, and has made a commitment to reduce its environmental footprint through energy conservation and a reduction of energy use.

Desired Outcomes

After almost 35 years, the Hospital’s conventional chiller was due to be replaced. When MSH looked at the cost and environmental impact of a new conventional system versus Enwave’s deep-lake cooling system, the business case was clear. A 20-year forecast revealed that energy costs using chillers would reach $13.5 million; whereas the cost of using Enwave is $10 million – an accumulated cost savings of $3.5 million.

Solution and Results

To achieve the goal of energy conservation and reduction, MSH converted to the Enwave Deep Lake Water Cooling (DLWC) program, providing participants with chilled water through an underground piping distribution network, instead of cooling their buildings with in-house chillers.

The primary challenge with this project was the installation of the revised chilled water piping that was required for the system changeover. MSH’s chillers and cooling towers are located on the top of the building, while the Enwave heat exchanger had to be installed in the base of the building.

It was not possible to create an interior piping route from the top of the building to the basement. As a result, Mount Sinai installed a new exterior shaft along the south face of the building in order to run the piping from the chillers and cooling towers down to the heat exchanger.

By removing the chillers and converting to DLWC, MSH will achieve significant economic and environmental savings. The costs of purchasing new transformers and the replacement costs of chillers will now be avoided, resulting in savings of about $600,000. By converting to DLWC, MSH is helping to free up over 61 megawatts of electricity from the city’s electrical grid, equal to the energy needed for 6,800 homes annually. Over the next 20 years, the conversion will result in $3.5 million in energy cost savings.

Removing the chillers from the facility has created additional space for infrastructure upgrades, now being used to house energy power diesel generators; a critical upgrade that would not have been possible without removing the chillers. Removing the chillers also reduces the amount of waste produced by MSH, with no need to dispose of the unit at the end of its useful life. BBP provided an added incentive to Mount Sinai Hospital’s Enwave project, helping to ease the initial investment in the Enwave technology, giving the Hospital a one-time grant of over $722,000.

PROJECT SNAPSHOT

• Project cost: $ $6,077,431
• Annual electricity savings: 2,400,000 kWh
• Annual CO2 Savings: 2,309 tonnes
• BBP incentives received: $722,693

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

Click here to download this case study in a PDF format

Project Address

200 Lonsdale Rd, Toronto, ON

Key Contacts

Stephen Thuringer, Director of Facilities, Upper Canada College
Peter Colasante, Operations Manager, Upper Canada College

Project Background

Located in the heart of Toronto, Upper Canada College (UCC) is a 181 year-old independent boys school. The UCC campus is set on 38.5 acres, comprising more than 500,000 sq feet of mixed-use space in 16 buildings, built between 1898 and 2008. The campus includes a twin-pad arena, swimming pool, three gyms and seven sports fields. UCC has a student population of 1,156 with 86 boarders and 16 families living on-campus. The 16 buildings are a challenge to upgrade and retrofit for increased energy efficiency due to the wide range in age and various construction types.

Challenges

 To assist in addressing these challenges, UCC launched its Green School Master Plan in 2001, to renew its facilities while improving energy performance and reducing its environmental footprint as well as integrating sustainability and environmental stewardship into the school’s culture and curriculum.

During the first two years of UCC’s Green School program, many small energy efficiency projects were completed, but it became necessary to focus on larger projects requiring outside sources of funding.

Solution and Results

UCC sought the assistance of the Better Buildings Partnership’s (BBP) MASH program for its larger projects. BBP was a valuable resource for UCC in both quantifying a project’s immediate impact on energy consumption and providing financial support to enable the various projects.

UCC has worked with BBP to complete numerous energy efficiency projects, to assist with its commitment to its Green School Master Plan. UCC’s hockey arena and sports complex was designed to be sustainable, and is working towards gold-level LEED certification. To reduce energy consumption from heating in the arena and sports complex, UCC installed geothermal heating beneath a nearby playing field, which provides the heat supply for the arena and sports complex. Geothermal heating assists in reducing the complex’s energy use by 35 to 40 per cent annually.

BBP also assisted UCC in completing a number of energy efficiency projects, including the replacement of the 1000-watt metal halide lights with 400-watt metal halide lights for three of the school’s gymnasiums. This resulted in reducing energy use by more than 50 per cent. UCC has also undertaken other energy efficient projects, such as the installation of compact fluorescents, LED Lighting, occupancy sensors, and has converted its electric hot wat er heaters to natural gas hot water heaters. As well, the school installed variable frequency drives and implemented energy efficient rooftop heating and cooling units.

“The BBP helps identify potential projects, clarifies the scope of the work, assists in filing the applications,verifies the outcome and provides resources to offset costs,” said Stephen Thuringer, Director of Facilities, UCC. “They are truly a unique enabler for environmental projects that benefit our entire community and beyond.”

With its ongoing commitment to the Green School Master Plan, UCC looks forward to completing further green projects with BBP. 

Project snapshot

New Construction & Geothermal heating

• Project cost: $300,000
• Annual electricity savings: 946,809 kWh
• Annual cost savings: $123,241
• Annual CO₂ savings:  555.13 tonnes CO₂
• Estimated BBP Ground Source Heat Pump Incentive: $50,560
• Estimated BBP New Construction Incentive: $44,040.50
• Total Estimated New Construction Incentives: $94,600.50

Domestic Hot Water Conversion (Electric to Gas), Variable Frequency Drives, Occupancy Sensors, Energy Efficient Roof Top Replacement and Lighting Retrofit

• Project cost: $306,600
• Annual electricity savings: 1,322,999 kWh
• Annual cost savings: $132,299
• Annual CO₂ savings:  1,273 tonnes CO₂
• Estimated BBP Incentives: $ 113,542

About the City of Toronto

Toronto is Canada’s largest city, with the 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

Click here to download this case study in a PDF format

Toronto Board of Trade.

For more information contact (416) 392-1500 or email us at bbp@toronto.ca

Project Address

Humber College – North Campus
205 Humber College Blvd., Toronto, Ontario

Key Contacts

Carol Anderson, Director of Facilities, Humber College Spencer Wood, Manager, Maintenance & Operations, Humber College

Consultant: S.A. Armstrong Ltd

Project Background

Established in 1967, Humber College encompasses three campus locations, representing approximately 2 million square feet. Home to approximately 20,000 full-time, 55,000 part-time and 2,000 apprenticeship students, the college operates 14 hours a day, 6 days per week, for most of the year.

With its facilities continually expanding over the last forty years, Humber College has been a leader in Canada in making long-term commitments to reducing energy for the last decade. Since 2001, Humber College has acted on several opportunities to help reduce the school’s energy consumption, including upgrading to a lighting system that uses motion sensor technology, variable speed drives for fan and pump systems.

In 2006, S.A. Armstrong Ltd. presented the College with an opportunity that would result in substantial cost savings and reductions in energy consumption at the North Campus, and reinforce Humber College’s status as one of Canada’s greenest schools.

Desired Outcomes

With current energy prices trending higher and the possibility of significant increases at any time, Humber College must manage its resources carefully to ensure that facilities are operating as efficiently and as environmentally responsible as possible.

As a proponent against climate change, there is an increased pressure for Humber College to invest in infrastructure upgrades that will reduce its carbon footprint with lower greenhouse gas emissions. According to Peter Love, Chief Energy Conservation Officer with the Ontario Power Authority, “In Canada, 82 per cent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions results from the production and use of energy.”

With the help of S.A. Armstrong Ltd., Humber College sought to reduce the carbon footprint of its North Campus and minimize energy operating costs through an innovative energy efficiency upgrade.

Solution and Results

Humber College developed a $2.8 million program that would see the replacement of the 35-year old chiller system in the North Campus with an innovative system called the Hartman Loop.  They consulted Toronto’s Better Buildings Partnership to access the energy savings incentives that the program offers, enabling the College to do more with its budget.

The installation of the Hartman Loop at North Campus is the first of its kind in Canada. The System uses three new 550-ton chillers in conjunction with integrated plant control technology that is 50 per cent more efficient than the College’s two former chillers that ran on harmful chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).  The installation of the Hartman Loop will reduce energy consumption during periods of decreased College occupancy, and enable cooling earlier and later in the spring and fall.

The installation of the Hartman Loop chiller system resulted in a drastic reduction of the annual electricity consumption at Humber College’s North Campus by 670,000 kWh. Furthermore, the program is expected to trim utility bills by $104,000 per year. Utilizing $157,600 in financial incentives from the Better Buildings Partnership, Humber College has succeeded in reaching a new standard in fiscal and environmental responsibility with the installation of the Hartman Loop technology.

“The existing chiller system was a drain on the environment and our facilities were in serious need of an upgrade,” said Carol Anderson, Humber College’s Director of Facilities. “By replacing the two existing chiller units with the Hartman Loop chiller system, we will reduce our environmental footprint by 645 tonnes of CO² annually – that’s the equivalent of taking 129 cars off the road, or taking 195 homes off the grid.”

Project Snapshot

• Project cost: $3 Million
• Annual electricity savings: 670,000 kWh
• Annual cost savings: $104,000
• Annual greenhouse gas savings: 645 tonnes of CO²
• Incentives received: BBP ($157,600). Includes some lighting retrofits.

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

Click here to download this case study in a PDF format

Project Addresses

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)
252 Bloor St. West

Medical Science Building
1 King’s College Circle

Dentistry Building
124 Edward Street

64 facilities at the St. George Campus Simcoe Hall
27 King’s College Circle

Key contacts

Ron Swail,
Assistant Vice President, Facilities & Services, University of Toronto
Bruce Dodds,
Director of Utilities & Building Operations, University of Toronto

Project Background

Comprising approximately 11 million square feet, University of Toronto’s 180-year-old campus encompasses over 120 buildings averaging 77 years of age.  When a chiller failure led  to the closure of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto one hot summer day in 2004, capital constraints could no longer justify deferring the replacement of the 36-year-old-unit. Recognizing that the breakdown at OISE was a symptom of a much bigger problem, a comprehensive campus-wide retrofit plan was developed.

Challenges

The project strategically paired an essential cooling system upgrade with a major lighting retrofit. Environmental concerns were at issue as some of the existing light fixtures had the original electromagnetic ballasts, possibly containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

18 chillers on campus exceeded their rated service life by 10 to 20 years and had become increasingly expensive to maintain and repair. Moreover, all of the units used a substance containing ozone-layer-damaging chlorofluorocarbons, which posed an environmental liability. A widespread upgrade was urgently required.

Solution and Results

The University accomplished two major deferred maintenance projects valued at nearly $20 million, while providing a continuing positive cash flow to the operating budget through energy savings and savings on maintenance. When incentives from City of Toronto’s Better Buildings Partnership ($467,745.60) and Natural Resources Canada ($250,000), along with a $1.8 million zero interest loan from the City of Toronto’s Sustainable Energy Funds (also through Better Buildings Partnership) were factored in, the combined projects carried an overall payback of 14 years.

The chiller retrofits resulted in annual cost savings of $330,000 and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 800 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.

The lighting upgrade translated into annual cost savings of approximately $970,000 and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 11,544 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Project Snapshot

• Annual electricity savings: 12 GWh
• Annual cost savings: $1.3 million
• Annual CO2 savings: 11,544 tonnes
• Annual peak electrical demand reduction: 4.2 megawatts (MW)  (10 to 15 per cent of the campus load)
• Incentives received: BBP ($467,745.60); Natural Resources Canada ($250,000); Toronto Sustainable Energy Funds ($1.8 million as zero interest loan)

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

Click here to download this case study in a PDF format

Project Address

825 Coxwell Avenue. Toronto ON

Key Contact

Project Manager: Betty Best, Toronto East General Hospital

Project Background

Toronto East General Hospital (TEGH) is a large urban community teaching hospital serving a diverse, multi-cultural population of 400,000, representing over 45 cultural and linguistic groups in East Toronto. Home to 2,600 employees, and 400 physicians and midwives, TEGH annually admits 20,000 acute care inpatients, delivers 3,500 babies, has over 60,000 emergency visits and provides service to over 220,000 outpatients.

Originally built in 1929, TEGH has grown from a 110-bed general hospital to a 515-bed full service healthcare facility. After 80 years of expansion, TEGH was ready for an infrastructure renewal program that would significantly reduce energy and water consumption.

In 2006, the TEGH partnered with Honeywell to begin an extensive energy savings and facility renewal program, centered on infrastructure upgrades that would reduce its carbon footprint, resulting in substantial cost savings.

Desired Outcomes

As a publicly funded institution, TEGH must manage its resources carefully to ensure that its facilities are operating as efficiently as possible. Faced with an aging infrastructure, and utility prices trending higher, (with the possibility of significant increases at any time) there is an increased pressure on institutions to reduce the risk of unanticipated future costs.

“We started out with the goal of improving our facilities while being fiscally and environmentally responsible,” said Rob Devitt, President and CEO, Toronto East General Hospital.

With the help of Honeywell, TEGH wanted to develop a program that would use the energy cost savings to pay for the work, creating a self-funded renewal program with minimal risk.

Solution and Results

TEGH developed a $9.5-million (CAD) energy savings and facility renewal program, centered on infrastructure upgrades that will help the hospital reduce energy and water consumption. Toronto’s Better Buildings Partnership and Toronto Water were consulted to potentially access the energy and water savings incentives that the programs offer, enabling the hospital to do more with its budget. The projects implemented included:

• Power quality improvements
• Lighting redesign
• Variable speed drives on cooling towers
• Improved building envelope
• Replacement of leaky steam traps
• Chiller plant upgrade
• Replacement of plumbing fixtures
• Replacement of medical vacuum pumps
• New boiler draft controls
• Installation of a new building automation system (BAS)

“The program is going to save a substantial amount of energy and water annually — a major achievement for the hospital,” adds Devitt. “The program is expected to trim utility bills by $880,000 per year while creating a better, more modern environment for our patients, physicians and staff. In addition, we’ve reduced our environmental footprint by nearly 3,000 tonnes of CO2 annually – that’s the equivalent of taking 475 cars off the road.”

The energy efficient upgrades to the hospital’s facilities resulted in 3,108,335 kWh of annual electricity savings, and an annual greenhouse gas savings of nearly 3,000 tonnes of CO2. By replacing plumbing fixtures and medical vacuum pumps, as well as eliminating city water waste in the cooling equipment, the hospital will save 114,471 m³ of water annually; enough water to fill about 40 Olympic-size swimming pools.

In reducing annual utility costs and utilizing financial incentives of $241,901 from the Better Buildings Partnership, $130,538 from Toronto Water and $47,000 from Enbridge, TEGH has succeeded in lowering the payback period to just 9.5 years, reaching a new standard in fiscal and environmental responsibility.

Project Snapshot

• Project cost: $9.5 Million
• Annual electricity savings: 3,108,335 kWh
• Annual cost savings: $880,000
• Annual CO2 savings: nearly 3,000 tonnes of CO2
• Annual water savings: 114,471 m3
• Incentives received: BBP ($241,901); Toronto Water ($130,538); Enbridge ($47,000)
• Payback period: less than 10 years

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

Click here to download this case study in a PDF format

Project Address

82 Buttonwood Avenue, Toronto, ON

Key Contacts

Building Manager: Michael Bonnah, Director Operations and Logistics, West Park Healthcare Centre

Project Background

Toronto’s West Park Healthcare Centre began its journey to improve energy efficiency on the 27-acre campus of its rehabilitation, complex continuing care and long-term care facility in 1986. The hospital provides 487 beds to patients who are overcoming health barriers, to help them live the fullest lives possible. West Park employs 920 healthcare staff, and operates 24 hours a day, seven days per week.

With its ongoing commitment to energy conservation, West Park was interested in additional ways to reduce its electrical demand and environmental footprint through energy-efficiency retrofits. Following an engineering review in 2008 conducted by HH Angus and Associates, an opportunity to improve the cooling system was presented that would garner significant savings.

The engineering study revealed the need to replace an outdated, 30-year-old chiller that would annually reduce West Park’s environmental footprint by 127 tonnes of CO₂ and air-conditioning use by an estimated 37 per cent.

Desired Outcomes

Over the years, West Park has incrementally reduced its electrical demand and carbon footprint to be a leader in energy conservation. Both staff and patients share in the hospital’s advocacy for environmental stewardship and West Park has received several awards to recognize their long-term commitment to conserving energy.

As a respected healthcare facility within the community, West Park must continue to manage its resources carefully to ensure that the hospital maximizes its efficiency.

Solution and Results

For its most recent retrofit project, West Park teamed up with the City of Toronto’s Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) to upgrade the cooling system. The BBP facilitated the replacement of West Park’s outdated, 30-year-old chiller with two smaller, energy-efficient units that better matched the building’s needs and allowed the hospital to cut their air conditioning energy use by 37 per cent. With the overall project costing more than $1 million, the BBP helped to offset the expense by providing an incentive of $47,480.00 based on demand savings of 118.7 kW.

West Park has been serving the communities of Toronto and Ontario for over 100 years. During that time, the hospital has greatly reduced its impact on the environment by consistently implementing solutions to improve its energy management. In continuing their commitment to energy conservation, Michael Bonnah was appointed as the Chief Energy Conservation Officer in May 2009 to oversee West Park’s ongoing journey to improve energy efficiency.

Project Snapshot

• Project cost: $1,419,342.00
• Annual electricity savings: 118.7 kW
• Annual cost savings: 37% of electrical energy use related to cooling
• Annual CO2 savings: 127 tonnes of CO₂
• Incentives received: BBP ($47,480.00)
• Payback period: over ten years

About Better Buildings Partnership

The Better Buildings Partnership is an innovative partnership program that provides resources including financial assistance, to help energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in building renewal and construction in multifamily buildings, industrial, commercial, and institutional buildings. The BBP’s primary goal is to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions which come from the energy used to heat, light, cool and operate buildings.

For more information please contact:

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

Click here to download this case study in a PDF format

Project Addresses

Centre for Creative Communications
951 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto, ON

Astonbee Campus
75 Astonbee Rd. Toronto, ON

Progress Campus
941 Progress Avenue, Toronto, ON

HP Science and Technology Centre
755 Morningside Avenue, Toronto, ON

Key Contacts

Property Manager: Tyrone Gangoo, Manager, Plant Services, Facilities & Services, Centennial College

Project Background

Toronto’s Centennial College encompasses four campuses and five satellite locations, representing approximately 1.082 million square feet. Home to some 12,500 full-time and 25,000 part-time students, the college operates 14 hours a day, 6 days per week, for most of the year.

With the majority of its facilities built in the 1970’s and 1980’s, Centennial College was well positioned to reduce their energy costs and carbon footprint through energy efficient retrofits.

Following an energy audit conducted in 2004 by Toronto Hydro Energy Services Inc, several opportunities for improvement were presented that would result in substantial cost savings, including power factor correction and an energy efficient lighting retrofit.

Desired Outcomes

As a publicly funded institution, Centennial College must manage its resources carefully to ensure that facilities are operating as efficiently and as environmentally responsible as possible. With energy prices trending higher and the possibility of significant increases at any time, there is an increased pressure on institutions to reduce the risk of unanticipated future costs. With these things in mind, and a need to not disrupt classes in the process, Centennial College sought to reduce the carbon footprint of its sites and minimize energy operating costs, through energy efficiency upgrades.

Solution and Results

Centennial College evaluated several energy efficiency projects on four campuses, including the cost involved and the time it would take to achieve payback on investment. Toronto’s Better Buildings Partnership was consulted to potentially access the energy savings incentives that the program offers, enabling the college to do more with its budget. The projects implemented included:

• Retrofitting existing T-12 lighting to more energy efficient T-8 technology without sacrificing lighting levels, replacing 4,278 fixtures (mostly HID and incandescent) with higher efficiency alternative fixtures in three campuses and one residence.
• Introduced ultrasonic occupancy sensors at three sites.
• At 941 Progress Avenue Campus, converted the fan system to variable frequency drives to better match fan operation to air quality and comfort needs, and replaced the electric hot water heater with a high-efficiency natural gas boiler.
• Fine-tuned existing Building Automation Systems to optimize efficiency of new measures.
• Installed capacitor banks to improve power factor at all buildings.

As Tyrone Gangoo, Manager, Plant Services, Facilities & Services, Centennial College points out, “We have an annual energy budget of approximately $2 million and we expect to see savings of about 10% annually from all the implemented improvements – lowering the payback period to just 3.1 years. In addition, we’ve reduced our environmental footprint by 1,420 tonnes of CO2 annually – that’s the equivalent of taking 284 cars off the road.”

The energy efficient upgrades to Centennial College’s facilities resulted in 1,433,608 kWh of annual electricity savings, 19,598 m3 of annual natural gas savings, and an annual greenhouse gas savings of 1,420 tonnes of CO2. These reductions translate into an annual cost savings of $196,055. The payback period of 3.1 years was accomplished with the assistance of a $129,201 incentive received from the Better Buildings Partnership and a $11,951 incentive from Enbridge.

All measures were accomplished without any disruption in classes, mainly by taking advantage of summer break. Already the retrofit to newer, more efficient T-8 technology and the introduction of occupancy sensors to better manage lighting use are delivering cost savings as promised.

Project Snapshot

• Project cost: $748,594
• Annual electricity savings: 1,433,608 kWh
• Annual cost savings: $196,055
• Annual natural gas savings: 19,598 m³
• Annual CO2 savings: 1,420 tonnes
• Incentives received: BBP ($129,201) and Enbridge ($11,951)
• Payback period: 3.1 years

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

Click here to download this case study in a PDF format