Energy Conservation and Demand Management Plan

Ontario Regulation 397/11 was created under the Green Energy Act, 2009 and is being phased in over a number of years. 

Phase One

  • The first phase required that Ontario public sector organizations complete a summary template that details the energy consumption, size, age and usage plans of each building they own.
  • The City of Greater Sudbury submitted the first report in July 2013, as required. The report must be updated yearly thereafter.

Phase Two

A public agency shall prepare, publish, make available to the public and implement energy conservation and demand plans or joint plans in accordance with sections 6 and 7 of the Act and with this Regulation.

An energy conservation and demand management plan is composed of two parts as follows:

  • A summary of the public agency’s annual energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for its operations.
  • A description of previous, current and proposed measures for conserving and otherwise reducing the amount of energy consumed by the public agency’s operations and for managing the public agency’s demand for energy, including a forecast of the expected results of current and proposed measures.”

Ontario Regulation 397/11 also requires “confirmation that the energy conservation and demand management plan has been approved by the public agency’s senior management.”

The plan provides a framework to incorporate various initiatives identified in the plan in future operating and capital budgets.

2011 to 2017 Consumption

The City of Greater Sudbury owns and operates more than 600 buildings. Under the provisions of Regulation 397/11, 229 of these require energy and emission monitoring and reporting.

In 2011, these facilities consumed approximately 120eGWh of total energy and produced around 17,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. 

In 2017, these facilities consumed approximately 116eGWh of total energy and produced approximately 11,200 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. That is a decrease of approximately 4000eMWh of total energy produced and 5,800 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. This decrease is mainly due to efficient choices in retrofits.

Energy Conservation Projects

Throughout 2012 to 2017, the City implemented various energy conservation projects that realized energy savings of approximately 9,523,131ekWh or perpetual cost avoidance of $1,201,385 per annum. 

Opportunities for Energy Reduction

To identify other opportunities for energy reduction, the City commissioned 33 facility audits, including Pioneer Manor Long Term Care Facility, Tom Davies Square, various Libraries and various Fire and EMS stations. These audits identified energy conservation measures, as well as solar and street lighting retrofit projects and improvements to waste water treatment plants. 

Energy Use Patterns

Of the 600 city-owned facilities, 229 buildings require energy and emission monitoring and reporting in accordance with Ministry of Energy guidelines. These energy use patterns include utility costs, energy distribution, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy use intensities. The buildings are categorized into the following eleven groups:

  1. Administrative offices and related facilities, including municipal council chambers
  2. Ambulance stations and associated offices and facilities
  3. Community centres
  4. Cultural facilities
  5. Facilities related to the treatment of sewage
  6. Facilities related to the treatment of water
  7. Fire stations and associated offices and facilities
  8. Indoor recreational facilities
  9. Police stations and associated offices and facilities
  10. Public libraries
  11. Storage facilities where equipment or vehicles are maintained, repaired or stored

Moving Forward

Buildings in the CGS’ Leisure Centres categories, including community centres, cultural facilities, indoor recreational facilities and public libraries, have the greatest potential for energy reductions. Together, Leisure Centres and Water & Wastewater Plants accounted for 72% of the City’s total electricity consumption. Buildings in the Leisure Centres categories also accounted for 58% of the natural gas consumption and 55% of total annual green house gas emissions.

As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce energy consumption, the City intends to commission energy audits of the facilities within the Leisure Centres and Water & Wastewater Plants category. These audits would identify energy conservation measures that could contribute to the City’s energy savings.

Energy Team

The City of Greater Sudbury will establish an Energy Team to initiate discussions on how to improve energy efficiencies by identifying opportunities in the following areas:

  • New building construction
  • Technical standards
  • Aging equipment replacement
  • Operating strategies improvement
  • Alternative energy technologies
  • Energy awareness

The Energy Team has the following objectives:

  • Develop strategies to reduce energy consumption
  • Integrate best practices into daily operations
  • Raise awareness of the consumption of energy within each department
  • Track energy reduction

Monitoring and Verification

Monitoring and tracking energy data is a key element of energy management. The City uses Energy & Emission Management Software to measure energy consumption, energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions for municipal buildings and facilities. The system can also report on variances from specific targets, calculate energy use indices and relate energy consumption to building systems.

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