Toronto Looking to Make Energy Audits a Requirement for City Programs and More

In mid-December 2021 Toronto City Council adopted the TransformTO Net Zero Strategy which aims to achieve net zero emissions in the city by 2040. This plan targets a variety of sectors including existing buildings.

Toronto hopes to steer towards a greener future.

How This May Affect Your Building

As part of this strategy they have published the Net Zero Existing Buildings Strategy (see Further Reading for link to full document) which describes a set of changes and actions the city plans to take to assess existing building performance against benchmarks and to inform building owners of action required to meet those goals.

The table below is from the Net Zero Existing Buildings Strategy (mobile users will need to scroll horizontally to view the whole table):

No.	Action
3.1	Require buildings to demonstrate that an energy audit or RCx has been recently completed (i.e. within two years) as a prerequisite for participation in City programs, as well as those offered by other key partners (e.g. Enbridge, Toronto Hydro, IESO) Ensure energy auditors are certified and/or recognized by the City of Toronto as qualified service providers Ensure audits include the identification of potential measures to improve occupant health and overall building resilience alongside potential energy and emissions reduction improvements (e.g. indoor air quality testing, air tightness testing, etc.)
3.2	Require buildings subject to performance requirements (see Section 3.2.2) to demonstrate that they have undergone an energy audit and that results have been incorporated into a “Retrofit Roadmap” that identifies how upgrades necessary to meet performance requirements will be aligned with conventional assessment and capital planning processes Roadmaps should provide a summary and timeline of planned upgrades over a minimum of 10-15 years, and demonstrate how capital planning/renewals will be aligned with future performance requirements Roadmaps should also highlight co-benefit measures beyond traditional energy management (e.g. embodied carbon, resilience, health, equity) Building owners with lower capacity should be provided support in developing Roadmaps via subsidized Retrofit Coordinator services Potential exemptions from this requirement include: Demonstration via EWRB data that the building already meets upcoming performance requirements for the next 15 years Instances where the results of a previous energy audit/RCx investigation are in the process of being implemented, making a new audit/RCx premature Projects that can demonstrate achievement of one of the following certifications, and where the most recent calendar year EUI does not deviate by more than 15% from the EUI at the time of certification: LEED Gold or Platinum O+M (with an ENERGY STAR Score of 75, if available), ILFI Living Building, Petal (including Energy Petal), or Net Zero Energy certifications Passive House EnerPHit, or Canada Green Building Council’s Zero Carbon Building-Performance certification
3.3	Require approved audits and updates to be completed at change of use/ownership and before all major renovations Consider exemptions as noted above, as well as for buildings that have been recently subject to the same requirements as a result of their reported EWRB performance
3.4	Use the information and data provided in audit reports to inform future performance targets and direct additional support to poorly performing buildings

As per Actions 3.1 and 3.3 energy audits may soon become necessary before joining city and utility programs as well as before receiving permits for major renovations and change of use and ownership.

How We Can Help

Mann Energy Solutions is a professional consulting engineering company that specializes in energy management, including energy audits, mechanical/electrical engineering and implementation and has experience working with different government levels, utilities, and service providers. We are experts at helping clients realize the highest value for their retrofit investments, and selecting the right incentives for their projects.

Some of our services include:

• Free site walk-through by our experienced engineers and technicians to provide an initial site assessment

• Engineering feasibility studies

• Incentive study and application

• Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) for a turnkey project

For more information or a complimentary assessment contact us through the main site, info@mannenergysolutions.com, or call (416) 201 9109 x 158.

Further Reading

1. The City of Toronto - TransformTO

2. The City of Toronto - Net Zero Existing Buildings Strategy