Appendix B: Markham Energy Conservation Office Programs and Budget

The priority programs, the budget and the energy efficiency goals of each program are summarized below.

1. Better Building Partnership

The Better Building Partnership (BBP) program will work with private sector energy service companies to promote and implement programs that enhance energy efficiency and building retrofits. The Better Building Partnerships model is operating in the City of Toronto and the Town of Markham will adopt and modify it to fit our needs.

The first target for the BBP will be to determine the needs within the Town buildings and see if there is an opportunity to achieve conservation goals and emission targets in our facilities. The BBP will work across the commercial, industrial and institutional sectors providing turnkey solutions to retrofit buildings using state-of-the-art energy saving equipment.

Conservation Account Budget: $295,000 over 3 years

Efficiency target: 3,000,000 kWh of savings ($330,000 @ year)

2. Advancing High Performance Buildings

High performance building development is defined as using an integrated approach to the design, construction and operation of a structure to minimize negative impacts on the environment and human health. The first approval for development starts with the municipality. Markham has a unique opportunity to promote and accommodate Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in the planning and development process as well as in our own building projects.

The High Performance Building Development program will promote green building projects, provide links to technical assistance, establish partnerships for funding and encourage the growth of high performance buildings.

Conservation Account Budget: $285,000 over 3 years

Efficiency target: 1,250,000 kWh of savings ($137,000 @ year)

3. Bringing “Cool Shops” to Markham

In larger urban centres, the Clean Air Foundation has launched a program to encourage small business and retailers to implement energy conservation efforts. The Cool Shops program offers site-specific energy audits, including recommendations on how to save money, immediate installations of quick initiatives that save money, access to implementation partners who provide additional energy efficiency financing and access to incentives.

The Markham Energy Conservation Office will work with the Clean Air Foundation to develop a self-financing Cool Shop pilot program in Markham focusing on the small business community.

Conservation Account Budget: $175,000 over 3 years

Efficiency target: 1,200,000 kWh of savings ($132,000 @ year)

4. Combined Utility Metering Pilot

This project will integrate the collection of information for each residential utility – district energy, gas, power and water into one utility meter. The metering information from each utility would be available to each resident through a dedicated Internet site and in real-time.

As the cost to purchase utilities increases, providing real-time information on energy consumption is believed to be one of the best ways to change consumer behavior and encourage conservation. The Province of Ontario is moving forward with a plan to install 800,000 Smart Meters by 2007 and 4 million by 2010. However, the Smart Meter project will not provide “real-time” information. The Combined Utility Metering Pilot project would be the first of its kind in Ontario. There are a number of regulatory and commercial issues to be addressed as part of the pilot. These include the implications of the Smart Meter program and the ability to communicate consumption information from all four utilities back to the consumer in real-time and in a format that encourages conservation. If successful, the Combined Utility Metering Pilot could become the model for all new development in Markham and across the Province.

It is estimated that providing “real-time” access to consumers could influence a load reduction of 5% during peak periods. Part of the pilot project will involve comparing the conservation and demand management attributes of the Combined Utility Metering Pilot with the standard Smart Meter installation.

Conservation Account Budget: $105,000 over 2 years

Efficiency target: 160,000 kWh of savings ($17,600 @ year)

5. Intelligent Monitoring System

The intelligent monitoring system will involve the acquisition of York Region’s Energy and Environmental Management System (EEMS) software. EEMS software is a versatile, web based application that monitors all utilities including electricity, water, gas and fuel. It provides consumption patterns for buildings, transportation systems, streetlights, and water and wastewater facilities. It will rank performance of specific buildings, produces data that is easy to read and factors in weather anomalies. The most important feature of the software is that it tracks emissions using emissions factors for each energy source and can calculate savings and emission reductions.

The Town would purchase the energy management system to establish a proper energy baseline, benchmark facilities and target energy consumption reduction of 10-15%.

Conservation Account Budget: $70,000 over 3 years

Efficiency target: 200,000 kWh of savings ($22,000 @ year)

6. At-Work Energy Conservation Program

Establishing a system to measure current and past energy consumption is the first step to identifying conservation opportunities and reducing energy consumption. The Energy and Environmental Management System (EEMS) software will used to realize this opportunity. The At-Work Energy Conservation Program will encourage and educate employees and their families to conserve at home and on the job.

The Markham ECO will develop an effective energy awareness program for municipal employees and expand the campaign to other interested members of the Markham community. The program will be developed based on the E3@Work and E3@Home models. E3@Work is an educational program designed to conserve energy by managing office equipment power loads. E3@Home is an educational program that follows the strategies of E3@Work but focuses on how employees can reduce their residential energy costs.

Conservation Account Budget: $70,000 over 3 years

Efficiency target: 800,000 kWh of savings ($88,000 @ year)

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