Conservation Measures

Deep Retrofit Challenge

York Region piloting Passive House at new facility

A new men's emergency and transitional housing facility, set to rise in Aurora, Ontario, has opened the door to pilot-testing Passive House in York Region.
decarbonization

Canada’s clean energy efforts garner plaudits

The International Energy Agency commends Canada's targets and policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and identifies it as a potential key player in the transition to low-carbon energy sources
healthcare facilities 

Guidelines inform resilient healthcare facilities 

Newly released guidelines offer a standard for approaching the planning and designing of healthcare facilities from a resiliency perspective.
healthy

How to provide healthy environments & meet climate goals

Three key lessons for making buildings energy- and carbon-efficient and healthy.
COVID-19 prompts fine-tune for effective benchmarking

A fine-tune for effective benchmarking

The 2021 versions of REALPAC's normalization methodologies for calculating energy- and water-use intensity address issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and lower occupant densities in office buildings.
campus

Campus high-rise brings health to new heights

Dingy is a word that conjures thoughts of old institutional spaces. Academic buildings with dimly-lit hallways and windowless classrooms punctured with fluorescent glare. Rarely are
status quo stymies innovative retrofit options

Status quo stymies innovative retrofit options

Prevailing approaches for incentivizing, financing and implementing retrofit projects deemed unlikely to propel the existing building inventory to net-zero emissions by 2050.
Indigenous hub

Purpose-built Indigenous hub will be Ontario first

Construction is officially underway on what will be Ontario's first mixed-use, purpose-built Indigenous hub in the West Don Lands of Toronto.
Retrofit proponents must contribute 20 per cent equity capital to tap into the Canada Infrastructure Bank's fund for commercial buildings

Retrofit funds tied to equity capital prereq

Retrofit proponents unable to contribute at least $6.25 million in equity capital will have to look to third-party interveners in order to tap into the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s $2-billion fund for commercial buildings.
net zero

Reaching net zero in the age of COVID-19

Optimizing ventilation and air handling systems is key to achieving net zero energy performance goals.
Indigenous

Indigenous voices hushed in planning processes

Indigenous communities across Canada continue to be sidelined or completely excluded from initial planning phases of new developments and renovations.
Residential energy use re-emerges in Ontario's CDM plans

Heat is on for electricity demand projections

Electricity demand projections through the vaccination rollout period should take two contradictory factors into account, energy management specialists affirm.
Commercial customer's grapple with Ontario's electricity cost allocation

Parsing Ontario’s electricity cost allocation

After a year of operational upheaval and more modifications to electricity pricing policies, BOMA Toronto’s annual workshop to address the complexities of the global adjustment had a lot of ground to cover.
zero carbon

Ottawa hockey facility a zero carbon first

How AMPED Sports Lab and Ice Complex in Ottawa, Ontario, became the first Zero Carbon Building Performance Standard certified arena.
FM

Pandemic intensifies evolving role of FM

Facility managers are no longer viewed as a back-office function, but rather “a strategic instrument to attract and retain talent and create a great experience,”
Fossil fuel fired cogeneration systems to lose eligibility for accelerated capital cost allowance

Cogeneration systems to lose tax enticement

The 2021 federal budget adds some clean energy equipment to immediately qualify for accelerated capital cost allowance, and names various combined heat and power applications to be delisted after 2023.
low-carbon

Can purchases help reverse global warming?

When considering products with recycled content, pay attention to the types of recycled materials that are in them.