Page 11 - U4SSC Case study: Energy efficiency in buildings, June 2020

Table 2: Policy Impacts to DLWC, DHR and DE in Toronto
Policy City of Toronto Energy Strategy
Description The City of Toronto requires that developers applying for an Official Plan Amendment,
Zoning By-Law Amendment, or Plan of Subdivision for a development with a total gross
floor area of 20 000 m or more submit an ‘Energy Strategy’ that evaluates opportunities
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to use sustainable energy, including low-carbon thermal energy networks.
Reason for Requiring developers to prepare an Energy Strategy ensures developers consider low-
Development carbon energy solutions that may not be part of their business-as-usual approach early
in the planning process. This approach facilitates integrating renewable energy, energy
sharing, enhanced resiliency, and more innovative solutions into community design from
the start.
Impact on The Energy Strategy has generated more interest from developers in holistic, innovative,
District low-carbon solutions, including DLWC, DHR, district-scale geothermal energy, and
Energy microgrids.
Policy Ontario Building Code
Description The Ontario Building Code establishes the design requirements for constructing a building
in the province of Ontario.
Reason for Its primary purpose is to ensure that buildings are safe, but it also includes minimum
Development energy efficiency requirements.
Impact on The Ontario Building Code references a modelling approach to evaluate energy efficiency
District that does not consider the impact of any energy supplied from a district system. A
Energy flaw in this approach is that a building with its own 90% efficient condensing boilers
can be modelled as more efficient than the reference building, but buildings using
400% efficient geothermal heating from a district system are modelled the same as the
reference building.
Policy Toronto Green Standard
Description The Toronto Green Standard sets minimum energy, carbon, and environmental
requirements for buildings being developed in Toronto. It also establishes more ambitious
voluntary targets which, if met, qualify developers for a substantial rebate on their
development charges.
Reason for The latest version of the Toronto Green Standard maps out a path to meet the
Development TransformTO goal of achieving net zero carbon development by 2030. As part of this goal,
it encourages using low-carbon thermal energy networks.
Impact on While the building code establishes minimum requirements that many developers exceed
District anyway, the latest version of the Toronto Green Standard is much more ambitious and has
Energy pushed the market to a new level of energy performance. It also includes a carbon metric
for the first time, which is creating additional interest in low-carbon solutions such as DHR.
Digitisation has been key in advancing the benefits of DLWC. In 2017, Enwave executed the first phase
of a fully automated dispatch strategy that uses real-time data on weather, utility pricing, equipment
availability and efficiency to optimize the use of its cooling and storage assets. Enwave also recently
upgraded energy metering within connected buildings to improve remote troubleshooting, provide
Wi-Fi connectivity and enable data trending. These advancements enable energy managers to gain a
better understanding building energy efficiency and to improve it. The DLWC system also has 11 MW
of backup generators that make it highly resilient to power outages and provide backup power to the
city’s potable water pumps.

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