Our performance-based approach to energy conservation is paying off for Simcoe Place, a 30-storey downtown Toronto commercial office building built in 1995. Toronto Hydro has prepared a detailed case study of Simcoe Place, outlining the solutions – some comprehensive, some simple and innovative – that resulted in savings of over half a million dollars per year (almost 4 million kilowatt-hours annually). Enerlife is guiding the process at Simcoe Place and, with our help, the building has received Toronto Hydro incentives totalling more than $580,000. The utility company energy experts work side-by-side with the Integrated Building Performance Team – crucial to maximizing incentives funding and to making the business case for improvements.
As always, our process starts with measuring energy use:
When it began to pursue energy savings as part of Cadillac Fairview’s “Green at Work Sustainability Strategy,” Simcoe Place worked with Enerlife Consulting to analyze its energy profile. Systematic reviews of trends and data identified where the building was consuming the most energy. “You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” says General Manager, Nathan Mordaunt. “We were able to calculate the building’s lighting and HVAC load right down to the square foot.”
We focus on operational and controls measures that can deliver significant savings, and that take a team effort to uncover and carry out:
While some projects are more comprehensive, it’s the simple, innovative solutions that Mordaunt finds most compelling. Take the example of a recent transformer optimization project that uncovered that only three of the building’s six transformers were really necessary. “It was a $10,000 project that yielded 400,000 kWh in electricity savings,” says Mordaunt. By cycling the transformers, the lifespan is longer, maintenance is reduced and there has also been a significant drop in cooling costs.
Read the rest of the Toronto Hydro case study here.
Nathan Mordaunt (right), General Manager, Simcoe Place, with Victor da Rosa, Energy Expert, Toronto Hydro
Photo courtesy of Toronto Hydro