Energy@Work's December Newsletter: News and Views


The Holiday Challenge presents an opportunity for Landlords and Tenants to increase awareness around wasted electricity and reduce kWh use during the holiday period.

This year’s 4th annual challenge will help raise awareness on, and mitigate, how much electricity is wasted over the holidays due to:

  • systems continuing to run when not needed,

  • lighting remaining on, particularly accent and interior lobby lighting,

  • TV screens and monitors have off switches which are rarely used in lieu of “standby mode”,

  • exercise equipment in the “Ready” mode but sitting idle,

  • plug load, or what is commonly called “Phantom Power”, is a huge opportunity.

Watch Energy@Work’s video for “Tips and Tricks” to reduce electricity waste over the holidays!

The challenge is taking place between:

6:00 PM Friday, December 17th, 2021 and 6:00 AM Tuesday, January 4th, 2022.

Stay tuned for results from this year’s challenge!

For additional suggestions on what you can do at home visit NRCan’s Guide to an Energy Efficient Holiday Season!

Any questions/comments can be directed to: holidaychallenge@energy-efficiency.com


Big thanks to Kerry Johnston for inviting Energy@Work to present to students in energy management and sustainability programs at Humber College. It was a great opportunity to welcome young professionals to the Energy Management industry and to share keys to succeed!

We had the opportunity to share some best practices and to outline our approaches and successes using measurement and verification (M&V). We completed the presentation by demonstrating our use of the recently released RETScreen Version 8.1 and shared real life examples of what Energy@Work’s clients achieved, even during the pandemic. RETScreen V 8.1 is quickly becoming an essential energy management tool within the commercial sector.

Presentations of this nature are great for students hoping to enter the industry after graduating. With a full curriculum, practical application of what’s being taught can be difficult to determine. We are appreciative of the opportunity to connect with the students of Humber and encourage others to collaborate as well
- students are our future!


An Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) plan is a key component to building planning and operation, as was well outlined in this Commercial Observer article.

People are becoming increasingly environmentally conscience. Tenants looking to rent a space are considering the impact of the building on the environment, the community, and their personal health. By establishing a strong ESG plan, a building has the upper hand on the market.

Working together and uniting ESG material values will deliver a greener and more efficient building. It will also be necessary to provide the level of assurance that occupants demand.

Many improvements to create a “greener” building are available for low or no-cost or have a short payback period.

One of the most significant opportunities for savings is increasing the efficiency of building HVAC systems, which represents about 40 percent of energy use in most commercial buildings.”

Not only does an ESG plan make sense on an economic level, for attracting tenants, but it also creates a healthier building and supports Ontario’s goal of reducing GHG emissions to 65% below 1990 levels by 2030.

Lisa Liang is a Certified Sustainability (ESG) Practitioner and is creating ESG plans. Contact us to get started!


The November GA cost is $0.51 billion. This is an 11% increase from October’s GA (it was $0.46 billion), however, half of last year’s cost.

Energy@Work provides a regular review of GAM cost and continues to ask “why?” and, this time, why did it drop almost in half? 

GAM costs are largely Nuclear (OPG and non-OPG). However, Conservation and Demand Management (CDM) continues to be reported as the reason for GAM.

The reality is that CDM investment was slashed by 2/3 in the 2021-24 budget. This drastic reduction was noticed by the Canadian Efficiency Alliance 

Score Card:
https://www.scorecard.efficiencycanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Ontario-1.pdf

With less support for Energy Efficiency, it is important to develop your own Energy Management Action Plan or E-MAP and include a Global Adjustment strategy.

Energy@Work’s services includes a “GAM coach”. We maintain the importance of a GAM Strategy for either Class A or Class B in order to win the (GAM)e. Our collective savings have exceeded $10 million.


On December 15th the City of Toronto announced their decision to adopt a strategy to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions in the community- to reach net zero by 2040!

This strategy- one of the most ambitious in North America, will affect all building types. Buildings with an implemented ESG plan, which we see underway by a lot of companies, will already have their goals aligned with the CoT and will be prepared for the upcoming changes. This announcement can be seen as both a potential opportunity and risk mitigation strategy.

Thanks to your continued support, Energy@Work has been able to provide feedback to the city via the BOMA Toronto Energy Committee. The committee submitted a letter providing comments to ensure practical, constructive changes are made and to avoid the addition of unnecessary hurdles or barriers. It is important that BOMA remains part of the consultation to ensure the future requirements are assertive but also practical and, more importantly – consistent. 

There has been considerable ‘Greenwashing’ that erodes the great work that real leaders are achieving, as well as false claims by some on “miracle solutions”. Changes need to be impactful as well as realistic. 


We were able to provide the same type of feedback in relation to the EWRB O.Reg 506/18 to avoid a punitive penalty or an additional reporting requirement, and the Ministry listened!

Details on the City of Toronto’s decision will slowly emerge but will include items such as:
Targets:
30 per cent by 2020, 45 per cent by 2025, 65 per cent by 2030, net zero by 2040
Performance Targets:
Establish performance targets for existing buildings across Toronto

We will keep you posted as details emerge and, as always, we welcome your input and comments so that we can better represent the ‘customer’ perspective when it comes down to operational requirements.

City of Toronto approved:
Net Zero by 2040: City Council adopts ambitious climate strategy



Stay tuned, stay connected and stay safe!

We thank everyone that has provided feedback and for your comments: positive and negative!

We appreciate to hear your thoughts and welcome your feedback on how we can improve and/or include other areas of interest to you: Please email: Requests@Energy-Efficiency.com

Thank You:
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Energy@Work