Toronto

Sector: Municipal Government

Carbon Footprint:

> 40,200,000 metric tonnes CO₂e (2004)

TARGETS

>20% reduction in CO₂e on 1990 levels
>15% reduction in energy use in city corporate facilities
>25% corporate energy from renewables

Achievements

>42% Reduction in CO₂e emissions in corporate facilities between 1990 and 1998
> 2% reduction in community CO₂e emissions between 1990 and 1998

Benefits

>$16 - 25 million in cumulative revenue estimated from landfill methane capture
>The Better Buildings Partnership facilitated retrofits in 467 privately owned buildings, saving a total of $102 million in energy costs

Low Carbon Solutions

Background

Located on the northwest shore of Lake Ontario, Toronto is the largest city in Canada with a highly diverse population of 2.4 million. Toronto was one of the first municipal governments in the world to set a greenhouse gas emissions target, pledging in 1990 to reduce its citywide emissions 20%. By 2003, Toronto had far exceeded this goal in its own corporate facilities and operations, reducing emissions by about one million tonnes or 42% from 1990 levels.

The city also helped to found the International Council for Local Environmental Initiative’s (ICLEI) Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) programme, through which five hundred local governments worldwide have made commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

In order to address Toronto’s greenhouse gas emissions, Toronto City Council established the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF) endowing the organization with $23 million, raised through the sale of a piece of public land. This endowment has allowed the fund to finance a wide range of emission reducing projects, resulting in the abatement of 225,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases, and saving the city $17.5 million in cumulative energy and maintenance costs.

TAF now has over a decade of experience. Its projects and innovative financing approaches have provided Toronto with a wealth of benefits: safer and more energy-efficient street and lane lighting; energy efficiency upgrades for city buildings, schools and homes; public transportation for underserved areas; and demonstration of new clean technologies such as solar cells, wind turbines, hybrid electric cars and electric bicycles.

TAF’s success stems from its ability to move projects from ideas to incubation, to piloting, and then wide-scale implementation. ‘The Walking School Bus (a programme that provides adult supervision for children who walk to school) is an excellent example of this,’ says Phil Jessup, Executive Director of TAF. ‘The programme grew from one school, to one neighbourhood, to initiatives across the city.’ The idea has now been implemented across Canada, and there are Walking School Buses in the US, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

TAF also funded the feasibility studies for one of Toronto’s largest green technology projects. The novel $180 million deep lake cooling project uses cold lake water to replace conventional air conditioning in parts of the city. The project will have lifecycle costs half those of conventional air-conditioning systems, use 75-90% less electricity, and allow for significant decreases in the use of fossil fuels and CFC coolants.

The largest drop in Toronto’s greenhouse gas emissions resulted from improvements in waste management activities, a major source of methane. In 1990, about 72% of Toronto’s greenhouse gas emissions came from waste methane escaping from landfills and other parts of its garbage collection system. Since that time, the city has installed piping into three of its largest landfills, to collect methane and route it to power plants, where it can be burned to create electricity. The methane-fuelled generating stations have the capacity to produce about 44 MW of electricity, or the amount that would supply the power needs of about 34,000 typical residences. Landfill gas electricity projects have provided the city with royalties in excess of approximately $2.4 million per year.

Toronto City Council Approves Green Roofs Strategy Feb 1, 2006

The Deep Lake Water Cooling project will draw cold water from the bottom of Lake Ontario to provide air conditioning for a number of large buildings in downtown Toronto. It will use 75-90% less electricity than traditional air-conditioning. ©Paul Lawrence, Enwave

©Paul Lawrence, Enwave

©Paul Lawrence, Enwave