Climate Action Council

Community Energy

Low Carbon Building Series: University of Toronto Project Leap

In this webinar, Scott Hendershot , Senior Manager, Sustainability, University of Toronto shared insights on campus-wide sustainability initiatives – including expanding the campus’s ability to capture and store heat through a new geoexchange system beneath Front Campus, phasing out natural gas in favour of electrification for heating, upgrading to energy-efficient LED lighting in 38 buildings, and optimizing energy used for air distribution systems in key research laboratories. Together, these efforts will reduce nearly 50,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year, equivalent to the energy use of more than 10,000 homes. We explored the drivers that made this project feasible and how similar approaches could be applied in other communities.

CAC Workshop: Integrated Energy Plan

In June 2025, Ontario released the province’s Integrated Energy Plan (IEP), which is intended to outline the actions needed to prepare for the anticipated growth of Ontario’s electricity system and bring together planning for electricity, natural gas, hydrogen, and other fuels into a single coordinated plan.

Last year, a draft version of the IEP was published for public comment. The CAC provided feedback during this process, and upon reviewing the final version of the plan, we’ve identified areas of both alignment and misalignment between the CAC’s recommendations and the actions outlined in the final IEP. This workshop provided an overview of these points of alignment and misalignment and included a discussion about next steps.

Additional Resources

Renewables Guide for Utility Scale Wind and Solar Projects

Tim Weis from the University of Alberta presented guidance for landowners, local decision makers or community members to help them better understand utility-scale renewable energy including steps in project development, operations and decommissioning of renewable energy in Ontario and questions to ask energy developers. He provided background on the basics of wind and solar energy and what is driving its development, as well as details on the process and steps associated with the development of renewable energy projects.

The Landowner Guide For Wind and Solar Project Development in Ontario was developed based on research and conversations with project developers, landowners, and communities regarding renewable energy projects.

Additional Resources

 

If you would like a copy of the slide deck, please contact us at cap@cleanairpartnership.org

Building Low-Carbon Communities: Decarbonizing Residential Energy Systems

Creative Energy is developing a low-carbon solution that decarbonizes space heating and cooling for North Oak, a residential project in Oakville. The design utilizes geoexchange and ambient loop systems, heat pumps, boilers, and utilizes energy modeling software to create an efficient and sustainable district energy system. The combination of the geo fields and ambient distribution will allow buildings to share energy with one another, and enable in-suite heat pumps within the building to operate reliably and efficiently. The system is expected to avoid almost 1,000 tonnes of GHG emissions a year.

In this webinar, Keith Bate, Director of Engineering, and David Angelo, Director of Relationships (Canada East) presented on the North Oak community energy system and additional low carbon energy projects lead by Creative Energy, highlighting the potential for emissions, energy, and long-term financial savings.

Additional Resources

 

If you would like a copy of the slide deck, please contact us at cap@cleanairpartnership.org

Data Tools for Community Energy Planners and Climate Coordinators

Kyle Bassett from Climate Neutral presented on the results of the Climate Action Working Group which brought together a group of Ontario municipalities to use the tools developed by Climate Neutral to support and empower municipalities of all sizes to provide municipal councils and decision makers with data intelligence. The tool can be used to create greenhouse gas inventories, develop climate action plans, and track progress.

 

If you would like a copy of the slide deck, please contact us at cap@cleanairpartnership.org

Integrating Greenhouse Gas Considerations into Urban Expansion Requests

Urban sprawl often leads to the expansion of new growth into previously undeveloped areas, increasing greenhouse gas emissions due to greater transportation needs and infrastructure costs via the requirement for new infrastructure. However, municipalities, via provincial requirements, are required to consider urban expansion boundary requests. Municipalities are exploring ways to incorporate greenhouse gas and infrastructure cost considerations into urban expansion requests. In this webinar, the City of Ottawa and the City of Hamilton shared their approach to addressing urban boundary expansion requests and integrating greenhouse gas and infrastructure implications into the urban boundary expansion application process.

Additional Resources

If you would like a copy of the slide deck, please contact us at cap@cleanairpartnership.org

Home Energy and Emissions Ratings and Labels

Prince Edward Island (PEI) and the City of Ottawa shared their efforts to advance residential home energy/emissions ratings as well as the important role labelling plays in building the needed ecosystem to drive scale up of retrofits. Glen Compton from the province of PEI and Aaron Thornell from City of Ottawa were joined by Climative to highlight their labelling efforts and how it fits into overall retrofit programs and efforts. 

Additional Resources

If you would like a copy of the slide deck, please contact us at cap@cleanairpartnership.org

Utility and Municipal Engagements on Distribution System for Decarbonization

This webinar had presentations from Toronto Hydro and City of Toronto and Burlington Hydro and City of Burlington for how the municipality and utility are working to better understand the readiness and needs of the electricity distribution system to support decarbonization actions and targets. Presenters spoke to the work they are undertaking to better understand what is needed at the distribution level to enable the needed scale of electrification to achieve community greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Additional Resources

If you would like a copy of the slide deck, please contact us at cap@cleanairpartnership.org

Access to IESO Time of Use Electricity Data for Ontario Municipalities

During this webinar, CAP’s Clean Air Council members and QUEST’s Ontario Community Energy and Climate (ON-CEC) Working Group, heard from the IESO on opportunities to access electricity consumption data. As a result of an Ontario Energy Board decision, the IESO collected consumption data from more than five million residential and small general service (<50kW) smart meters installed across the province. The data from these meters is available to Canadian governmental entities, including local municipalities. The IESO’s Smart Metering team shared information on the types of data collected and their possible use for analysis to inform the development and implementation of local and regional community energy/climate change action plans and programs.

If you would like a copy of the slide deck, please contact us at cap@cleanairpartnership.org

Introduction to SolarTO

This webinar is part of the Ask an Expert Renovation Webinar Series!

Toronto City Council has adopted a bold strategy to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Toronto to net zero by 2040, one of the most ambitious targets in North America. To reach net zero emissions by 2040, more than 400,000 homes in Toronto must be renovated, and the City is committed to providing support to help homeowners get to net zero! This Ask an Expert webinar series aims to provide Toronto homeowners access to experts in the renovation industry, including HVAC (heat pump) experts, energy advisors, and contractors.

In this webinar, we discussed and answered the following questions: Are you curious about your home’s solar PV potential? Are you wondering if the trees will block the sun or if your roof is angled correctly for optimum solar energy generation? Simply search your home address in the SolarTO map to get a good idea of your solar potential! The City of Toronto’s SolarTO team is more than happy to help you with your Solar PV questions.

For a copy of the slide deck, please email cap@cleanairpartnership.org

 

Energy Managers Community of Practice In Person Meeting

In this meeting, we heard from Bryan Ho-Yan, City of Guelph, on wastewater aeration upgrades, piloting electric buses and charging, Zero Carbon Building Community Centre and Baker Library projects, ISO 50001 Corporate, and BAS master specification development. In the second part, we heard from Duncan MacLellan and Howlan Mullally, City of Toronto, on the new emissions performance reporting by-law and an overview of the net zero carbon plan.

Other Resources:

For a copy of the slide decks, please email cap@cleanairpartnership.org

How to Choose a Contractor

This webinar is part of Ask an Expert Renovation Webinar Series

Toronto City Council has adopted a bold strategy to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Toronto to net zero by 2040, one of the most ambitious targets in North America. To reach net zero emissions by 2040, more than 400,000 homes in Toronto must be renovated, and the City is committed to providing support to help homeowners get to net zero! This Ask an Expert webinar series aims to provide Toronto homeowners access to experts in the renovation industry, including HVAC (heat pump) experts, energy advisors, and contractors.

In this webinar, we discussed and answered the following questions: How do I know which contractors to work with and who I can trust to guide me through the entire journey? How many quotes or estimates should I get? What questions should I ask the contractors?

For a copy of the slide decks, please email cap@cleanairpartnership.org

 

 

Bringing in Low Carbon Energy Solutions Right from the Get Go

New development presents an ideal opportunity to get a lower carbon energy system in place right from the beginning, and that is the most cost-effective time to incorporate lower carbon energy considerations. One of the primary barriers faced by lower carbon opportunities is that they can add to upfront capital costs, even if they do cost less over the lifetime of the asset. Utility business models are being used to increase uptake to lower carbon opportunities and are a critical way to address the upfront capital cost barrier.

In this webinar, Tim Weber from the Ontario Geothermal Association and Diverso Energy shared information on the importance and structure of the utility business model, took participants through a sample project costing example, and spoke to the importance of municipal Green Standards to drive carbon considerations in new developments.

For a copy of the slide deck, please email cap@cleanairpartnership.org

District Energy Webinar Series: District Energy Ownership Models

This webinar is a part of the CAC series on district energy (DE) systems. Reshape Strategies and representatives from the City of Edmonton and Richmond shared approaches to developing and implementing a municipal DE strategy. The webinar covered approaches to identifying DE priority zones, DE ownership and governance models, interactions between green building standards and DE strategies, and case studies from Edmonton, AB and Richmond, BC.

For a copy of the slide deck, please email cap@cleanairpartnership.org

 

District Energy Webinar Series: Ottawa’s ESAP Project

This webinar is part of a series of webinars on District Energy Systems. In this webinar, we learned more about the Energy Services Acquisition Program (ESAP) in Ottawa, which modernizes the energy system of 80 buildings to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and save money. The system connects to four energy centres using more than 14 kilometres of underground piping and will use a district energy system (DES). We learned more about the regulations, technology used, barriers &benefits and lessons learned thus far.

For a copy of the slide deck, please email cap@cleanairpartnership.org

Ask an Expert Renovation Webinar Series: Heat Pumps 101

Toronto City Council has adopted a bold strategy to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Toronto to net zero by 2040, one of the most ambitious targets in North America. To reach net zero emissions by 2040, more than 400,000 homes in Toronto must be renovated, and the City is committed to providing support to help homeowners get to net zero! This Ask an Expert webinar series aims to provide Toronto homeowners access to experts in the renovation industry, including HVAC (heat pump) experts, energy advisors, and contractors.

For a copy of the slide deck, please email cap@cleanairpartnership.org

Affordable housing energy-efficiency program

Energy efficiency in homes is essential to reducing the cost of electricity used and lowering the environmental impact of energy. In this webinar, we learned more about the Energy Affordability Program the Independent Electricity System Operator offers via Save on Energy. The program is for housing providers, such as municipality-run housing, non-profits, and co-operatives and offers free assessments and upgrades for appliances, water-saving measures, and cold-climate heat pumps. We learned more about the eligibility process and the types of support available.

For a copy of the slide deck, please email cap@cleanairpartnership.org

Municipal Energy Managers Meeting – Decarbonization & High Efficiency Electrification of Heating Systems

The electrification of heating systems plays a significant role in building decarbonization, and heat pumps are emerging as a solution. In this webinar, Lukas Glaspell from Trane Technologies – a building technology and energy solutions company – talked about the low-carbon mechanical systems available thus far. He presented real-world examples of decarbonization routes/options. We learned about leading practices and the cost-effectiveness of electrifying heating systems.

For a copy of the slide deck, please email cap@cleanairpartnership.org

Advancing Home Energy Labelling in Canadian Communities

There is a strong push to advance residential home energy efficiency with rebates available to improve building envelope, install heat pumps and more. Community members want to understand their home’s energy use and make informed decisions to reduce their energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

In this webinar, Clean Air Partnership’s Kevin Behan provided an overview of the findings from Clean Air Partnership’s Advancing Energy Labeling in the Residential Sector report. This report provides background information on home energy labeling, insights from a national survey on home owner preference for energy labeling, and a practical roadmap to implement residential energy labeling programs.

  • Webinar Recording

    For a copy of the slide deck, please email cap@cleanairpartnership.org