This text is part of the special Real Estate section
By 2030, the Government of Quebec’s Plan for a Green Economy aims to halve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the heating of residential, commercial and institutional buildings. What will the buildings of the future look like?
A healthier hospital
In Montreal North, the Marie-Clarac hospital underwent a complete transformation in 2019 with the help of Énergère, a company that offers turnkey energy efficiency projects. It unearthed grants of $1.5 million to implement the necessary work while guaranteeing the establishment annual savings of $242,000 on its energy bill.
How? ‘Or’ What ? In particular, by eliminating the use of steam produced by means of natural gas, which was previously used to heat the water in the laundry room and the building. From now on, only natural gas is used for heating and air conditioning, which ultimately reduces energy consumption. In addition, major work has optimized the ventilation, air conditioning and air treatment system. An energy recovery system, which includes a chilled water loop used for air conditioning, has been installed. These measures have enabled the hospital to reduce its GHG emissions by 70%, or 1,100 tonnes of CO equivalent2 (t CO eq.2) per year (roughly the annual emissions of 115 Quebecers), without changing the energy source. On the other hand, the work has also enabled the establishment to reduce its water consumption by 16,900 m3 per year, the equivalent of 4.5 Olympic swimming pools!
An inspiring real estate portfolio
For several years, Desjardins has played a leading role in sustainable development and the fight against climate change. Five of the ten buildings in its building stock in Lévis have succeeded in reducing their GHG emissions by 5% to 65% in one year.
Desjardins invests $6 million annually in an asset maintenance program, which enables it to improve the energy efficiency of its buildings. In concrete terms, this allowed between 2017 and 2019 the elimination of 29% of its annual emissions, i.e. 98 t eq. CO2which corresponds to the climate impact of 980 return flights between Montreal and Toronto.
“As we use hydroelectricity as our main energy source, the reductions in GHG emissions are less dramatic than if we were still using fossil fuels and had not made all the efforts made in recent years” , remarks Michel Beaulieu, Senior Advisor of the Property Management Division at Groupe immobilier Desjardins.
For example, geothermal and heat recovery systems have been installed to reduce energy consumption. These systems store heat (or coolness) from the air or water inside a building for reuse as an energy source. It would be like collecting the hot water that runs from your shower to warm the supply pipes of your water heater. In some cases, the exterior envelope of the building has been redone using more insulating materials and more efficient windows have been installed. And all the buildings are in the process of being illuminated with LED lights!
Turnkey GHG reduction
It is also a turnkey energy efficiency project, this time led by the Montreal company Krome Services, which has enabled 3333 Jean-Talon Street West in Montreal, a residential building, to reduce its GHG emissions by 453 t eq. CO2 per year (i.e. 24 round trips by car between Montreal and Vancouver), and to reduce its energy bill by 54%.
Once again, it was a natural gas heat recovery system that made it possible to optimize the building’s heating, ventilation and hot water system. Automated heating and air conditioning controls also help maximize energy efficiency.
“The savings generated will make it possible to reimburse the investment of nearly 1 million in three years”, proudly launches Antoine Colney, design director at Krome Services, a company founded in 2016. “We will follow the project from A to Z by carrying out very close monitoring of the building’s energy consumption for 10 years, he says. If the promised savings are not achieved, we will take corrective action and reinvest as needed. Indeed, if we do not achieve the objectives promised to the client, we have to pay out of pocket, but this has never happened. »
Recover energy
Groupe Mach, a commercial real estate giant in Quebec, is working to reduce its energy costs and its carbon footprint. And his efforts are bearing fruit in his commercial building located at 319 rue Franquet, in Quebec City. In addition to numerous offices, the building houses industrial premises and a laboratory whose certain activities had the effect of overheating or overcooling parts at times. In other words, there were energy losses.
The solution ? Recover lost energy and reinject it into the heating and hot water system. We took the opportunity to optimize the ventilation systems, and the natural gas boiler was replaced by a system running on hydroelectricity. These changes reduced GHG emissions by 835 t eq. CO2 per year (approximately 185 flights around the Earth), which represents more than 80% of the building’s emissions. Savings on the energy bill amount to $180,000 per year and the capital invested is expected to be recovered in three years, according to Antoine Colney, who also supervises this project at Krome Services.
A first version of this text was published on March 16, 2021 on unpointfive.ca