Resources
Explore best practices and quick links for each indicator.
Governance
Land Use
Indicator
Governance
Foster a cross-sector leadership team
Calgary’s Climate Panel, brought together and coordinated by the City, is a collaboration between industry, community and the City. The Calgary Climate Panel provides advice and support for the implementation of Calgary’s Climate Resilience Strategy
Natural Gas Utility Leadership
FortisBC has a clear corporate mandate to support community energy initiatives and partnerships. Their Climate Action Partners program provides a number of resources to local governments, regional districts, and Indigenous communities. In September of 2019, FortisBC announced a 30BY30 target, to reduce customer emissions associated with energy by 30% by 2030.
Cross-sectoral Leadership
What began as a task force to update Guelph’s Community Energy Initiative is now an incorporated not-for-profit organization called Our Energy Guelph. Representation on the Our Energy Guelph Board includes members of local businesses, high schools, and post-secondary institutions, and other community leaders.
Useful Links
- Strategy 3: Governance of The Getting to Implementation Initiative includes information and case studies on a number of governance models
- Research from the University of Waterloo on the importance of cross-sectoral partnerships for the implementation of community energy (or community sustainability) plans
Indicator
Staff
Bridgewater, NS
The Town of Bridgewater has a dedicated team for the implementation of the Energize Bridgewater Initiative. More information on the initiative and a list of team roles.
Utility Support, BC Hydro
BC Hydro’s Community Energy Manager program offers funding to help local governments in BC hire a community energy manager.
London, ON
In London, the City’s building inspectors participated in NRCan and London Home Builder Association’s Local Energy Efficiency Partnerships (LEEP) for Renovations Workshops. More information on the LEEP renovation program and workshops.
Utility Support, Efficiency Nova Scotia
Efficiency Nova Scotia operates a co-funded, on-site energy manager to work with business institutions to help save energy and money.
Useful Links
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York University offers a course on community energy planning for land use planners called the Energy Conscious Community: An Energy Planning Course for Planning Professionals.
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The Canadian Institute for Energy Training offers a variety of courses and certifications for staff involved in community energy planning.
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British Columbia Institute of Technology and the Community Energy Association offer a variety of courses on community energy management.
Indicator
Data
Community Energy & GHG Reporting in London, ON
The City of London publishes an annual Community Energy & Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory that includes a detailed breakdown of energy use from multiple sectors. This inventory is supported by agreements in place with both Enbridge Gas and London Hydro for sharing annual inventory data.
Efficient Lifecycle Asset Renewal in Markham, ON
The City of Markham developed a Lifecycle Asset Renewal Framework for corporate energy management to evaluate the incremental cost, savings, incentives, and payback of upgrading to more energy-efficient technology and equipment. This has resulted in equipment renewal with significant ongoing savings, including the incorporation of hybrid electric fleet vehicles.
Energy Mapping in BC
Energy maps provide a clearer picture of where community energy use and local opportunities are. They can serve as a platform for both education and engagement around land use and transportation implications on energy, prioritization of energy initiatives, and social acceptability for energy projects. BC Climate Action is using Community-scale energy and emissions modelling (CEEM).
Open Data in Calgary, AB
The City of Calgary has an open data program and website, Open Calgary, which hosts a variety of open data sets to support community-wide energy initiatives, such as the City’s corporate energy use, community-wide GHG emissions, land use, natural areas, and flood information.
Useful Links
- Information on climate hazards and adaptation by province and by sector is available at the Adaptation Library.
- Information on the International Emissions Analysis Protocol for the Canadian context is available here: FCM’ PCP Protocol: Canadian Supplement to the International Emissions Analysis Protocol.
- Detailed information on the energy mapping process can be found in the Canadian Urban Institute’s Integrated Energy Mapping for Ontario Communities – Lessons Learned Report.
- Information on data issues and promising practices related to energy mapping.
- The Milestone Tool, available to members for the Partners for Climate Protection program, offers a Scenario Builder function to do general energy and GHG emissions modelling.
- Natural Resources Canada, in collaboration with the City of Prince George, developed a Spatial Community Energy, Cost, and Carbon Characterization (SCEC3) model to evaluate actions related to residential buildings
Indicator
Financials
Community Energy Financial Assessment in Bridgewater, NS
The Town of Bridgewater conducted a Financing Mechanism Scopy Study to identify and match initiatives with appropriate ownership structures, contract types, and financing vehicles.
The Town also offers a Clean Energy Financing program that enables homeowners to install clean energy upgrades using a Property Assessed Clean Energy financing mechanism, or PACE.
Supportive Land Use Incentives in Grande Prairie, AB
The City of Grande Prairie is dedicated to the revitalization of the downtown core and the Downtown Incentives Program is designed to encourage building improvements and new residential development in the City’s core.
Energy Reserve Fund in Hamilton, ON
The City of Hamilton has an Energy Reserve used to fund energy projects, studies, pilot projects, and other activities, and is replenished through avoided operating utility costs as well as incentives and other sources of revenues. More information can be found in the City of Hamilton Corporate Energy Policy.
Energy Efficiency Programs by Arctic Energy Alliance, NWT
The Arctic Energy Alliance (AEA) administers programs for communities in Northwest Territories that directly distribute funds in the form of rebates to homeowners, businesses, and institutions, and when programs do not directly provide funds but valuable advice, expertise and assistance.
Green Development Standards in Toronto, ON
The City of Toronto provides development charge rebates for new construction that meets the City’s green development standards, the Toronto Green Standard.
Useful Links
- FCM’s On The Money: Financing Tools for Local Climate Action toolkit explains how municipalities can leverage private and community investors for climate action projects.
- S2E Technologies and FCM created a comprehensive guide on financing net-zero communities using community improvement plans. The guide includes a robust overview of net-zero technologies as well.
- Information on financial repayment mechanisms is available in the TAF Technical Guidance Note on Energy Efficiency Financing Tools for the Canadian Context.
- A list of Ontario communities that have implemented revolving funds, as well as a description of how they are structured can be found in a City of Oshawa public report.
- The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) has produced a discussion paper identifying challenges and solutions related to congestion charges in Canada.
- Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission has a report on implementing congestion charges in Canada with case study examples.
- The Canadian Urban Sustainability Practitioners (CUSP) network launched the Energy Poverty and Equity Explorer, a powerful online mapping tool, and a pair of associated primer documents.
Indicator
Strategy
Yellowknife, NWT
Campbell River, BC
The City of Campbell River was one of three pilot communities in the Getting To Implementation Initiative. The City’s Community Energy and Emissions Plan document was updated in 2016 with implementation in mind and includes a list of near-term priority actions. Like other municipalities participating in BC’s Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program, Campbell River reports annually on the community’s progress.
Bridgewater, NS
The Community Energy Investment Plan development process in the Town of Bridgwater employed a multi‐pronged approach to engage the community, including low-income residents, community organizations, local businesses and other stakeholders. Details are available on the Energize Bridgewater website.
Calgary, AB
The City of Calgary’s Climate Resilience Strategy is operating as a community energy plan. Actions indicate which business units are involved and who they will work with externally. The Strategy outlines a schedule of annual reporting, with a review and update one year in advance of four-year budgetary cycle. The Climate Panel continues to meet regularly, and the Calgary Climate Symposium is held annually.
Markham, ON
Markham completed a robust financial analysis of initiatives in the Municipal Energy Plan (MEP). This included net present values, returns on investment, marginal abatement costs, capital investments required, impacts on energy expenditures, employment impacts, and additional costs (i.e. for carbon offsets and green energy). More information on the financial impacts modelled can be found in section 3 of the MEP.
London, ON
London’s 2014 Community Energy Action Plan (CEAP) is a leading example of a community energy plan that incorporates SMART principles. Lessons learned and progress made from the plan are clearly outlined on the City’s website, and will be built upon for the forthcoming 2019 plan update.
Useful Links
- A number of resources are available on the value proposition of community energy planning, and strategies for implementation, on the Getting To Implementation webpage.
- Practice-based academic research and a number of tools for community energy plan implementation are available on the Community Energy Knowledge Action Partnership (CEKAP) webpage.
Indicator
Land Use
Public Engagement on Land Use in Beaconsfield, QC
The City of Beaconsfield has held information sessions and open houses involving residents, community organizations and municipal representatives, and use advisory committees (including a Planning and Environmental Advisory Committee) as forums to address land and energy use issues. Learnings from engagement activities provided a foundation for the Report on land use planning and evolving housing needs in 2016. The report still serves as an important tool for current and new projects, providing the basis for ongoing engagement and actions taken in the development areas addressed in the plan.
Green Development Metrics in Richmond Hill, Brampton, Vaughan, ON
The City of Richmond Hill, in partnership with the City of Brampton, and the City of Vaughan, developed Sustainability Performance Metrics that are used to score development applications during Site Plan and Draft Plan approval. Metrics include building energy efficiency, solar readiness and passive solar alignment, and energy management.
Public Engagement on Land Use in Yellowknife, NWT
The City of Yellowknife engaged members of the public on land use planning through focus groups and open sessions, as well as an interactive Story Cube Engagement Session. The Engagement has occurred beyond sessions at City Hall, including at the Farmer’s Market, Festival on Franklin, and Centre Square Mall.
Integration of Renewable Energy into Zoning Bylaw in Saint John, NB
The City of Saint John, NB amended the Municipal Plan and Zoning ByLaw to promote and identify Green Energy Zones.
Smart Growth in Grande Prairie, AB
The guiding principles in the City of Grande Prairie’s Municipal Development Plan include managing growth, enhancing the downtown, and developing healthy walkable safe neighbourhoods that integrate uses, increase densities, and apply innovative compact subdivisions and building designs. The Urban Residential Development Grant is a per dwelling financial incentive to encourage the addition of residential units in the downtown area.
Wind-friendly Zoning Bylaw in Kings, NS
The County of Kings, NS, adopted a wind-friendly zoning bylaw, including ‘small-scale wind turbines’ as a permitted use in rural residential areas.
Useful Links
- The City of Pickering’s Sustainable Placemaking Guidelines provides guidance for energy efficiency and sustainability in neighbourhood design and building features.
- The Community Energy Knowledge Action Partnership (CEKAP) produced a set of five Ontario case studies on net-zero development.
- Information on good building practices for Northern Communities is available from the Northwest Territories Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists handbook.
- The BC Climate Action Toolkit has a variety of case studies and examples of integrating energy and climate change into land use planning.
- Natural Resources’s Canada has a suite of resources for energy efficiency in new buildings.
- FCM has a comprehensive overview of sustainable new development with the report Sustainable Neighbourhood Development: Practical Solutions to Common Challenges.
- Information on embedding energy into land-use plans, policies, tools and processes is available in QUEST’s Integrated Community Energy Solutions Municipal Policy Toolkit.
- Information and resources on natural assets is available on the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative website and also the Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition website.
- Information on how tree coverage can be used to influence energy demands is available in Chicago’s urban forest ecosystem: Results of the Chicago Urban Forest Climate Project.
Indicator
Energy Networks
Energy System Education, ATCO
ATCO’s Energy Education Mobile is a 40-foot classroom on wheels that travels throughout Alberta and helps educate youth on Alberta’s energy resources and the importance of energy efficiency.
Utility Climate Change Adaptation Planning, BC Hydro
BC Hydro reports on actions relating climate risk management in the Adaptation to Climate Change section of their Carbon Neutral Action Report. According to the 2018 report, BC Hydro is in the process of developing a climate change adaptation plan. Though the plan is still under development, the Carbon Neutral Action Report provides a high-level summary of their research on climate risks, and actions to address impacts such as investing in new technology and processes to improve response times during emergencies.
Utility Integrated Resource Planning, Enbridge Gas Inc.
Enbridge conducted a study to assess the potential of demand-side management initiatives to influence future natural gas infrastructure investment
EV Charging Infrastructure Implementation, Alectra
Alectra’s Drive for the Workplace program resulted in the installation of electric vehicle charging stations in Markham. Alectra owns and operates the equipment and manages the maintenance costs.
Wood-fired district heating, Yellowknife NWT
The City of Yellowknife has a biomass district energy system that uses a wood pellet boiler to provide heating for five community facilities. Information about the system can be found in the press release for winning the FCM Sustainable Communities Award.
Power-to-Gas Leadership, Enbridge Gas Inc.
Enbridge’s power-to-gas project in Markham uses lower cost and lower GHG intensive electricity during off-peak times to generate hydrogen via electrolysis, which can then be used to generate electricity during peak times. The hydrogen can also be injected into the natural gas system, helping substitute volumes of natural gas and lowering the carbon intensity of the natural gas stream.
Useful Links
- QUEST’s Resilient Pipes & Wires Report identifies the state of awareness, measures, and policies being put in place by electric, natural gas, and thermal energy distributors:
- A comprehensive overview and guide on planning for and developing district energy systems in Canada is available in the International District Energy Association’s report, Community Energy: Planning, Development & Delivery – Strategies for Thermal Networks
- Sustainable Solutions Group’s Plan4DE tool provides pre-pre-feasibility modelling support for district energy opportunities
- Information on advanced district energy systems (4th Generation District Heating systems) that use lower temperatures and renewable energy sources is available in a report from the 4DH research centre
Indicator
Water & Waste
Water Conservation Engagement, Beaconsfield QC
The City of Beaconsfield was awarded a certificate as part of Réseau Environnement’s Municipalité Écon’eau program; as their total drinking water consumption decreases year after year and they regularly carry out awareness-raising activities as part of the Drinking Water Conservation Program.
Water Efficiency Planning, Calgary AB
The City of Calgary’s Water Efficiency Plan includes actions for leak detection, water meters, city facility retrofits, a toilet rebate program and low flow showerhead bylaw requirements.
Waste Reduction and Reuse, Markham ON
Markham’s unique Milk Bag Program began in 2011, and involves local community groups crocheting mats out of milk bags to help support disaster relief efforts in Haiti. Waterproof and durable, the finished mats were sent to emergency zones as temporary sleeping and surgical mats, providing critical resources to families in need.
Useful Links
- Information on Canadian municipal water conservation or water efficiency program adoption is available in the Centre for Water Resources Studies survey
- The City of Calgary provides a guidebook on installation best practices for rainwater harvesting systems
- The Green Municipal fund has information on and funding for water and waste initiatives
- Information on wastewater management is available from the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment report, Sustainable wastewater management: A handbook for smaller communities
- Environment and Climate Change Canada’s presentation, Thermal Treatment of Municipal Solid Waste in Canada, provides an overview and considerations on waste to energy projects
- An overview of waste recovery initiatives in Canada is available in the State of Waste Management in Canada report prepared for the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment.
- Information on implementing tipping fees is available in the Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission’s report Cutting the Waste: How to save money while improving our solid waste systems
Indicator
Transportation
Electric Transit in Grande Prairie, AB
Grande Prairie’s new electric buses will save on maintenance costs and reduce emissions. A solar array will be used to supply the buses with green electricity.
Transportation Demand Management Plan, Sudbury ON
The City of Sudbury, Ontario, has an extensive Transportation Demand Management Plan, which includes ongoing community engagement and a Community Grant Program.
Electric Car Sharing, QC
10 municipalities in Quebec are part of a YHC Environnement Project, Projet SAUVéR, with the goal to establish a functional base for a green electric route in Quebec that will demonstrate the benefits of electric cars and car-sharing to the public.
Electric Utility Leadership, BC Hydro
Fleet greening plays a critical role in BC Hydro’s carbon neutral action planning. According to the 2018 Carbon Neutral Action Plan, BC Hydro’s green fleet consists of 86% electric and hybrid cars, 66% hybrids in the compact SUV class, 7% hybrids in the mid-size SUV segment and 14% electric forklifts. BC Hydro is developing a telematics program that will provide actionable operational data related to fuel use and driver behaviour, continuing to promote ride-sharing, and continuing to promote the use of shared vehicles across the province to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
Car Share Co-op, Yellowknife NWT
The Yellowknife Car Share Co-op was created through a collaboration between Cloudworks and Ecology North, and was supported by the City with a Zoning Bylaw that specifies amendments to parking requirements for car shares.
Natural Gas Utility Leadership, Enbridge Gas Inc.
Enbridge has the largest natural gas vehicle fleet in Canada with – 628 of 841 fleet vehicles ran on natural gas by the end of 2016.
Useful Links
- Information on developing multimodal transportation infrastructure in small and rural towns available from the U.S. Department of Transportation Small Town and Rural Multimodal Networks.
- A list of Ontario local governments that have bicycle parking standards in zoning bylaws and design standards can be found in Appendix B of the Review & Assessments of Parking and Loading Standards study conducted for the City of Markham
- Information on the street design that supports active transportation is available via:
- Transportation Association of Canada’s (TAC) Geometric Design Guide for Canadian Roads
- Federal Highway Administration’s(FHWA) Small Town and Rural Multimodal Networks Guide
- VeloQuébec’s Planning and Design for Pedestrians and Cyclists: A technical guide
- National Association of City Transportation Officials’ (NACTO) Urban Bikeway Design Guide
- British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s Active Transportation Design Guide
- Transportation Canada’s Planning Guide to Active Transportation in Canada
- Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency has a database of municipal anti-idling policies and programs
- Information on green fleet action planning is available on the BC Climate Action Toolkit.
- A series of case studies of natural gas vehicle use can be found in the Natural Gas Vehicle Roadmap 2.0
- Pollution Probe has a number of information guides and reports relating to transportation. Of particular interest is Decarbonizing Transportation in Canada: Building a Foundation for Success and the Framework for Municipal ZEV Deployment Report
Indicator
Buildings
Campbell River, BC
The City of Campbell River connects residents to a number of incentives offered by CleanBC via the Power Down Campbell River initiative and offers an additional top-up for home energy evaluations.
Public Education on Energy Savings
Energize Bridgewater’s Resources web page includes documents and videos on home energy, renewable energy and home energy efficiency.
Corporate Building Leadership, Inuvik NWT
The Town of Inuvik developed a Building Energy Monitoring System for town-owned facilities, which tracks real-time building data, including electricity and fuel use, and reports it publicly online.
Electric Utility Leadership, BC Hydro
BC Hydro incorporates energy savings opportunities and sustainable design aspects into their capital construction and renovation plans. They also integrate life-cycle costing into project decision making. The 2018 Carbon Neutral Action Report showcases their leadership in new building design and existing building retrofits. Features include air source heat pumps, improved building envelope performance, energy efficient lighting, HVAC systems, and plumbing fixtures, as well as efficient operational layouts and optimized space utilization
Building Energy Benchmarking, Edmonton AB
As of April 2019, The City of Edmonton’s Building Energy Benchmarking program included 159 properties, representing 2,763,000 m2 of floor area. Information on the program and its results are available in the program’s Year 2 Benchmarking report.
Useful Links
- Natural Resources Canada offers incentives on benchmarking and disclosure for industrial, commercial, and institutional buildings