|
Market Makes LEED an Easy Sell in York Region Municipalities Push and Prompt Development Trend
September, 2007
| |
|
|
|
PERFORMANCE DATA INFORMS APPLIANCE AND FIXTURE DECISIONS
A one-year field test of water conserving and energy-efficient appliances now wrapping up in Durham Region provides practical evidence to back up performance ratings and reinforce the economic case for upgrading to proven efficiency features.
The study has been monitoring and comparing water and electricity consumption in 88 homes fitted with ENERGY STAR and water conserving appliances and fixtures versus 88 homes with conventional 'builder standard' models. Results for the first six months ending March 31, 2007 revealed water savings of 22%, energy savings of 21% and natural gas savings of 7% in the households with efficiency upgrades.
To gather more detailed consumption data for the various appliances and fixtures, individual water and/or energy sub-meters were installed on specific items in 20 of the homes - comparing 10 homes with increased water and energy efficiency against 10 builder standard homes. This included water sub-meters on the water heater inlet, clothes washer, dishwasher and front and rear outdoor hose connections, and electricity sub-meters on the refrigerator, range, dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer.
In addition, the 88 homes in the water-efficiency group were upgraded with high-efficiency toilets (HETs) and showerheads, and drought-tolerant gardens. Dual-flush 3-litre/6-litre toilets were installed in the powder room of all 88 homes. Four-litre pressure-assist toilets were installed in 65 bathrooms, while the remainder were outfitted with a 6-litre toilet deemed to be one of the better performing models of its kind.
"The Building Code mandates 6-litre toilets. The problem is, the ones we're finding in new homes are not always the best examples of 6-litre toilets," explains Glen Pleasance, Durham Region's Water Efficiency Coordinator. "We also wanted to illustrate that six litres is not the limit of the technology."
Results for the first six months of the study showed an average water savings of 10 litres per household daily from the HET toilets compared to the 6-litre models in the other sub-metered homes. Pleasance suggests municipalities can use these findings to encourage better fixtures in new construction.
"There is a customer service cost to using inferior toilets," he says. "When builders use better toilets, it frees up their customer service staff to work on other issues because builders tell us that toilet complaints consume a significant amount of time."
Municipal officials also plan to promote other study findings to the development industry, homeowners and prospective homebuyers. "The ENERGY STAR clothes washers, for both water and energy, show about a 30% reduction [in consumption]," Pleasance reports. "We're seeing about 45 litres per day of water savings for the clothes washers."
The study has been conducted in a subdivision that Tribute Homes constructed in Ajax. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities provided $190,000 for the research through its Green Municipal Fund, while Natural Resources Canada contributed $79,000 toward energy monitoring equipment. A final report is expected later this year.
|
| |
|
By Barbara Carss
Rapid growth and spinoff pressure to keep pace with infrastructure needs in York Region provide momentum for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) compliant development. A new incentive program targeted to the 'centres and corridors' along Yonge Street and Highway 7, including sections of Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill and Newmarket designated for urban intensification, will offer developers an increased allocation of sewer/water servicing if they meet density and sustainability criteria.
Meanwhile, two new commercial buildings now under construction in one of York's least populous local municipalities are designed to achieve LEED certification in keeping with the Town of East Gwillimbury's policy to negotiate ENERGY STAR or LEED standards through subdivision agreements and site plan approvals. Approximately 635 ENERGY STAR homes are also slated for the Harvest Hills subdivision, which is in development along the Green Lane corridor between Yonge and Bathurst Streets just north of East Gwillimbury's boundary with Newmarket.
Municipal officials and developers alike speculate that the Ontario Building Code will eventually mandate many of the design features and/or building performance outcomes that LEED encapsulates. York Region's incentives would be a reward for early starters that would also yield payback for the Region in reduced service delivery costs for water, wastewater, transit and solid waste management, as well as accommodating the growth projections and intensification targets in the provincial growth plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
ROI FOR THE REGION
"Promoting LEED buildings is in line with York Region's sustainability strategy and also helps us integrate servicing challenges with intensification goals," says Bruce Macgregor, Chief Administrative Officer for York Region. Building permits cannot be issued until sewer/water services are in place, and strong demand for new housing has the Region racing to keep ahead of the growth.
This has also spurred questions about the conventional standards for determining how much servicing capacity new development requires. Some developers have argued that LEED compliant development would use significantly less water than is contemplated in the current formula for service allocation, so Regional officials decided to further explore that argument.
The resulting policy, which York Regional Council adopted in June 2007, offers a 20 to 35% increase in servicing allocation for development that: achieves a minimum of LEED silver certification; delivers significant water conservation; complies with the Region's transit-oriented development guidelines, including higher density targets; is located within a designated Regional centre or corridor, or a designated centre within one of York's local municipalities; is served by public transit; and incorporates facilities for three-stream waste reduction.
These criteria were chosen to support sustainable development, growth management and waste diversion goals, and ultimately reduce the Region's costs for building infrastructure and providing services to future development. "Toronto is very frustrated in its efforts to meet recycling targets because of its large concentration of older multi-residential buildings with only one [garbage] chute. We saw the opportunity to preempt that here," Macgregor notes.
Regional officials are now consulting with York's nine local municipalities and assessing how best to implement the incentive policy. It will likely be launched as a pilot program initially so that the Region can monitor water consumption and ensure that the promised savings and the developer's commitment to LEED silver certification have been achieved.
If the pilot proves successful, the program may be broadened to provide participants with a rebate for the Regional portion of development charges. Local municipalities could also have extra room in their servicing allocation to approve additional residential development and intensification.
"We try to set out policies that we can apply consistently in all of the nine local municipalities. For some of them, this will be irrelevant. There's not likely to be a high-rise residential building built in King Township anytime soon, but in the southern area of the Region, we think developers will be interested," Macgregor says. "Of course, it's all about encouraging voluntary participation."
NEGOTIATED APPROACH
Likewise, East Gwillimbury's LEED and ENERGY STAR policies depend largely on negotiation and agreement with developers. Recent amendments to Ontario's Planning Act give municipalities the flexibility to mandate sustainability features in plans of subdivision or site plans, but East Gwillimbury's policies actually predate the adoption of those amendments.
The Town is currently reviewing and revising its Official Plan to bring it into harmony with the new planning legislation and requirements in the provincial Places to Grow Act. The 2006 Census counted about 21,000 residents in East Gwillimbury, but projections in the growth plan for Greater Golden Horseshoe indicate the population will jump to more than 150,000 during the next 20 to 30 years.
The ENERGY STAR standard for new residential development was adopted in April 2006, and East Gwillimbury recently received an FCM-CH2M Hill Sustainable Community Award from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to recognize the policy. Four applications for commercial development have gone through or are now in the development approvals process since September 2006 when Town Council adopted the policy to require all new commercial, industrial, institutional and multi-residential development to achieve LEED standards.
"The municipality has been fortunate in dealing with the applications that have come in. There has been a lot of discussion but, at the end of the day, the developers have decided to proceed with LEED," observes Don Sinclair, East Gwillimbury's General Manager, Development and Legal Services.
"There was a lot of discussion between us and the Town," acknowledges Vince Santino, Project Manager, Land Development, with Minto Suburban Communities, which is building ENERGY STAR homes in the Harvest Hills subdivision. "We started off with some reservations because we are competing with a lot of developments to the south in Newmarket that aren't doing ENERGY STAR. We recognized the opportunity in front of us, however, and became very excited about ENERGY STAR and its merits."
ACCEPTABLE COSTS
Some legal experts are skeptical that East Gwillimbury's policies would stand up to a formal challenge. Nevertheless, many developers see a business case for complying.
"Although ENERGY STAR remains ahead of the Building Code, code standards continue to move toward more energy efficient housing anyway," Santino reasons. "From a marketing point of view, it certainly presents a lot of advantages."
Homebuyers' increasing sophistication and demand for energy efficiency, building owners' desire for operational savings and market trends in booming York Region all factor into the general acceptance of the policies. Developers could potentially gain additional benefits if they qualify for York Region's proposed incentive program.
"No one has said to me: we're not going to build in East Gwillimbury because of your LEED policy," Sinclair reports. "They are looking for sites that are appropriate for what their needs are. I haven't had anyone slam plans down and say: I'm going to Aurora."
A consultant's report including recommendations for the ongoing implementation of the LEED policy will soon be presented to Council. It is likely that developers will be asked to submit a letter of credit at the development approval stage to guarantee that LEED standards will be met since the certification itself cannot be conveyed until after construction is complete.
"If LEED certification is not achieved then a decision has to be made about what to do with the securities. It would depend, obviously, on what it was in that particular development that led to the failure in LEED certification," Sinclair says. "There may be an opportunity for the municipality to apply funds to other environmental programs within the municipality that would help achieve the sustainability goals."
|
|