It was only a matter of time for Toronto to join the 2030 Districts’ network which is dedicated to creating high-performance buildings to help fight climate change.
"The primary goal is to address long-term greenhouse gas emissions based upon UN targets for climate change mitigation," said Jeff Ranson, Toronto 2030 District executive director.
"The intent is to move new construction towards carbon neutrality by 2030, and for existing buildings to cut their emissions in half."
As the largest city in the country and the fourth largest in North America; a reduction in energy, water and transportation emissions by 50 per cent might seem like an ambitious goal. Yet, even with the short allotted time frame, the president of the Ontario Association of Architects, Toon Dreessen, thinks it’s attainable.
"It’s a realistic goal, but it will take a certain critical mass to make it happen. That’s why it’s great, it’s not just one building doing an amazing thing, but it’s working collectively as a whole, as a district, to manage energy use," Dreessen says.
And that’s the challenge that needs to be addressed.
Building owners and developers district-wide need to be on the same page in order to come close to desired targets.
One major role of the 2030 District project is to identify ways they can help both parties achieve emission reduction targets, says Ranson.
Whether it’s by helping owners locate expertise or connecting developers with training programs that will support their staff to develop best practices, "we are the facilitator," Ranson underlined.
Being the first city outside the U.S. to get involved, all nine of the 2030 Districts have committed to energy and water reduction targets set by the 2030 Challenge for Planning.
The plan, issued by Architecture 2030, a non-profit climate change organization, asks architects and planners from around the globe to adopt energy reduction practices.
Other players in the construction and building industry will also play a vital role.
Dreessen says the industry as a whole needs to acknowledge that climate change is real and that it’s a major concern for the people living and working in the core.
"The 2030 targets serve as a platform for stakeholders to improve their own capability to connect to programs that will help them build better."
The designated 24 square-kilometre district in the downtown core is characterized to be the most dense in the country with more than 550,000 people working and living within the area bordering Bathurst up to Dupont in the west, stretching east to the Don Valley before bordering Lake Ontario to the south.
"There are a broad diversity of buildings; a lot of head offices, real estate corporations, banks, insurance companies, hospitals and universities are all based within those boundaries," Ranson said.
"And certainly if we are looking to develop a showcase to demonstrate to other districts, neighbourhoods and other cities on what’s possible, then that’s the place to do it."
Technologies which can be implemented now on existing buildings include daylight and occupancy sensors on lighting, ground source heat pumps and natural ventilation through mechanical means. Dreessen says these are all relatively simple everyday processes that can be expanded to a larger scale and have a positive impact on a building.
For new building developments Ranson wants to see them have zero-emissions by 2030.
"The change in the industry is not something that is going to happen overnight. We need to really lay the ground work today if we want to be successful," Ranson adds.
Other cities involved in the 2030 Districts include Seattle, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Denver, Stamford, San Francisco and Dallas.
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