Beginning with the Federal Building Initiative (FBI) in 1991, the energy efficiency of federal buildings — both owned and leased — has improved over time. At least in part, these improvements have been the result of such federal measures as the FBI and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS), and a focus on ensuring that these buildings meet the requirements of industry-recognized rating systems for commercial buildings. An examination of the portfolio of federal real estate properties, and the path to energy-efficiency in those properties, provides a context for consideration of what more could be done to improve the energy efficiency of federal buildings and what potential cost reductions can be achieved.

A. The Portfolio of Federal Real Estate Properties

As a major employer in Canada, the federal government owns and leases a significant number of buildings, with these properties varying in type, size, location and use. As well, a variety of federal entities act as custodians of these buildings.

1. The Properties

In its Guide to the Management of Real Property, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) characterizes the federal government’s real property inventory as “extremely diverse,” encompassing “a variety of real property types, including land, buildings, bridges, marine navigation equipment, wharves and monuments, among many others.”[6]

The federal inventory of real estate properties includes 31,320 federally owned buildings, representing 19.1 million square metres, and 4,100 federally leased buildings, representing 5.1 million square metres, divided among 24 custodians.[7] An official from PWGSC told the Committee that PWGSC manages 31% of the total floor space occupied by the federal government.[8] According to that official, PWGSC’s total inventory represents 7 million square metres, of which 52% is Crown-owned and 48% is leased by the Crown.[9] In addition, according to an official from NRCan, his department has a portfolio of 222 Crown-owned buildings, 39 leased buildings and 47 buildings that are managed by PWGSC.[10]

2. The Federal Top Ten Organizations

Table 1 presents the top 10 federal organizations in terms of buildings occupied, while Figure 1 presents the top 10 federal organizations in terms of floor area occupied. The buildings of each department and agency vary, and can include storage facilities, training centres, central heating and cooling plants, housing and office buildings, among other types.

Table 1 — Top 10 Federal Organizations, by Number of Buildings

Source: Table prepared using data obtained from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, (written submission), Treasury Board Secretariat Response to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (18 April 2013), 9 May 2013.

Figure 1: Top 10 Federal Organizations, by Floor Area (square metres)

Source: Table prepared using data obtained from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, (written submission), Treasury Board Secretariat Response to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (18 April 2013), 9 May 2013.

B. The Path to Energy Efficiency in Federal Buildings

The energy efficiency of federal buildings has evolved over time, from the efforts of individual departments to a comprehensive government-wide strategy on sustainable development, through the use of national building codes and the pursuit of various industry-recognized building certifications.

1. Federal Initiatives

The FBI is a voluntary program that aims to facilitate energy-efficiency retrofit projects in federally owned or managed buildings.[11] Although it does not provide upfront financing, it helps federal departments enter into third-party energy performance contracts (EPCs) with energy service companies, with the result that major projects are self-financing. According to an official from NRCan, since 1995, more than 80 projects among 16 federal departments have been energy-efficiency retrofitted under the FBI, which represents a third of Crown-owned floor space; $320 million in private capital investments has been leveraged.[12]

In 2008, the Federal Sustainable Development Act was passed by Parliament; it required the federal government to develop a comprehensive strategy, the FSDS.[13] An official from PWGSC told the Committee that, under the leadership of Environment Canada and the Minister of the Environment, the Office of Greening Government Operations develops the FSDS — including the goals and targets — through a government-wide consultation process.[14] An official from PWGSC told the Committee that the FSDS applies to 27 departments and agencies, of which 15 are custodian departments, and which are required to improve the environmental performance of their real estate properties.[15]

In October 2010, Environment Canada released the first FSDS, which covers the 2010–2013 period.[16] A PWGSC official said that, according to the 2012 FSDS progress report, custodial departments[17] have committed to assessing the performance of 1,908 Crown-owned buildings, which represent approximately 80% of federally occupied buildings with a floor area of at least 1,000 square metres.[18] A draft version of the FSDS for the 2013–2016 period is currently available for public consultation.[19] The proposed changes in the draft version in relation to energy efficiency in federal buildings include benchmarking, building operator training, builder automation systems, commissioning practices, and the use of sustainable real property performance indicators, for example, energy use intensity.[20]

According to the FSDS, the federal government has already taken actions to reduce its environmental footprint. For instance, all new federal office buildings must meet the Canada Green Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold level.[21] An official from PWGSC told the Committee that every building larger than 1,000 square metres is audited every five years in order to assess its energy consumption.[22]

Another PWGSC official informed the Committee that federal departments and agencies must report twice on their efforts to reduce their federal environmental footprint: their targets are indicated in their report on plans and priorities, and their achievements are described in their departmental performance report.[23] An official from PWGSC told the Committee that, over the 2005–2010 period, the department reduced its energy consumption in Crown-owned buildings, and in relation to lease-purchase arrangements by the Crown, achieved estimated savings of $17 million.[24]

In 2012 the federal government introduced PWGSC Workplace 2.0, which is an effort to modernize federal public servants’ physical workspace, including buildings and offices, and associated work practices.[25] This renewal aims to maximize the use of space and technology, and to make new office designs more flexible. An official from PWGSC told the Committee that this initiative supports the development of effective and productive work environments, reduces the space allocated for offices by two square metres per person, and accommodates individual work styles, sustainable design principles and alternative work strategies.[26] That said, the official also noted that, due to Workplace 2.0’s goal to reduce the amount of office space per worker, energy consumption associated with air conditioning in the summer, as well as the operation of elevators and escalators, will increase.[27]

The Leading Workplace Strategy in British Columbia is a provincial example of a similar strategy. An official from Shared Services BC told the Committee that the implementation of this strategy in the Victoria capital region reduced the Government of British Columbia’s footprint by more than 3,800 square metres, and that reducing the footprint results in lower energy costs.[28]

2. National Energy and Building Codes

The National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings 2011 provides minimum requirements for the design and construction of energy-efficient buildings and covers the building envelope, systems and equipment for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, service water heating, lighting, and the provision of electrical power systems and motors.[29] The National Building Code of Canada 2010 addresses the design and construction of new buildings and the substantial renovation of existing buildings.[30]

The Committee was informed that although provinces have their own building codes, only a few provinces have energy efficiency requirements for their buildings, as provinces tend to adopt only the safety components of the national building codes.[31] An official from NRCan explained that almost every province/territory is implementing the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings, and that the associated savings will be significant.[32] To date, British Columbia has adopted the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings, and all of the other provinces and territories, with the exception of Northwest Territories, are in the process of adopting the Code.[33] The Government of the Northwest Territories conducted research and concluded that their existing building codes exceed the requirements of the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings.[34] According to Dean Karakasis (Executive Director, Building Owners and Managers Association of Ottawa), when the federal government leases buildings from the private sector, the national code applies to the lease and, in some cases, the provincial code if it has higher standards.[35]

3. Canadian Rating Systems for Commercial Buildings

According to an official from PWGSC, the federal government has used a variety of building rating systems[36] in order to implement measures designed to reduce energy consumption in its new and existing buildings. These systems, which provide information on a building’s environmental performance, establish standards, guidelines and codes that buildings are required to meet in order to obtain a certain certification.[37] In Canada, the main rating systems for commercial buildings are LEED, Building Owners and Managers Association Building Environmental Standards (BOMA BESt), and Green Globes. Table 2 presents the number of buildings in PWGSC’s portfolio that have obtained certification under LEED Gold and BOMA.

Source: Table prepared using figures cited by Public Works and Government Services Canada officials and data obtained from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, (written submission), Treasury Board Secretariat Response to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (18 April 2013), 9 May 2013.

The LEED system has four levels of certification — Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum — and rates performance in six categories — sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation and design.[38] According to Thomas Mueller (President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Green Building Council), large, new office buildings that are owned and managed by the private sector are “almost exclusively now being designed and built to LEED Gold and Platinum levels.”[39] According to Mr. Mueller, the LEED system is internationally recognized, as it exists in 130 countries.[40] He also mentioned that the federal government adopted a LEED Gold certification requirement for newly-constructed federal office buildings and was one of the first public agencies in Canada to do so. To date, 56% of federal building projects meet the requirements for LEED Gold or Platinum certification. An official from PWGSC noted that all new office buildings — whether Crown-owned, or built-to-lease or lease-to-own by the Crown for several years — must meet the requirements for LEED Gold certification, while buildings undergoing major renovations must obtain a LEED Silver certification.[41] The official also said that PWGSC has six buildings with a LEED Gold or Silver certification, and that an additional 14 buildings that are either under construction or undergoing certification are in the process of achieving a LEED certification.[42] As well, he informed the Committee that PWGSC’s buildings that have a LEED Gold certification use as little as 149 ekWh per square metre, which is below the 320 ekWh national average use in office buildings.[43]

Like the federal initiative, the province of British Columbia has a policy that requires all new provincial government buildings to meet the requirements for LEED Gold or an equivalent certification. An official from the Government of British Columbia’s Ministry of the Environment told the Committee that 20% of all LEED Gold-certified buildings in Canada are located in British Columbia.[44]

In 2009, the Canada Green Building Council introduced the LEED Canada for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (EB:O&M) rating system to help “building owners and operators measure operations, improvements and maintenance on a consistent scale, with the goal of maximizing operational efficiency while minimizing environmental impacts.”[45] Mr. Mueller informed the Committee that, to date, four existing federal buildings meet the LEED EB:O&M certification requirements. In addition, he noted that neither the 2010–2013 FSDS nor the 2012 FSDS progress report indicated that plans exist to certify more existing federal buildings in LEED EB:O&M.[46]

A second rating program is BOMA BESt, which was launched in 2005. Its certification for specific building types — including offices, shopping centres, open-air retail plazas and light industrial buildings[47] — and has four levels of certification. BOMA BESt measures a building’s environmental performance and management in six specific areas: energy, water, waste reduction and site enhancement, emissions and effluents, indoor environment and environment management system.[48]

Benjamin Shinewald (President and Chief Executive Officer, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada) explained to the Committee that the BOMA BESt program focuses on existing buildings, as greater environmental and energy challenges arise with such buildings. He also indicated that, in order to overcome these challenges, effective and efficient management and operation are required.[49] John Smiciklas (Director, Energy and Environment, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada) told the Committee that the goal of the BOMA BESt program is to be as inclusive as possible in order to improve the performance of the vast majority of buildings.[50] Mr. Shinewald noted that, according to an energy consumption comparison between buildings that are BOMA BESt-certified and data obtained from NRCan’s commercial and institutional consumption of energy survey, buildings that are certified at level 2 of BOMA BESt perform 6% better than the national average, while those certified at level 3 perform 18% better, and those certified at level 4 perform 46% better.[51]

Moreover, Mr. Shinewald commented that PWGSC has shown environmental leadership by requiring every building that it manages — including those that are leased — to undergo a BOMA BESt assessment.[52] According to a PWGSC official, 259 Crown-owned buildings have undergone a BOMA Go Green — now, BOMA BESt — assessment, and 170 buildings — or 66% — received a BOMA green building certification.[53] Other federal departments are also using the BOMA BESt program. For example, an official from NRCan informed the Committee that the department is upgrading its buildings in order to qualify under the BOMA BESt rating system. As of October 2012, the department had completed 9 certifications out of a total of 21 for its buildings with floor space exceeding 1,000 square metres.[54]

In 1996, the Canadian Standards Association developed Green Globes Design, which is a third rating system used in Canada. In assessing a building’s environmental impacts, Green Globes Design for new buildings and retrofits focuses on seven areas: integrated design process,[55] site, energy, water, resources, emissions and effluents, and indoor environment.[56] The Green Globes rating system has four levels of certification: one, two, three or four Green Globes.[57]

A PWGSC official informed the Committee that the objective for Canada’s Parliament buildings, as well as other buildings that support Parliament’s functions, is to obtain a BOMA BESt certification for its operations and a Green Globes Design certification for its renovation projects.[58] The official explained that, for non-office buildings, acquisitions and major renovations, the target for those buildings is to reach a LEED Silver certification or a three Green Globes level of certification.[59]

Finally, in 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched the ENERGY STAR program, which is a benchmarking tool that evaluates the energy performance of products, new homes, commercial buildings and industrial plants.[60] According to an official from NRCan, the department’s Office of Energy Efficiency is adapting the ENERGY STAR program for Canadian purposes; the program is expected to be launched in July 2013 for office buildings and schools.[61]