Recently announced, ENERGY STAR certification is now available in Canada for commercial and institutional buildings
The announcement was made by Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Jim Carr, who, at the same time, challenged building owners and managers to be among the first ENERGY STAR certified buildings in Canada and be recognized for their commitment to improving their building’s energy efficiency.
The program is expanding to encourage and recognize energy efficiency leaders in the building sector for exceptional energy performance, corporate management and environmental stewardship. Benchmarking the energy performance of buildings is fundamental to understanding and reducing a facility’s energy consumption and thereby reducing its carbon footprint.
A key enhancement of any benchmarking framework involves the potential for granular energy data to better understand energy use and pinpoint sources of inefficiency. One major technological advancement that will accelerate adoption of these energy management techniques is a new generation of submeter that is dramatically lower in cost, and can be economically deployed at the circuit level. Using real time communication and cloud-based big data energy analytics, this new technology can break down energy usage and identify exactly where and when energy is wasted in commercial and institutional buildings.
CircuitMeter’s real time energy monitoring technology provides the data for benchmarking which enables energy management best practices and can assist building owners and operators become ENERGY STAR certified.
ENERGY STAR certified buildings save energy, reduce costs and generate fewer greenhouse gas emissions than non-certified buildings. They often see higher rental and occupancy rates and greater engagement with clients and their communities.
According to the Program guidelines, the following building types are eligible to participate in the “Who Will Be First” Challenge, with more building types to be added for ENERGY STAR certification:
• Commercial offices
• K-12 schools
• Hospitals
• Medical offices
• Senior care communities and residential care facilities
• Supermarkets and food stores
• Ice/curling rinks
The “Who Will Be The First Challenge” runs between March 26, 2018, and April 30, 2018. For more details on the program and application process please visit: NRCAN – ENERGY STAR Challenge.