How Energy Managers Support Triovest’s Energy Conservation Goals

Commercial buildings are large consumers of energy and producers of significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To manage the risks associated with volatile energy prices and new carbon pricing schemes and to actively contribute to a low-carbon economy, Triovest is pursuing energy conservation projects across our managed assets and driving toward net-zero operations. Supporting these efforts are Triovest’s Energy Managers.

The primary responsibility of the Energy Manager is to work with property management teams to develop a systematic approach to energy reduction. This involves the following key activities:

• Facility benchmarking – Evaluate historical demand and energy consumption for each managed asset.
• Primary assessments – Review existing energy-related technical assessments (e.g., energy audits, retro-commissioning assessments) and perform a high-level assessment to identify and prioritize energy-saving opportunities.
• Maintenance and operating schedules – Review control systems, operating schedules and maintenance practices to identify operational savings and develop additional maintenance practices and programs to enhance energy efficiencies (e.g., programming controls to shut down equipment and lighting when not required).
• Project implementation and electrical energy savings – Support the implementation of energy-saving projects and participate in at least one SaveOnEnergy incentive and/or program.
• Measurement and verification strategy – Develop a strategy for measuring and verifying energy-saving projects at the corporate level.
• Energy management behaviour and business process improvements – Create and foster a sustainable energy management culture at Triovest.
• Employee awareness – Support employee training and awareness programs that promote energy conservation and communicate the energy-efficiency initiatives undertaken.
• Assist with Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) projects – Coordinate and assist with IESO site inspections and collect relevant information regarding energy use.

After hiring our first Energy Manager in 2018, Triovest reduced its electricity use by more than 3,750 megawatts per hour (MWh), and grew the savings to nearly 4,500 MWh in 2020, which reduced our annual electricity costs by approximately $670,000.

In 2021, we plan to hire another Energy Manager, with one manager focused on our assets in eastern Canada and the other dedicated to properties in western Canada. We also plan to complete the implementation of a utility data management system that the Energy Managers will use to track Triovest’s utilities and help maximize the return on our energy conservation investments.