2018 ENERGY STAR Certification for Mississauga Civic Centre

ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager Certification Case Study

Mississauga Civic Centre, Mississauga, ON

Building Owner:
City of Mississauga

Building Uses:
City Hall, Municipal Office Space and Underground Parking

Gross Floor Area:
42,506 m² (457,530.4 ft²)

Year Built:
1987

The Mississauga Civic Centre is home to Mississauga’s City Hall and municipal offices. In 2018, it became the first city hall in Canada to obtain ENERGY STAR certification when it received an ENERGY STAR score of 89 for its energy performance and had a source Energy Use Intensity (EUI) that was 32.3 per cent less than the national median. It was also one of the first commercial and institutional buildings in Canada to receive the ENERGY STAR certification since Natural Resources Canada began offering this yearly designation in 2018.

Bonnie Crombie, Mississauga’s Mayor stated in a July 18, 2018 news release: “ENERGY STAR certification for the Civic Centre demonstrates our commitment to sustainability.” She went on to say: “I am excited and proud of our team and the energy efficiencies we have achieved. Every opportunity to save energy and cut down on consumption helps reduce the impact on our environment and saves money. It makes good environmental and business sense.”

Central to the Civic Centre’s energy efficiency performance is its building automation system, which monitors and optimizes heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation systems. Due to this and other improvements to the Centre’s systems, since 2013, energy use has been reduced by 17 per cent.

Employees have also been engaged in finding new ways to change behaviour and conserve energy. To promote awareness about the issue of energy conservation, a real-time energy dashboard at the Civic Centre provides staff and members of the public with daily, weekly and monthly energy and water use statistics.

“The direction to save energy is coming right from the top, from City Council,” stated Raymond McFarlane, Energy Management Coordinator for the City of Mississauga. “ENERGY STAR gives Council the opportunity to say this is not just my people saying this, but this is a reputable brand saying this.”

With plans to reapply for ENERGY STAR certification in 2019, the success of the Civic Centre will be used as an impetus for improving energy efficiency in other municipal buildings. “We are rolling out a program to improve energy efficiency for arenas and also pools,” explained McFarlane. “The City benchmarks against our own facilities to look at buildings in our portfolio and get different ideas to save energy.”

If you have questions regarding ENERGY STAR certification for commercial and institutional buildings in Canada, please contact buildings-batiments@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca.