| Overall Rating | Platinum |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 86.18 |
| Liaison | Chris Adam |
| Submission Date | Dec. 30, 2024 |
Dawson College
OP-5: Building Energy Efficiency
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.59 / 6.00 |
Chris
Adam Coordinator Sustainability Office |
Part 1. Site energy use per unit of floor area
Performance year energy consumption
| kWh | MMBtu | |
| Imported electricity | 13,392,000 Kilowatt-hours | 45,693.50 MMBtu |
| Electricity from on-site, non-combustion facilities/devices (e.g., renewable energy systems) | 0 Kilowatt-hours | 0 MMBtu |
Stationary fuels and thermal energy, performance year (report MMBtu):
| MMBtu | |
| Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy | 8,950.41 MMBtu |
| Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water | 0 MMBtu |
Total site energy consumption, performance year:
Performance year building space
Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year:
| Floor area | |
| Laboratory space | 3,234 Square meters |
| Healthcare space | 1,648 Square meters |
| Other energy intensive space | 545 Square meters |
EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
Performance year heating and cooling degree days
| Degree days | |
| Heating degree days | 4,116 Degree-Days (°C) |
| Cooling degree days | 347 Degree-Days (°C) |
Total degree days, performance year:
Performance period
| Start date | End date | |
| Performance period | July 1, 2021 | June 30, 2022 |
Metric used in scoring for Part 1
Part 2. Reduction in source energy use per unit of floor area
Baseline year energy consumption
STARS 2.2 requires electricity data in kilowatt-hours (kWh). If a baseline has already been established in a previous version of STARS and the institution wishes to continue using it, the electricity data must be re-entered in kWh. To convert existing electricity figures from MMBtu to kWh, simply multiply by 293.07107 MMBtu/kWh.
| kWh | MMBtu | |
| Imported electricity | 15,827,801 Kilowatt-hours | 54,004.46 MMBtu |
| Electricity from on-site, non-combustion facilities/devices (e.g., renewable energy systems) | 0 Kilowatt-hours | 0 MMBtu |
Stationary fuels and thermal energy, baseline year (report MMBtu):
| MMBtu | |
| Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy | 17,753.10 MMBtu |
| Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water | 0 MMBtu |
Total site energy consumption, baseline year:
Baseline year building space
Baseline period
| Start date | End date | |
| Baseline period | July 1, 2002 | June 30, 2003 |
A brief description of when and why the energy consumption baseline was adopted:
An energy reduction campaign was initiated in 2002 with outside energy service providers engaged in documenting college energy expenditures. This became the benchmark for future reduction tracking. The entire Facilities Management related sustainability indicators were reviewed from 2006 onwards, including previous energy reduction data, and the Dawson Sustainability Policy was adopted by the board of Governors in 2008. AASHE STARS indicators were also adopted at that time. For all of these reasons, documentation and planning was adopted.
Source energy
Total energy consumption per unit of floor area:
| Site energy | Source energy | |
| Performance year | 0.64 MMBtu per square meter | 1.17 MMBtu per square meter |
| Baseline year | 0.91 MMBtu per square meter | 1.59 MMBtu per square meter |
Metric used in scoring for Part 2
Optional Fields
A brief description of the institution's initiatives to shift individual attitudes and practices in regard to energy efficiency:
Update 2024 - Dawson continues to use the 2020 goals set out to increase awareness about and reduction of energy. Recent inititives include meetings with program staff, individual faculuty, event planners, and purchasers to review specific files related to energy reduction. On-going meetings with outside consultants and Ecometrica Inc., GHG emission consutants, were also implemented.
Dawson College Climate Action Guide - Measure, reduce, offset & educate
Goals:
• Reduce the consumption of fossil fuels used by the institution, community members and suppliers
• Purchase energy efficient equipment
• Find, use and encourage local sources of energy, if possible
• Seek best-practice refrigeration gases and air-cooling equipment
• Encourage modes of transport that are less energy intensive for Dawson-related travel, for commuting and by our suppliers
• Offset the greenhouse gas emissions related to College-related business travel
Measuring:
As we develop our metrics and deepen our commitment to carbon responsibility, the emission sources we consider to reduce will become more challenging and will require increased collaboration with external partners: the drive to become further carbon responsible should lead us to working with our suppliers to help them improve their procedures as well. As this gets done, we can expect to develop procedures to track emissions with them.
Dawson will be working with other institutes of higher education to explore what methods can be used by institutions and what targets are realistic within the college network.
Energy systems: Dawson College receives most of its energy from Hydro-Quebec, a state-owned electrical utility which produces about 99% of its energy from its network of hydro-electric dams. With this in mind, Dawson has undertaken to transfer some systems towards electricity. Dawson also started a vast energy efficiency renovation project in 2009. We signed a performance contract with Johnson Controls Inc. and were able to reduce our energy consumption by 26% since 2007-2008.
Our natural gas expenditures have gone from over $200,000/year (before 2008) to about $90,000/year (since 2015).
Electricity consumption has gone from about 17,000,000 Kw/h per year (1999 and before)to beneath 14,000,000 Kw/h per year (since 2014).
Further decreases might be difficult and expensive to gain but will be reviewed with our energy service provider and our energy efficiency partners.
For the moment, the best value is in educating the staff on how their habits at Dawson, as regards to energy, can be improved. A climate action awareness campaign that is presented to new cohorts of students and for staff should be part of an action plan. This plan could highlight improvements that Dawson has made and be open to staff suggestions for behavioural changes.
Dawson should keep open to the idea of becoming energy producers for our own needs. Having a local source of clean energy (i.e. geothermal, solar or wind) would help reduce our emissions but also showcase alternative energy producing methods for students who may be studying energy systems or become house or building owners. The age of our building and its heritage status make this particularly difficult to address. Yet, if we manage to set up a viable project, we would be well placed to help others who are in similar situations (many Cegeps are housed in older buildings or heritage status buildings). How to reduce the carbon footprint of these buildings while maintaining their heritage value is an important lesson.
A brief description of energy use standards and controls employed by the institution:
A centralized control system, METASYS, was installed featuring thousands of temperature, CO2 and humidity meters which relay the information to automatic controls meant to anticipate daily changes in occupation and ensure a consistent temperature through the building. These controls ensure significant energy savings as adjustments are programmed to be automated.
Motion sensors were installed in all classrooms in 2015.
The College uses ASHRAE indoor air quality standards:
https://www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/bookstore/standards-62-1-62-2#:~:text=ANSI%2FASHRAE%20Standards%2062.1%20and,adverse%20health%20effects%20for%20occupants.
A brief description of Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting and other energy-efficient lighting strategies employed by the institution:
Motion sensors were installed in all classrooms in 2015 and all 7239 lighting fixtures were changed to LEDs in 2018/19.
A brief description of passive solar heating, geothermal systems, and related strategies employed by the institution:
A large rooftop air duct is painted black and absorbs heat as air passes into the College. This is Dawson's only passive installation.
A brief description of co-generation employed by the institution:
N/A
A brief description of the institution's initiatives to replace energy-consuming appliances, equipment, and systems with high efficiency alternatives:
Major equipment was changed. Four new boilers were added in 2010 and the old ones retired, two chillers were replaced in 2010 and 2018 respectively. On-going maintenance plans of existing equipment and continuous evaluation of performance is part of the Facilities Team mandate.
Website URL where information about the institution’s energy conservation and efficiency program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Benchmarks and reduction achievement documents were obtained from Dawson Facilities Management and external energy service provider consultants from Jonson Controls Inc. https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/global-capabilities/buildings/canada_french
Energy efficiency regulations Quebec: (pages 5238-5247) http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php?type=13&file=1850-A.PDF
Energy efficiency regulations Canada:
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Regulations/SOR-2016-311/index.html
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.