Find selected resources for benchmarking, case studies, and best practices below. These resources are intended mostly for building managers and other decision-making stakeholders to aid in the development of business cases and first steps towards renovations.
General Resources – Commercial Renovations and New Commercial Construction
- ENERGY STAR® certification for Commercial and Institutional Buildings in Canada – A guide from Natural Resources Canada to becoming ENERGY STAR certified for K-12 schools, commercial offices, hospitals, supermarkets and food stores, medical offices, senior care communities and residential care facilities, and ice/curling rinks.
- Energy Management Best Practices Guide for Commercial and Institutional Buildings – Advice and guidance from Natural Resources Canada to improve energy efficiency to produce a more sustainable building with an extended life cycle, benefit your organization’s bottom line, and provide a road map to achieving efficiency goals.
- Energy Management Best Practices Summary – A best practices poster and link hub to Natural Resources Canada’s Building Efficiency resources.
- Improve Your Building Energy Performance: Energy Benchmarking Primer – An informative resource from Natural Resources Canada describing what benchmarking is, the business case for benchmarking, case studies, and resources for getting started.
- 8 Energy Benchmarking Hurdles (and How to Get Over them) – A Buildings article discussing common issues, and solutions, to benchmarking a commercial building.
General Resources – New Commercial Construction
- Energy Efficiency in New Buildings – A collection of resources and best practices from Natural Resources Canada for maximizing energy efficiency, including guidance on Benchmarking.
Reports – Commercial Renovations and New Commercial Construction
- Geared for Change: Energy Efficiency in Canada’s Commercial Building Sector – A report by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy and Sustainable Development Technology Canada focusing on a sectoral approach addressing technology adoption barrier and the feasibility of applying and achieving specific emission reduction targets.
- Building Momentum: 2018 BOMA BEST National Green Building Report – A report by the Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada summarizing energy efficiency trends, certifications, and successes across Canada.
- Improving Energy Efficiency in Alberta’s Buildings – A report by the Alberta Real Estate Foundation and the Pembina Institute analyzing building energy consumption in both residential and commercial sectors with a list of best practices for decision makers and a power map illustrating how various stakeholders interact.
- Energy Benchmarking, Reporting & Disclosure in Canada: A Guide to a Common Framework – A report by Canada Green Building Council assessing the principles, administration and delivery requirements, and data management for benchmarking in Canada.
- Green Building in Canada: Assessing the Market Impacts & Opportunities – An analysis by Canada Green Building Council of the current activities in Canada’s green building sector, size and scope of the green building sector with the intent to support accelerated market transformation to high-performing, healthy green buildings.
- Green Commercial Real Estate: Office Assets – A report by the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business analyzing best practices for Commercial Real Estate, including case studies, market analysis, and recommendations.
Reports – New Commercial Construction
- Healthier Buildings in Canada 2016 : Transforming Building Design and Construction – A report from the Canada Green Building Council analyzing the factors influencing Canadian building owners, architects, interior designers, contractors and public health professionals in their decisions for adopting healthier, greener, building practices and features.
Case Studies & Reviews
- Case Study: Vancouver City Hall – Commercial retrofit of Vancouver City Hall, summarizing the processes, challenges, and successes of a retrofit designed to be part of a broader 100% renewable energy and zero emissions strategy.
- Case Study: Vancouver Park Place – Commercial retrofit of Vancouver’s Park Place, summarizing the processes, challenges, and successes in retrofitting British Columbia’s largest leasable office space.
- A Grander View of the Future: A Case Study of Enermodal Engineering’s New Building – A summary Enermodal Engineering’s headquarters in Kitchener, Ontario built to be carbon neutral and Platinum LEED certified in 2014.
- Albion District Library – Project summary of this American Institute of Architect’s 2018 COTE Top Ten recipient, located in Toronto, Ontario.