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 [1.4MB PDF] – 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 [2.9MB PDF] – A best practices poster and link hub to Natural Resources Canada’s Building Efficiency resources.
- Improve Your Building Energy Performance: Energy Benchmarking Primer [2.4MB PDF] – An informative resource from Natural Resources Canada describing what benchmarking is, the business case for benchmarking, case studies, and resources for getting started.
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
- Improving Energy Efficiency in Alberta’s Buildings [3.2MB PDF] – 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.
Case Studies & Reviews
- Case Study: Vancouver City Hall [423KB PDF] – 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 [681KB PDF] – 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 [1.6MB PDF] – A summary Enermodal Engineering’s headquarters in Kitchener, Ontario built to be carbon neutral and Platinum LEED certified in 2014.