Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Why conserve energy?

Although we are increasingly producing energy from renewable sources like water, the sun and wind, more than 90% of the world's energy still comes from non-renewable fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. Burning fossil fuels releases enormous quantities of greenhouse gases, which puts us and future generations at risk.

Higher levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are causing climate changes - to our weather, wind patterns, the amount and type of precipitation and the types and frequency of severe weather events. The implications of climate change are serious and could cause:

warmer average temperatures
changes in precipitation patterns
increased evaporation from surface waters such as lakes and streams
increases in extreme weather events and weather variability
sea level rise and stronger coastal storm surges
reduced snow pack, shrinkage of the polar ice cap, and most glaciers

Improving Your Energy Efficiency

Whether your motivation for conserving energy is to save money, or reduce your impact on the environment, it just makes good sense.

Find a list of Energy Incentives and Rebates for your home and business.

Improving Energy Efficiency in Pickering

As part of its sustainability journey, the City has undertaken many initiatives to reduce energy and greenhouse gas emissions at both a corporate and community level.

What is the City doing to reduce corporate energy use and greenhouse gas emissions?

The City undertakes a variety of projects to conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gases when undertaking upgrades in its existing facilities and fleet in addition to when planning for future projects. Some of these examples are detailed below.

Pickering Heritage and Community Centre

The Pickering Heritage and Community Centre (PHCC) will be a new, 44,000 sq. ft. facility that will celebrate the City’s rich heritage by bringing together a Museum, Library and Community Centre into one dynamic space. This facility, anticipated for 2026, will be located on the upper site of the Pickering Museum Village and will:

Serve as a new Visitor’s Centre for the Pickering Museum Village and replace the small, aging administrative building that currently exists on the site.
Preserve local history and provide much-needed storage space, with special environmental and lighting controls, for collections, artifacts and records for the Library, Pickering Museum Village, and City Hall.
Replace the aging Greenwood Community Centre and provide a modern and accessible space for community groups, programs and services, events, and exhibition space.
Be Zero Carbon Building – Design certified – meaning the facility will be highly energy-efficient and will minimize greenhouse gas emissions from building materials to operations, and support Pickering’s journey of becoming one of the most sustainable cities in Canada. During typical operation, the site will be fully electric with zero fuel combustion. The design includes a 60 kW rooftop solar array with a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to offset onsite electricity consumption and provide backup power for lighting and receptacle loads.

Electric Vehicles

To support and encourage the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), the City completed the installation of six EV charging ports in 2023 at the Chestnut Hill Developments Recreation Complex. This includes a 60 kW Level 3/DCFC charger, a first for Durham Region municipalities. The City also installed six Level 2 EV charging ports at the Pickering Operations Centre. The project was partially funded through Natural Resources Canada’s Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program, which provided funding to Elexicon Group Inc. to help support the installation of EV chargers across Ontario.

East Shore Community Centre

The City is in the design phase for replacement of two gas-fired rooftop units with dual-fuel units at the East Shore Community Centre. These hybrid heat pump/gas heating units will be able to operate in full electric mode for 50-60% of annual heating hours, with gas-fired backup for extreme cold temperatures. The heat pumps will displace a significant portion of those units’ annual natural gas consumption. Moving forward, dual-fuel rooftop units will be specified for planned equipment replacements and where justified by facility utilization rates will incorporate airside heat recovery systems wherever the existing roof structure and duct systems will permit.

Civic Complex

In 2023, the City successfully completed a comprehensive boiler retrofit project within its Civic Complex, encompassing City Hall and the Central Library. The initiative involved replacing end-of-life natural draft units with high-efficiency modulating condensing boilers, achieving a 20% increase in efficiency. This retrofit has resulted in a significant annual reduction of 52 tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions. As part of the ongoing improvements to the system in the current year, new design envelope heating circulators are being introduced. These enhancements are expected to optimize heat generation, delivery, and system controls, resulting in further energy savings.

Corporate Energy Management Plan

The 2019-2024 Corporate Energy Management Plan (CEMP) provides a roadmap for planning and decision-making for the next phase of the City of Pickering’s energy management program. The CEMP builds on the success of the previous plan, but refocuses the City’s energy management priorities to consider the current context of technology, policy and City growth and development. The CEMP was developed in accordance with Ontario Regulation 507/18, Broader Public Sector: Energy Reporting and Conservation and Demand Management Plans, which establishes a province-wide framework for municipal energy.

Community Energy Plan

With regard to community energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, the City collaborated with the Region of Durham, utilities, and all eight municipalities within the Region to develop a Community Energy Plan.

Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reports

View the Ontario Regulation 507/18 reports for the Corporation of the City of Pickering:

Completing the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) Program

In 2015, Pickering was recognized for achieving Milestone Five, the last step of the PCP program. Pickering is one of only 26 other municipalities in Canada to have achieved this distinction. The Partners for Climate Protection Program is a network of over 300 Canadian municipal governments that have committed to reducing greenhouse gases and acting on climate change.

The PCP program is based on a 5 milestone framework:

Completion of a greenhouse gas (GHG) and energy use inventory, and forecast for the community and municipal operations
Setting local GHG reduction targets
Development of a Local Action Plan to meet established reduction targets
Implementation of actions identified in an adopted Local Action Plan
Monitoring and measurement of actions and results

Contact Us

One The Esplanade
Pickering, Ontario
Canada L1V 6K7

905.683.7575

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