Benchmarking program shows City's long-term commitment to sustainability

NEWS RELEASE - Distributed February 10, 2023 11:30 AM

Summary

A recent report from the Building Benchmark BC (BBBC) program has demonstrated the City of Nanaimo's long-standing commitment to sustainability with four City facilities in the top rankings for lowered greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).

In July 2022, the City joined other leading BC municipalities in Canada’s largest voluntary building energy benchmarking program to use data to tackle climate change. With the shared data, BBBC recently released the first annual scorecard report for each of the buildings the City has connected to the program's platform. Their performance is being compared to similar buildings across the province.

Some of the highlights include:

• the Service and Resource building which opened in 2012, ranked as the third lowest in term of GHGs, out of 32 similar building types;
• Police Operations, which opened in 1986, also ranked as the third lowest out of 20 similar building types;
• Oliver Woods Community Centre, which opened in 2008, ranked as the 15th lowest out of 43 similar building types; and
• the Nanaimo Art Gallery, which opened in 1959, ranked as the fourth lowest out of 13 similar building types.

Many of these achievements are due to the use of low carbon energy sources such as electricity in the four buildings. For example, when the heating units in the Nanaimo Art Gallery required renewal, the City’s facility team decided to go all-electric. Both Oliver Woods Community Centre and the Service and Resource building were built with high-efficiency electric heat-pumps.

The scorecards also indicate where improvements can be made to other City facilities to reduce emissions, particularly in large recreation facilities like Nanaimo’s swimming pools and arenas. These facilities typically use large amounts of fossil fuels such as natural gas for heating.

The City hopes to set an example for many building owners in Nanaimo to participate in BBBC, disclose their buildings’ energy and emissions performance and join the City’s effort to fight climate change. Owners of large buildings in Nanaimo who are interested in learning more about this initiative can email sustainability@nanaimo.ca.

The Building Benchmark BC program is a voluntary benchmarking and disclosure program. To learn more and see the energy and emissions information on the City of Nanaimo’s 21 corporate buildings visit www.buildingbenchmarkbc.ca.

Link to Strategic Plan: Reducing the City's climate impact supports a community that is environmentally responsible.

Print News Release

Is there anything wrong with this page?

Help us improve our website

Don't include private or financial information in this form.

Email Address

What you were doing

What went wrong

reCAPTCHA failed - Please try again.

Collection and use of your personal information

Information collected on this form is done so under the general authority of the Community Charter and Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA), and is protected in accordance with FOIPPA. Questions about the collection of your personal information may be referred to the Legislative Services Department at 250-755-4405, or via email at foi@nanaimo.ca. Please also see our Privacy Policy.