Brookfield Office Properties and Crown Property Management buildings are the lowest energy users in the Toronto region’s commercial real estate sector in the Race to Reduce, according to CivicAction, which recognized both companies at its Race to Reduce awards.
In the under 300,000-square-foot category, Brookfield Office Properties’ 105 Adelaide St. West building tied Crown Property Management’s 2001 Sheppard Ave. East for lowest energy use. Both received a 92 Energy Star performance rating.
In the over 300,000-square-foot category, Brookfield Office Properties’ The Exchange Tower won top honors for its Energy Star performance rating of 93.
An Energy Star performance rating of 92 indicates that the building is among the top 8 percent of similar buildings across North America, while a rating of 93 indicates that the building is among the top 7 percent.
Additionally, Crown Property Management won the greatest energy reduction building performance award in the under 300,000-square-foot category. Its 415 Yonge Street building cut energy use by 9 percent based on 2010-11 usage.
In the over 300,000-square-foot category, Toronto City Hall at 100 Queen St. reduced its energy intensity by 18 percent during the same time period.
Winners’ efforts contributed to a collective 2 percent energy reduction by participants in the first year of the four-year Race to Reduce smart energy office challenge, based on 2010-11 total site energy use, CivicAction says.
Launched in 2011, the voluntary four-year challenge sets a goal to reduce total energy use in participating office buildings by at least 10 percent. It’s open to landlords and tenants in office buildings of all types, sizes and ages. The aim is to improve air quality in the Toronto region and reduce carbon emission in the office-building sector, which contribute about 20 percent of the region’s carbon emissions, according to the Living City Report Card.
CivicAction says more than 600 landlords and tenants are participating in the Race to Reduce — they occupy more than 63.3 million square feet of office space, or about 31 percent of the total office space across the Toronto region — and 61 were recognized at the annual awards.