Energy Analysis at York Region Water and Wastewater Facilities
Type of initiative
FCM Green Municipal Fund - Plans, Studies, Pilots
Sector
Energy
Project value$189,237
Project Type
Feasibility Study
Sub Sector
Building – Existing – Energy efficiency
Grant amount$68,094
Program type
GMF
Municipality
Regional Municipality of York, ON
Status
Fully Disbursed
Population
1,173,334
Project timeline
2010 - 2011
Project number
10300
Description
As part of its commitment to create a corporate culture of sustainability, the Regional Municipality of York will evaluate innovative uses of selected water and wastewater management technologies to achieve energy efficiency improvements conservatively estimated at 5 per cent annually, with a corresponding 193-tonne reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The selected facilities—a wastewater treatment plant, a groundwater treatment plant, two water pumping stations, and three wastewater pumping stations—represent 30 per cent of the more than 64 million kWh of electricity used annually by the Environmental Services department, itself a consumer of 60 per cent of the region’s overall energy budget.
The energy impacts of municipal water supply and wastewater management typically receive low priority, given that the primary focus is on water quality and wastewater service. York Region’s analysis will identify capital projects such as the installation of high-efficiency motors, harvest of sewage energy to heat and cool the inside of the facilities, space heating using heat pumps to extract heat available from the process, and adjustments to operational procedures such as off-peak pumping. The Yatesmeter - an innovative technology that measures energy lost from pump inefficiency - will also be used at the Humber Sewage Pumping Station to determine if data from the device would be useful for identifying energy efficiency improvements across Environmental Services Department facilities. In addition, the application of a unique, three-dimensional energy use benchmarking approach and best management practices workshop, including an organizational survey, will help the corporation and facilities take action and advance plans to sustain performance improvements. The possibility of unintended impacts will be evaluated at the same time so as to avoid compromised service quality.
Conservation measures identified at the representative facilities are expected to be transferrable to similar facilities region-wide and will be prioritized based on the potential savings in costs and GHG emissions, capital costs, payback period, and synergies with other planned projects and end-of-life replacements. The findings and lessons learned that emerge will be made available to other municipalities so that they can develop their own approaches to improving the energy efficiency of this operational sector.
(Project description from original funding application)
Applicant
Regional Municipality of York, ON