Youth Rec & Family Centre Feasibility Study

The focus of this study is the design of a youth recreation centre that would offer important social benefits to thecommunity and aid in the revitalization of a brownfield area. This would be achieved by constructing a green building thatwould produce almost no carbon dioxide (CO2) in its operations. The building would have sufficient design features to becertified to LEED Gold standards. Through computer modeling of the proposed building’s energy performance, the studywill identify and quantify the optimal combination of mechanical, electrical and other building components. This willinclude an examination of a range of renewable energy sources, such as, ground source heat pumps, passive solarheating, daylight harvesting, solar ventilation, air preheating and solar water heating. The study will also look at ways tomaximize the amount of recycled contents and reduce the amount of embodied energy in their production. It is estimatedthat the proposed building would consume 54 per cent less energy than a building designed to meet the basicrequirements of the Model National Energy Code for Buildings - a performance level comparable to NRCan’s C-2000building standards. In addition, a green building education program to share information with building users and raise theprofile and acceptance of these technologies within the community will be part of the non-funded portion of the study.