Greener New Glasgow’s GHG Reduction Pathway Study

The Town of New Glasgow will complete a greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction pathway feasibility study to help integrate energy performance and GHG emissions reductions into its long-term planning for municipal buildings. The study focuses on pathways for 18 town-owned buildings, exploring possible fast-track scenarios that could extend building life, reduce energy usage, and cut building emissions by at least 50% by 2030 and 80% by 2040. The study is intended to scope a suite of improvement measures and recommended timelines to support informed capital planning to: 1) extend the useful life of the New Glasgow’s municipal building stock; 2) maximize the impact of retrofits in lowering ongoing operating and maintenance costs. The study will bridge asset management, capital and GHG-reduction plans to advance deep-energy retrofits and aggressive emissions reductions now and into the future. The town has partnered with Johnson Controls Canada L.P. through an RFP process to complete the study with plans to implement Phase 1 of selected retrofit projects and facility-improvement measures before the end of 2021. The proposed 18 buildings for the study represent the entire building stock owned by the town, including the fire station, library, police station, town hall, recreation centres, farmers market, and water treatment plants. Investing in these buildings will increase New Glasgow’s capacity for sports and recreation, community gatherings and efficient public service delivery. This will have a tangible and measurable socio-economic impact on the community. Innovative aspect(s): · Assessing retrofit needs and integrating energy performance and GHG emissions reductions into long-term management plans for the town’s entire building portfolio is innovative for a rural community · With a carbon-intensive grid, part of the study will explore onsite renewables, battery storage, energy recovery and the potential to replace fossil fuel heating with biomass boilers · The town will explore climate-resilience measures that would enable some buildings to serve as emergency/comfort centres during extreme weather events Replicability: The study has built-in replication of best practices and lessons learned from demonstrated and proven results into the design of community deep-retrofit projects. Through the Town’s involvement in networks such as QUEST’s Municipal Energy Learning Group, the Global Covenant of Mayors, the Partners for Climate Protection Program, and the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities, several municipalities have already reached out and ask for more information on this project, including its scope, project objectives, and tender process. Results and lessons learned will be well-documented and made available to interested partners and municipalities. (Project description from original funding application)