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Energy association promoting fiscally responsible initiatives across Canada

The Association recently appointed Anthony DaSilva from Ameresco as its first Chair, Luis Rodrigues of Honeywell as its Vice Chair and Peter Love, Ontario’s former Chief Energy Conservation Officer, as its first President.

Many organizations such as cities, universities, colleges, school boards, hospitals as well as provincial and federal governments, says ESAC, have successfully implemented performance-based solutions across Canada. ESAC says that through its advocacy, performance-based solutions can become the premier choice for energy and infrastructure renewal initiatives, resulting in fiscally and environmentally responsible outcomes for all Canadian organizations.

Energy-efficiency upgrades, renewable energy strategies and overall infrastructure renewal initiatives can all be achieved through performance-based solutions delivered and guaranteed by energy services companies, says ESAC. The organization adds that this type of solution allows organizations to make needed upgrades and improvements with little risk, as the upgrades are funded through guaranteed energy and operational savings. The end result is upgraded facilities, lower energy consumption/cost and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. This allows the building owner to put more of their time, energy and limited financial resources into their core mission, according to the organization.

“Reducing energy consumption continues to grow as a priority for all levels of government as well as public institutions and private companies,” said Peter Love, President of ESAC. “For governments, this priority forms an essential component of their plans to achieve environmental savings, primarily in terms of reducing greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. This is because over 80% of the man-made GHG emissions in Canada come from the production and use of energy. For provincial governments (responsible for electricity systems), energy conservation/efficiency is also embraced as it reduces the need for expensive additions of electricity generation, transmission and distribution assets.”

For energy end users, ESAC says reduced energy use is a growing priority because it represents a way for these organizations to control their energy costs. Organizations that employed Performance Based Solution to achieve their energy reduction goals last year will save about $45 million in energy costs annually, according to the organization. An important but often unrecognized benefit of investments in energy efficiency, says ESAC, is that they are relatively labour intensive with most of the labour supplied by companies in the immediate vicinity of the project. ESAC says that the $450 million invested in such solutions creates more than 4,000 direct jobs and over 5,000 indirect jobs for a total of about 9,500 jobs according to industry estimates.

For further information on Performance Based Solutions and the Energy Services Association of Canada, go to www.energyservicesassociation.ca.