Community Energy Plan

The City of Guelph’s Community Energy Plan, initiated in late 2005 and completed in April 2007, has a simple yet compelling Vision:

Guelph will create a healthy, reliable and sustainable energy future by continually increasing the effectiveness of how we use and manage our energy and water resources.

This vision is supported by several key goals, all of them developed by a Consortium of public and private enterprises in the City, including Guelph Hydro Inc and Guelph Hydro Electric Systems Inc.after extensive public consultation throughout the community. Five key goals are:

1. Guelph energy use per capita and resulting greenhouse gas emissions will be less than the current global average.
2. Guelph will use less energy and water per capita than comparable Canadian cities.
3. Guelph will have a variety of reliable energy, water and transport services available to all.
4. Guelph will be the place to invest, supported by its commitment to a sustainable energy future.
5. All publicly funded investments will visibly contribute to meeting the other four goals.

These goals are built on the premise that Guelph will grow from its current population of 115,000 to 180,000 by 2031. In general, the CEP focuses on energy directly used in the City – e.g. buildings, industries and vehicles- as this can be more easily influenced by community action.

In support of these goals, the CEP makes several recommendations, of which some critical components are:

1. Use stringent new energy efficiency building codes to add 20,000 homes with no net increase in energy needs.
2. From 2012, create annual improvement in energy efficiency of about 1% per year, aligning with international best practice by the year 2031
3. Adopt an energy performance labeling scheme for buildings as a pilot for Canada to gain about 5% incremental delivered efficiency.
4. Meet growing transport requirements while reducing transportation energy use by 25% through vehicle efficiencies, sensitive urban design and creative transportation options.
5. Within 15 years, ensure that 25% of Guelph’s total energy requirement is competitively resourced from locally created renewable resources.
6. By 2031, strive to have 30% of Guelph’s electricity requirements associated with combined heat and power co-generation.
7. Reduce demand on the summer peak electricity grid by 40% by 2031
8. Systematically create an integrated energy metering, billing and management network to allow cost effective management of all energy forms.
9. Create an environment for quality industrial investment by offering world class tailored energy services, achieving annual investment growth rates higher than the underlying population growth, with no increase required in primary energy sources for the first 15 years of growth.
10. Initiate large area, high efficiency scale projects that create early success and create a pool of community expertise.

In summary, in spite of significant population growth it is planned that overall fuel use required by the City of Guelph will decrease from today’s total of 8,475 GWhe to 6,135 GWhe by 2031. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions per capita from the current 16 tonnes to 7 tonnes. Guelph will thus take its place as one of the most attractive and competitive cities in Ontario and Canada, with a core energy productivity expertise that will be sought out around the world.

For the Full Community Energy Plan, please go to the City of Guelph website www.guelph.ca and follow the links...

Municipal World Article:

This article on Guelph's Community Energy Plan was published in the February 2008 edition of Muncipal World Magazine.