In 2016, the Bank of Canada completed an extensive renewal of its headquarters in Ottawa, successfully renovating and updating the complex while preserving its heritage. Working with Hydro Ottawa to make use of the Save on Energy Retrofit Program, the Bank of Canada has undergone a full building retrofit.
With exhausted major systems to address, and a need to modernize the building to meet contemporary building and security standards, the Bank of Canada also took the opportunity to make the building more energy efficient, cost effective and environmentally sustainable. The Bank of Canada leveraged Hydro Ottawa’s Retrofit Program to achieve these goals. Novel solutions were used to reduce the energy consumption of the building, going well beyond a basic retrofit. While the heating and cooling, lighting, controls, etc. were all changed out, the building envelop was also upgraded, leveraging the existing structure to improve the efficiencies of the building. The Bank of Canada took a unique approach and maximized efficiency.
The results are the historical preservation of a stunning building while reducing 50% of its electricity use – the equivalent of removing over 1,300 homes from the electricity grid. While the initial estimate was savings of 6.9 gigawatt-hours, the project ultimately came in at 10.4 gigawatt-hours in electrical savings.
As a trusted energy advisor to our customers – large and small – Hydro Ottawa is proud to have had the opportunity to work with and support the Bank of Canada with this retrofit. Working with the design team through the process, Hydro Ottawa provided guidance on how decisions would impact the retrofit incentive. The Save on Energy Retrofit Program offers subsidies of up to 50 per cent of project costs for organizations making the switch to greener equipment, and can often provide the incentive needed to make a retrofit bigger and better, much like the Bank of Canada has done.
Hydro Ottawa looks to partner with innovative leaders and organizations so that we can drive toward a green and sustainable future together. The Bank of Canada is certainly one of those innovative leaders and should be proud of their efforts in sustainability.