Annual Energy Audit Program Helps Oshawa Identify Ways to Reduce Energy Use

The City of Oshawa has big goals to reduce its environmental footprint. 

In 2024, the City invested part of its Canada Community-Building Fund allocation into its annual City facility energy audit program. The annual program identifies ways to reduce energy use, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and cut related costs by looking at operations, building structure, and mechanical systems across the City’s entire facility portfolio. 

The data collected as part of the audit program helps the City’s staff and Council identify opportunities for current and future capital projects, maintenance recommendations, and improved use of existing assets such as building automation systems. The benefit of this is two-fold: Oshawa reduces its corporate greenhouse gas footprint and maximizes the cost-savings of using less energy overall. 

This work complements the City’s newly adopted Corporate Energy Management Plan for 2024 to 2028, which combines the City’s previous Corporate Facilities Energy Management Plan and includes the goals and objectives of the City’s Corporate Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan.

The Plan highlights the City’s current energy conservation measures and actions; identifies areas of opportunity including a corporate Green Building Standard; outlines actions to assist in achieving the City’s goals and objectives for conserving energy, reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and managing the demand for energy; and sets corporate targets.