Evidence of meeting #40 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was buildings.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Excuse me. I am worried about our translators, because you are going very quickly
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
I will slow down. I am excited about the program.
Go Green Plus, as I indicated, is a more in-depth benchmarking tool that uses the web-based Green Globes system, and the data is gathered online. When an organization participates in the program, they are signing up for three-year access to this online survey. So they can participate and continue to go back and assess their improvements as they go along. The key point is that it enables the participants to participate in the process, as I said.
The other part of the online system involves portfolio management. So a group of buildings, including the Public Works portfolio, for example, can be measured against each other and measured against industry standards as well. So it is not isolated, building-specific.
The program identifies savings, and it can certainly provide the basis for strategic decisions on how to improve performance.
I included a quote on page 10 from one of the building participants, which is CREIT Management, on the measured savings they have seen from participation in the program. I am not going to go into the brief and the statistical information that Thomas did, because that is representative. But in this case, this particular building site had significant savings from a reduction in water consumption, decreased landfill waste, and increased recycling by over 30%. So those are tangible results.
On Public Works and Government Services Canada's involvement, obviously we are just delighted to have had the opportunity to work with government on that. We think that's showing a leadership role, and that's certainly our objective in delivering the program. And we think it is the right thing to do to have public and private merge for the same purpose.
I thank you for the opportunity. I am sorry for talking so fast.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Thank you very much.
You know, when you're speaking English and you speak quickly, it always takes more words to translate into French. Our translators are wonderful, but I was getting a little worried for them.
President, Canada Green Building Council
I can attest to that. Our new reference guide is available in both languages, and the French is a little bit thicker than the English one.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
It always is, yes.
We'll go with our first questioner, Monsieur Simard.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
Thank you very much, Madame Chair, and thank you for being here this afternoon.
I wonder if I could just get a bit of clarification on both LEED and the Go Green program. Are you competitors? Are they both similar programs? Are you both doing a rating of buildings?
President, Canada Green Building Council
They are a little bit different. They are both rating systems, but they are a little bit different. Internationally, there are a whole bunch of rating systems.
I think we would say that they are actually complementing each other. We focus on new building stock, and BOMA Canada, with the Go Green program, is focusing, actually, on existing commercial buildings.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
So when Public Works is speaking to BOMA, it would be about their existing buildings.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
And then for new buildings, they would be talking to you.
So in our case, BOMA would probably be the rating organization that we would be talking to most, I would think. Right? There are not a lot of new buildings going up. Or am I wrong?
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
I would assume so, certainly based on our understanding of the portfolio.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
I know that Mr. Mueller was talking about $30,000 to $35,000 per building. Maybe, Ms. Cross, you could tell us what that includes.
I think I would rather hear about an existing building. Does an inspector go in, analyze, assess the building, and make recommendations, and then somebody goes in and does the work, and then you go in and certify? Is that how it works?
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
No. Actually you're describing the system the way LEED works.
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
That's right.
Liberal
President, Canada Green Building Council
No. All buildings are certified after occupancy. It is basically that we are very prescriptive about what credits to pursue, what strategies to pursue, and what they have to submit to us for certification.
Depending on the size you pursue, they would submit that to us. And it depends on the credit. It can be from just a signed letter from the architect to a plan, depending on what it is. Then we review that--not we, but our assessment teams--and then based on that, they assign a level of certification to the building.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
So do you have any input into the whole architectural process in terms of making recommendations for energy efficiency? Not really?
President, Canada Green Building Council
We don't have direct input in the design process. Our reference card is pretty detailed around the strategies. As part of the process we provide some assistance to the design team in terms of LEED and the credits they want to pursue, but it's limited. It's up to the design team, with the owner, to decide what kind of building they would like to achieve.
What we do is we train the industry. We have a LEED accreditation program. We accredit professionals. LEED-accredited professionals have to take an exam, and they provide support to the industry. We recommend that they be on design teams. It can be within the owner organization or it could be as a consultant. That's how we assist design teams to achieve—
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
To achieve their rating. The rating, if I'm not mistaken, lasts for three years.
President, Canada Green Building Council
Not right now. In the future there might be, but there's no limit on it right now.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
You would think in 10 or 15 years they may lose some efficiencies.
President, Canada Green Building Council
I agree, but the program has only been around for three years in Canada, so we're still working on it.