When Will TD Centre Hit Peak Green?
TD Centre has garnered most of the green accolades out there. But it's aiming even higher, GM David Hoffman said at last week’s Canada Green Building Council conference. All six towers earned LEED Platinum EB:O&M certification in 2015, and the Cadillac Fairview-owned complex—4.3M SF on 5.5 acres—won BOMA Best certification and a TOBY Award for Building of the Year. For good reason. David noted there's been a 27% drop in energy use at the centre since 2008, a 40% decrease in water consumption, and greenhouse emissions were slashed 28%. The waste diversion rate at the complex, in the midst of a $200M revitalization, is 81%.
David says his energy innovation team has set aggressive targets for TD Centre for 2017: 2.5% year-over-year reduction in energy use; 2% cut in water use and raising the waste diversion rate to 90% (the centre's also piloting a WELL standards program). How much farther can they go, one attendee asked. “The low-hanging fruit is gone, so the future will be more challenging,” David acknowledged. When he joined Cadillac Fairview in 2007, TD Centre's energy intensity was 39 equivalent kilowatt hours/SF. Now it’s down to 29, and they’re shooting for energy intensity of 20 ekWh/SF. “But we’re going to need significant technology shifts and bigger initiatives to get there.”
