Workshops and Collaborations

Carbon Neutrality in Ottawa Workshop

March 8, 2023

As the world continues to move towards an energy transition, the facility industry’s ability to participate and adapt is crucial in mitigating the impact of ongoing carbon emissions. Responsible for approximately 40% of all emissions, reducing emissions from building operations is of significant importance to global emissions. But, how do we get there in the National Capital Region?

This one-day hybrid workshop brought together experts from the City, the federal government, utilities, developers, contractors, owners, operators, and design consultants to share their successes and challenges in implementing low-carbon projects required to drastically reduce emissions from building operations. The session reviewed strategies applied by both the public and private sectors as well as tackle the challenging topics of funding, capital cost control, and lifecycle costing.

Multidisciplinary breakout discussions to address the larger issues the various stakeholders face were held between sessions, the insights from which were discussed in the closing remarks.

Welcome Remarks

Session 1: A Developers Perspective on Carbon Neutrality

Speaker: Ross Farris, Windmill Development Group, Senior Development Manager

Session 2: Net-Zero Carbon Objectives for PSPC

Speakers: Maxime St-Denis, PSPC, National Manager for Climate Action, GHG, and Energy & Paul Barton, BGIS, Director of Energy

Session 3: Better Buildings Ottawa Update

Speaker: Janice Ashworth, City of Ottawa, Section Manager for Private Buildings

Session 4: Tools for Carbon Neutral Deep Retrofit

Speaker: Dan Dicaire, Ottawa Community Housing, Manager of Energy and Sustainability

Summary Session and Closing Remarks