Energy Retrofit Success Story

We appreciate it when clients compliment our work - and it gives us an opportunity to share with property managers and condo board members how Energy Retrofit projects can save money, help the environment and improve the lives of tennants. One of our clients, the team at The Ritz Towers in Brampton, recently profiled their project in the Fall 2009 issue of CM Condominium Manager Magazine. We loved their quote:

"Over the past three years Terra became our key asset to help us with our infrastruction program. They worked closely with us in designing retrofit upgrades that provided for enhanced system performance, substantial annual savings and all predicated on a strong business case and financial analysis....". Our contribution was just a portion of the complete rebuild they undertook for there building. Click here to read this terrific case study!

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23 Energy Saving Tips for Condominiums

Reducing energy costs for condominiums is our mission. Through our work in helping condominiums develop a long term forcus on energy managment and capital improvement projects, we have found that many of our customers appreciate receiving reminders of recommended ways to use less energy in a condo building - here are our latest!

Boilers
Maintain your boilers and associated systems. Have your maintenance contractor measure boiler efficiency at least once every year.
Turn off boilers and heating pumps in the summer. Portable heaters can be less expensive to use if heat is required by some tenants in the summer season.
Ensure your maintenance contractor conducts ongoing checks of the control system. Inadequate or incorrectly operating controls can increase your costs by 20 per cent.
Installing new high-efficiency boiler units - you can reduce your gas usage by up to 30 per cent.
Fireplaces
Turn off pilot lights in the summer.
Use automatic fireplace shut-off timers. Timers run for one hour, then need to be reset, and can yield major savings.
Make sure fireplaces are part of your annual maintenance schedule.
Make-up air units
Turn off heating in the summer months.
Set temperature controls to 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit). This temperature is usually sufficient for corridors, stairs and hallways.
Tank-type water heaters
Make sure tank-type heaters are part of your annual maintenance schedule.
Think about changing tank-type heaters to boiler/storage tank combinations for major cost and energy savings
Water storage tanks
Make sure storage tanks are well insulated.
Pipes
Insulate all hot water pipes in the boiler room and any running through unheated areas such as parkades. Make sure that valves and flanges are insulated.
Water temperature
Set the water temperature at 55 degrees Celsius (131 degrees Fahrenheit). Hotter temperature settings waste energy while lower settings can lead to increased bacterial growth.
Showers and faucets
Install low-flow showerheads and save up to 30 per cent on your hot water usage. Flow reducers on faucets can offer additional savings.
Swimming pools
Adjust temperature settings so that the air temperature in the indoor pool area is higher than the water temperature — this greatly reduces heat loss from the pool.
Cover the pool and hot tub when not in use to reduce heat loss and evaporation.
Reduce indoor pool room ventilation rates at night when the pool is not being used.
Cover the pool throughout the period when it is being heated before the start of the season.
Insulation
Check insulation levels when refurbishing and upgrading to current standards where possible.
Windows and doors
Draft-proof windows and doors with weatherstripping.
Install double-glazed windows