2018 Results
$100,000 in annual electricity cost savings
700,000 kWh in annual energy savings
Summary
The City of Markham, in Ontario, held a Battle of the Buildings competition inspired by Energy Star's National Building Competition and designed to empower and encourage facility staff and users to reduce electricity consumption through practical low- and no-cost operational and behavioral changes, while also boosting engagement and awareness around energy efficiency.
Background
The competition was initiated by the City of Markham’s Manager of Corporate Energy in response to the development of a Corporate Energy Management Plan in 2014 and has inspired other municipalities to do the same, such as the Regional ClimateWise Challenge in York Region.
This case study focuses on the last competition held in 2018. In 2019, Markham updated their Corporate Energy Management Plan and needed to re-align the competition with the new baseline. The competition was set to restart in 2020, however, external factors, including the Covid-19 pandemic, disrupted these plans and the competition has not yet restarted.
From its inception to its final year in 2018, the competition demonstrated a commitment to sustainable practices and community involvement, emphasizing the importance of energy efficiency and environmental stewardship.
What the competition set out to achieve
The objective of the competition was to educate staff on how local facilities use energy and how to identify operational behavioral changes that could significantly impact energy consumption, cost savings and greenhouse gas emissions reduction.
Approach
The competition ran for four years from 2015 to 2018. In 2015, the initial competition ran for three months, from January to March, and participation was limited to large community centres. From 2016 onward, the competition extended to six months (January to June) and participation was opened to both large and small community centres, as well as administrative facilities. Participants competed in separate categories based on facility type.
To encourage staff participation and make energy efficiency more engaging, prizes were awarded to winners of five categories based on overall energy reductions (Table 1).
Table 1. 2018 Battle of the Buildings award categories
Award categories | Overall reduction (%) |
| Most energy-efficient building | Lowest electricity intensity (kWh/square foot) |
| Platinum | Best energy reduction performer |
| Gold | At least 15% |
| Silver | At least 10% |
| Bronze | At least 5% |
Some of the prizes included monthly pizza lunches and movie tickets. The big prize for winning the battle was $1,000 which could be used by the winning team toward energy conservation initiatives such as weather sealing and LED light installation. Overall, the budget for visuals, posters, food, certificates, movie tickets and prizes was about $10,000, excluding staff time.
Barriers and solutions
Markham’s energy staff encountered several challenges running the competition, including:
- setting accurate baselines
- designing effective incentive structures
- preparing clear informational materials
- dedicating sufficient staff time and resources to manage the competition efficiently
Staff overcame challenges by creating an engaging communication plan, using easy-to-understand visuals and reporting results in relatable terms such as energy and cost savings. They collaborated with the communications department to produce materials such as posters, banners and newsletters while recognizing achievements through monthly celebrations.
Data analysis was conducted to track anomalies, and the competition was gradually scaled up with feedback-driven improvements. The City also engaged local post-secondary students and interns to assist with the launch of the competition.
Results in 2018
- Annual electricity cost savings of $100,000.
- Annual electricity savings of more than 700,000 kWh.
- In total, the winning facility achieved a cumulative energy reduction of 24% over six months, while the second- and third-place facilities reduced their energy consumption by 15% and 12% respectively.
- Overall, the average energy reduction from this effort across all participating facilities was 8%.
- The winners of the 2018 categories can be found in Table 2.
Table 2. 2018 Battle of the Buildings winners
Certificate / Award | Overall reduction (%) | Winners |
| Platinum | Best energy reduction performer | Centennial Community Centre |
| Gold | >15% energy reduction | Centennial Community Centre 8100 Warden |
| Silver | >10% energy reduction | Markham Village Arena Crosby Arena Clatworthy Arena |
| Bronze | >5% energy reduction | Angus Glen Community Centre Civic Centre Pan Am Community Centre Cornell Community Centre |
| Most energy-efficient building | Large multi-use | Milliken Mills Community Centre |
| Most energy-efficient building | Small arena | Markham Village Arena |
| Most energy-efficient building | Fitness and administrative | 8100 Warden |
Benefits
The competition engaged and educated facility staff by encouraging them to review energy data and bills, exchange ideas and improve their awareness of energy use and management. It fostered the adoption of best practices, generated project ideas aimed at improving efficiency and triggered investigations into anomalies or re-commissioning projects. Additionally, it made the workplace more fun and collaborative.
Lessons learned
Lessons learned from the competition include:
- The importance of extending the timeline to six months for better engagement and even considering expanding it to 12 months.
- The scope of the competition could be expanded to include thermal energy monitoring and reporting (i.e., natural gas, district energy).
- Installing real-time energy meters would support timely data analysis and quicker anomaly detection.
- Incorporating weather normalization into the process is recommended.
- Engaging local staff to read meters can provide immediate results.
- Running the competition is time-intensive and requires sufficient staffing capacity. Hiring interns and college students was essential to success.
Next steps
The City of Markham has no current plans to relaunch the competition, but remains interested in pursuing it in the future. Presently, the staff continues to advance corporate energy efficiency by analyzing more trends in real-time metering and building automation systems (BAS) and adding thermal (natural gas and district energy) tracking. The City aims to create a recommissioning program with predictable cycles between BAS retrofits and to align its baseline to its new five-year corporate energy management plan.
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