The Town of Newmarket is a known leader in environmental sustainability. Newmarket Community Energy Plan, also known as a Municipal Energy Plan, was adopted on June 7, 2016. If you require this document in an accessible format, please contact planning@newmarket.ca.
Newmarket Community Energy Plan [PDF/3.5MB]
The Newmarket Community Energy Plan is currently being updated. Follow the progress by viewing the public engagement webpage.
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What is a Community Energy Plan?
A Community Energy Plan is an initiative developed by the municipality to reduce the community's net environmental impact. This is done by introducing sustainable practices throughout a multitude of sectors including transportation, residential/non-residential and energy.
Newmarket's CEP is one of the first in Ontario. The Plan sets clear targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, with clear actions for achieving those results. Furthermore, the Plan identifies ways to support our local economy by:
- Increasing our community’s competitiveness
- Creating jobs in the energy sector
- Improving energy efficiency
- Improving energy security
The CEP looks at the types of energy we use as a community, how much energy is used by our home and buildings, our travel, and how population, employment, and land use impact our energy needs. The vision for Newmarket's CEP is:
To create a sustainable community whose energy future is efficient, secure, reliable, and environmentally progressive. Our approach to managing energy will demonstrate leadership and be well beyond the ordinary.
Community Energy Plan targets
- Reduce primary energy use per capita by 50%
- Reduce community greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per capita by 50%
- Increase positive economic development and attractive returns
Newmarket Energy Efficiency Retrofit (NEER) Business Case
As a first step to implementing the CEP, the Town is undertaking the development of a business case for the Newmarket Energy Efficiency Retrofit (NEER) Strategy. The NEER program will focus on the acceleration of residential retrofits in the Town of Newmarket. The CEP made several recommendations, the first one being to create an Entity that delivers residential retrofit services using local contractors and public/private financing mechanisms. The business case will examine how a home energy retrofit program could be offered with the goal of retrofitting 80% of the homes in Newmarket over the next 20 years.
Future energy saving measures
The following are some future energy-saving measures currently being considered by the Town of Newmarket at Town of Newmarket facilities and buildings:
Install glycol pump VFD drives
The existing glycol pumps at the Magna Centre are constant flow pumps equipped with 30 horsepower motors. Honeywell has investigated the installation of variable frequency drives on these pumps. However, CIMCo was not receptive to this idea; as such, this measure may be considered for future implementation.
Install reverse osmosis softwater systems
The installation of reverse osmosis softwater systems were considered for the Magna Centre and Ray Twinney. However, this measure did not meet the financial criteria of this project. However, this measure did not meet the financial criteria of this project.
Install an SCR modification to existing electric coil
Modulating control was considered for implementation on the existing electric heating coil on RTU-8. The existing electric heating coil is equipped with four bank heaters. However, this measure did not meet the financial payback criteria of this project.