On January 1st, 2012 the Energy Conservation and Demand Management Plans Regulation (O.Reg. 397/11) came into effect. By now, all Ontario public agencies are required to have prepared and published a summary of their 2011 energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions:
On or before July 1, 2013, every public agency shall submit to the Minister, publish on its website and intranet site, if it has either or both, and make available to the public in printed form at its head office the public agency’s Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emission Template for operations conducted in 2011.
The regulation requires public agencies to report their energy usage and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions on an annual basis. By July 1, 2014, and every five years, public agencies are required to submit and publish:
- A Five Year Energy Conservation and Demand Management (CDM) Plan
- Detailed costs and estimated savings for all proposed Energy Conservation Measures
- Updated energy consumption and GHG Emissions
- Benchmark facilities
- Updated building characteristics
- Option to report on previous energy conservation initiatives
Many municipalities have complied with the regulation, but who is collating the results? The Ministry of Energy has belatedly published its Environmental Bill of Rights notice about the regulation, but does not appear to be doing anything to ease public access to the supposedly public reports (E.g. has no links to them from its own website, and no analysis of what has been submitted.) The Ministry of Infrastructure’s energy conservation report page still shows only their 2006 to 2010 report. Why aren’t they showing leadership in complying with the regulation?