Transforming the government building stock will typically entail a combination of retrofitting existing buildings to improve performance, and designing new buildings to be green, efficient, and low carbon. These actions have been successfully implemented by leading local governments in BC, and many tools and resources are available to assist others.

Policies

Civic Building Policy [1]
Establish policies that include commitments and targets for both existing and new government buildings, possibly including building location guidelines [2]. Siting of new civic buildings and facilities is also critical to the emissions that result from employee and public transportation to and from that building.

Projects

Green Building Project
Initiate a low-carbon, green civic building catalyst project for a new government building.

Civic Building Retrofit [3]
Develop and implement a comprehensive energy efficiency retrofit program, that includes consideration of renewable energy sources, and takes advantage of innovative financing

Processes

Life Cycle Costing [4]
Utilize life cycle costing for building decision-making.

Inventories: for existing buildings
Establish an energy and emissions baseline and ongoing tracking.

Building Operator Training: for both existing and new buildings
Enable building operators to be better able to identify and implement energy savings initiatives.

Building Location [2]
Guidelines for siting new civic buildings and facilities.