In February 2018, Sidewalk Labs Toronto engaged EQ’s team and Urban Equation to investigate how multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) in Toronto use energy.
In particular, Sidewalk Toronto wanted to understand how energy models differ from actual building energy performance, and how current energy modelling practices contribute to setting realistic building energy performance targets. Ultimately, Sidewalk Toronto is looking for ways to create people-centred neighbourhoods that achieve precedent-setting levels of sustainability, affordability, mobility, and economic opportunity.
For this study, EQs team and Urban Equation had unprecedented access to six major MURB datasets of modelled and metered energy readings as well industry standards and guidelines. By analyzing this data at various levels, the team was able to determine the performance gap – the difference between a building’s actual energy usage and the energy model prediction.
This report is a special collaboration between EQ’s team, Urban Equation, and Sidewalk Labs, born by a shared understanding of the lack of available data and studies completed on the topic. Sidewalk Labs helped guide the topics of study and utilizes the report for widespread interest and applicability. Learn more about the groundbreaking results in the link below.
