Building produced more energy to than it consumed in 2021
The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation at Mohawk College retained its zero-carbon building (ZCB) performance certification with the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) in 2021, producing more electricity than it used.
The college recently received confirmation that Canada’s first zero carbon dually certified building surpassed the required building performance standards for a third consecutive year. In 2018, CaGBC awarded The Joyce Centre its Zero Carbon Building – Design certification, recognizing the building was designed according to zero carbon building requirements. In 2019, CaGBC first verified that the building met the Zero Carbon Building – Performance Standard. This announcement confirms that The Joyce Centre has achieved zero carbon emissions again in its third year of operation.
Over the past three years, The Joyce Centre has exemplified sustainable building operation for students, employees, community and industry partners. While only labs were active during the pandemic, reducing occupancy and energy demands last year, the performance of this impressive building remains remarkable. Our Facility Services team has continued to excel in the ongoing maintenance, calibration and monitoring of this impressive facility.
In 2021, The Joyce Centre generated 665,582 kWh of electricity and used 376,853 kWh, creating a surplus of 288,729 kWh. Of the energy used by the building last year, 236,066 kWh was provided by the municipal power grid and, over that same period, 524,795 kWh of green energy was used by other facilities on the college campus. The Energy Use Intensity (EUI) for The Joyce Centre during this period was 42 kWh/square metre, which is 85% lower than the Canadian national median EUI value for college/university facilities, as published by Energy Star.
As the largest net zero institutional building in Canada, The Joyce Centre is a living lab for students, offering them hands-on access to the monitoring and operations of a ZCB-certified building. Students are able to explore building information modeling, a process of gathering and grouping data from the building’s performance to understand and optimize the design and maintenance during the lifetime of the building.
The design and performance of The Joyce Centre reinforces Mohawk College’s commitment to supporting a strong culture of environmental responsibility and to be a leader in environmental sustainability.
The ZCB-Performance Standard verifies that buildings achieve Zero Carbon operations year after year. Verification is required annually.
