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CITY OF KAMLOOPS
SUSTAINABLE KAMLOOPS PLAN

INFORMATION PACKAGE ON ENERGY

(Final Version – 2010 February 09)

BACKGROUND

Developing strategies to address energy demand and supply in Kamloops is critical to community
sustainability for a number of reasons:

• Stable and reliable energy supplies are critical to economic and social development in a
community;

• Producing and consuming energy results in environmental consequences such as

greenhouse gas emissions, ecological impacts, and air quality concerns, among others;

• Globally, dwindling supplies of readily available petroleum products will cause increases in
prices at the same time that, over the long-term, other conventional sources of energy will
have price volatility;

• Most transportation energy in Kamloops is provided through the combustion of diesel or

gasoline with smaller amounts of energy derived from the combustion of propane or
natural gas;

• Building electricity in Kamloops is generally provided by BC Hydro which generates

electricity at hydro-electric dams; and

• Building heating in Kamloops is generally provided by electricity, or by combustion of

natural gas, wood, or oil.

Energy security has been a major issue for the provincial government. Goals and policies that
the provincial government has established with respect to energy include:

• Reducing the energy demand at work by 9% per square metre by 2020 for commercial and
institutional buildings.

• Mandating Provincial electricity self-sufficiency by 2016 and corresponding commitment

that electricity will come from carbon neutral sources.

• Acquiring 50% of BC Hydro’s incremental resource needs through conservation by 2020.

• Installation of smart meters in homes by 2012. Smart meters will take accurate electricity
usage readings at regular intervals and provide feedback to the customer. They will also
allow the use of time-of-day pricing for electricity if BC Hydro chooses to do so.
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• Introducing legislation giving municipalities the ability to incorporate energy and water
efficiency considerations into development permit area guidelines.

• Developing the new Provincial Green Building Code which requires new homes to achieve
an EnerGuide rating of 77 which infers higher energy efficiency. The Green Building Code
makes low water use fixtures mandatory. It has been suggested that the Building Code be
updated every three years.

• Requiring all provincially funded buildings to be LEED certified and requiring by 2016 that
all new publicly-funded buildings in the province have net-zero GHG emissions.

• Requiring a reduction of electricity use in existing provincial buildings by 20%.

• Requiring all new provincial government buildings to be LEED Gold or better.

• Establishing a tiered rate structure for electricity, which results in increased rates for
consumption beyond certain levels.

• Implementing tailpipe emission standards for vehicles sold in BC which will reduce the
energy used in the vehicle fleet.

• Using hybrid vehicles in government.

• Establishing the Provincial Transit Plan and subsequent investments.

• Requiring that all larger landfills in BC be reviewed to determine if energy production from
methane capture is feasible.

In Kamloops, there have been a number of initiatives to improve energy security. These include:

• Use of substantial alternative energy systems at Domtar and Tolko.

• Kamloops is home to 13 buildings that are LEED certified or are proposed to be LEED
certified.

• Sun Rivers, located on the Tk’emlups Indian Band reserve, is one of the first communities
in Canada to employ a district heating and cooling utility based on geothermal energy.

The City of Kamloops is also a signatory to the Climate Action Charter. This requires that the City
become carbon neutral in its municipal operations by 2012. Achieving carbon neutrality will
require that the City address how it uses energy in its municipal operations.

BASELINE CONDITIONS

When considering energy characteristics, it is important to provide a summary of baseline

conditions for community energy characteristics as well as a summary of energy use in City-
operations.
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Community-wide Energy Characteristics

The baseline conditions for energy use are based on the Community Energy and Emissions
Inventory completed for each municipality by the BC Ministry of Environment. Given the
limitations in this data, a comparison of energy use for residential buildings was undertaken and
compared on a per capita basis between Kamloops and other communities in the province.
Table 1 summarizes this data.

Table 1 – Residential Energy Consumption in Kamloops

Temperature
Electricity Natural Gas Total Energy
Community (°C)

Feb. July Total GJ GJ/Person Total GJ GJ/Person Total GJ GJ/Person

Vernon 0.1 22.0 558,146 15.5 918,713 25.6 1,476,859 41.1

Abbotsford 5.7 19.5 1,902,010 15.4 2,686,216 21.7 4,588,226 37.0

Prince
-4.1 16.9 1,020,616 14.4 2,307,868 32.5 3,328,484 46.9
George

Kelowna 1.1 22.2 1,846,027 17.3 2,517,235 23.6 4,363,262 40.9

Kamloops 1.0 23.3 1,183,746 14.7 2,212,829 27.5 3,396,575 42.3

Another way to compare energy use is through the transportation network. Data was also
collected for the CEEI representing transportation energy use. Table 2 summarizes energy use
for transportation in Kamloops.

Table 2 – Summary of Transportation Energy Use

Community Total Energy (GJ) Energy (GJ) /Capita

Vernon 1,977,076 55.0

Abbotsford 5,616,318 45.3
Prince George 4,553,928 64.2
Nanaimo 4,092,133 52.0
Penticton 1,707,995 53.5
Kelowna 6,215,267 58.2

Kamloops 4,512,424 56.1

It is important to note that both Domtar and Tolko Industries produce a large amount of their
energy needs on-site through wood waste gasification and combustion of wood waste to produce
electricity. In addition, many residents of Kamloops have installed alternative energy systems
and as such have reduced their reliance on traditional sources of energy.
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City-Operations Energy Characteristics

The City of Kamloops, in its corporate operations, consumes significant amounts of energy. This
is becoming a greater issue due to the City’s commitment to carbon neutrality. Table 3
summarizes the City’s corporate energy consumption.

Table 3 – Corporate Energy Consumption

Energy Consumed GHG Emissions

Energy Type Energy Cost
(mwh) (tonnes CO2E)

Electricity (2007) 56,068 $3,920,914 1,233

Gasoline (2008) 4,194 $ 250,946 1,046
Diesel (2008) 8,376 $1,006,739 2,156
Natural Gas (2007) 21,690 $1,114,136 3,982

Total 90,328 $6,292,735 8,417

As can be seen, electricity results in the largest energy costs but natural gas has the highest
greenhouse gas emissions. This is an important consideration when developing an energy and
emissions strategy.

As noted in Table 4 water pumping and treating, and recreation facilities result in the highest
rates of energy consumption. Water pumping and treating accounts for over 40% of the City’s
electricity usage. For context, this is equivalent to approximately 7% of Kamloops’ residential
electricity consumption. Recreation facilities result in over 60% of natural gas usage. The
Canada Games Pool consumes over 20% of the City’s natural gas.

Table 4 – Energy Consumption by Municipal Service

Annual Energy Consumption (mwh)

Description
Electricity Natural Gas Total
Public Works 986 1,283 2,270
Civic Buildings 2,784 1,129 3,914
Fire Protection 626 1,227 1,853
Parks 568 302 870
Street Lighting 4,783 0 4,783
Sewer 9,405 123 9,528
Water 24,137 2,614 26,751
Traffic control devices 242 0 242
Recreation Facilities 12,537 12,412 24,948
RCMP 0 725 725
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Additional baseline conditions which would supplement the above include:

• Number of buildings in Kamloops which rely on sources of energy other than electricity and
natural gas (especially geothermal and solar). Large industrial, commercial, institutional and
residential development would be of particular interest. Domtar and Tolko were mentioned
as examples;

• Total community energy costs;

• Transportation mode choice. This information is contained in the Transportation information

package, and shows an 80% : 20% ratio between driving and other modes (carpool, transit,
walk, cycle, other) as a means of travel-to-work.

GOALS

City Operations

• Reduce energy consumption and costs in City-owned facilities and for the vehicle fleet.

• Maximize use of clean alternative sources of energy for all new major facilities.
• Assess use of alternate sources of clean energy for retro-fitting of existing major City
facilities.
• Recognize the need for lengthier pay-back periods (ie. 20 years) for investments in
alternate green energy technologies.
• Develop a corporate Energy Management Plan.

Community-Wide

• Reduce energy consumption and costs in the community for buildings and transportation.

• Encourage and facilitate the increased use of clean alternative sources of energy.
• Develop a made-in-Kamloops approach to building design, construction and operation
which emulates the LEED program.
• Develop a community Energy Management Plan.
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TARGETS

City Operations

• Use energy at City facilities that produces no greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.

• Produce the equivalent of 10% of City energy needs through alternative energy systems
(i.e. solar, wind, geothermal, methane gas from landfill/sewer, waste heat) by 2020.

• Be energy self-sufficient for building energy by 2050.

• Reduce consumption of fossil fuels for transportation by 25% by 2020.

• Construct all new municipal buildings to equivalent of LEED gold standard.

Community-Wide

• Decrease community energy use by 20% by 2020, and 50% by 2050 (in comparison to 2010
as the base year).

• Increase to 30% the number of people using alternate modes of travel to employment
(including carpooling, transit, walking, cycling and other modes) by 2020;

• Increase transit ridership by 50% (compared to base year of 2008) by 2020.

• Increase the share of alternate fuelled motor vehicles by 200% by 2020 and 400% by
2050.

• Increase the number of LEED equivalent buildings in Kamloops to 30 by 2020.

• Increase density of development (as measured by population density) by 25% by 2050,

recognizing the energy conservation benefits of higher-density neighbourhoods. Additional
density-related targets are contained in the Land Information Package

• Decrease summer-time per capita water consumption by 20% by 2020 and 50% by 2050
to reduce water pumping.

PROPOSED DIRECTIONS

City Operations

• Develop a corporate energy management plan

• Pursue co-funding opportunities with BC Hydro
• Review opportunities for efficiencies in lighting City buildings, including motion sensors
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• Assess energy savings achieved through use of roundabouts at appropriate intersections,

rather than conventional signed or signalized intersection treatments

City Influencing Community

• Develop a community energy plan

• Determine whether City can regulate extent of use of Christmas lights
• Develop made-in-Kamloops building standard based upon the LEED program
• Explore use of Community Charter and Local Government Act provisions as mechanisms to
allow neighbourhood investments in alternate clean energy sources (wherein investment
would be carried with the property rather than the owner, allowing a longer-term perspective
on the investment)

City Working with Others

• Encourage provincial and federal governments to continue incentive and tax-relief programs
for residential, industrial and other energy conservation programs, and transitions to
alternate clean energy sources (such as geoexchange and solar)