One of the main objectives of Partners in Project Green is to improve businesses’ financial and environmental performance through more efficient resource use.

Energy Consumption

To better understand the scale of the potential savings, an assessment of the current energy-use in the Pearson Eco-Business Zone was completed. This assessment looked at all non-process energy requirements, which were estimated at $290 million in electricity and $273 million in natural gas in 2007*. The total non-process energy consumptions are as follows:

This energy data was mapped (see below) to identify energy hotspots that could provide opportunities for micro-generation (i.e. co-generation or geo-thermal); as well as to identify the largest consuming business types (which were manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, and the service sector), in order to target programming to businesses that could most benefit from reductions.

Water Consumption

Partners in Project Green also looked opportunities for potable water and waste-water savings. Total potable water consumption in the Pearson Eco-Business Zone in 2007 was 108,562,686 cubic metres. The sectors consuming the most potable water were transportation and warehousing, plastics and automotive supply chain.

This data was also mapped to identify opportunities for waste-water by-product synergies, where one company's waste-water could be used by a neighbouring company, instead of directly being disposed of into the sanitary sewer system.

* Based on amalagmated electricity costs of $0.05/kWh and natural gas at $0.37/m3