Written by: Adam Assimakopoulos
Edited by: Sunny Bell
Intro to TDSB Solar Energy Programs
As Canada progresses through its energy transition, renewable sources become pervasive features of local communities. Indeed, while climate policies targeting key emitters are crucial to reducing the country’s overall footprint, bottom-up approaches help mend the gap between individual actors and federal agencies. With this in mind, I turn my attention toward Toronto public schools. Over 50% of Toronto’s GHG emissions are generated directly by buildings, and the city’s schools emitted an average of 213 metric tonnes of CO2in the 2022-2023 school year (TDSB, 2024). Specifically, I look at how environmentally sustainable policies, renewable energy, and education interact within the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Action Solar Schools and Action Energy Management projects. These projects are concerned with helping Canada reduce its emissions by outfitting school buildings with the appropriate renewable updates, and scrutinizing overall energy use within the TDSB, respectively. While these strategies have been implemented with some measurable success, a closer look at the shifting nature of Toronto schools may reveal that solar energy isn’t being used to its full potential.
This article looks at the current state of the TDSB’s climate programs by reviewing changes in schools’ emissions since 2019. This quantitative study is compared with associated education policies in the same time frame. I find that despite the substantial and clean work of solar power across the TDSB, the effect of renewable energy is harmed by concurrent circumstances.
The State of Solar Power
In 2010, the TDSB outfitted 10 schools with solar panels. The energy gathered from these panels is to be sold to the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) across a 20-year period, incurring $3.4 million for the TDSB’s Environmental Legacy Fund – money that was set to fund teacher professional learning, urban forest management, school-initiated projects, information technology, and energy initiatives (TDSB, 2010). This was in direct response to the encroaching emissions reduction deadline set forth in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Since then, 347 schools have had Solar PV systems installed, amounting to 148,000 solar panels which the TDSB claims will offset 8000 metric tonnes of CO2 per year. This is exactly 18.5t per panel (TDSB, 2024). Still, 120,089.3 total metric tonnes of CO2 were emitted during the 2022-2023 school year.
I also want to note that these figures are not indicative of the rising demand toward AC outfitting in schools. With climate change driving up the temperatures in shoulder seasons,
teachers frequently turn to outdoor forms of education (TDSB, 2024). While outdoor learning is an overall benefit for elementary learning strategies, it ultimately signals that energy supply cannot keep up with demand. In other words, the offsetting of 8000 metric tonnes of CO2is poised to become increasingly less salient.
Concurrent Policies
I’d be remiss if I didn’t call attention to other alarming aspects of the TDSB’s climate programs. First, the Government of Ontario’s e-learning requirements reduce the time spent in the classroom, yet, increase energy output offsite. Because of this, energy reduction is merely offset, rather than reduced. As mentioned previously, warmer shoulder seasons and poor ventilation systems have enhanced “outdoor education” and “environmental education,” two experiential learning programs set forth by the TDSB. While outdoor learning is ultimately a positive appendage to the traditional curriculum, indoor temperatures will soon become unbearable. This presents two key issues for the solar panel program:
Either solar energy will struggle to keep up with the demand of rising temperatures in classrooms (this could occur through constant use of electrical fans; for schools with air conditioning systems, high energy use coupled with open windows will limit the efficiency of solar energy). Alternatively, the program may fail completely if online or outdoor education undermine the need for clean energy investment.
Where to go from here?
The TDSB’s solar energy programs epitomize Canada’s complex and precarious journey toward publicly funded sustainability. When long-term energy initiatives fail to accommodate for short-term policy changes, clean energy investment appears to compete with overall energy reduction. Indeed, the TDSB’s Action Solar Schools and Action Energy Management programs have succeeded in retrofitting public schools with renewable energy sources. However, ancillary education policies such as e-learning, outdoor education, and environmental education appear to compete with panels’ efficacy. Climate change amplifies the latter two. The result is a troubling push away from thoughtful energy investment which threatens to undermine the value of solar retrofitting.
_________________________________________________________________
References:
Government of Ontario. (2022). Policy/Program Memorandum 167. Retrieved from the Government of Ontario website.
Toronto District School Board (TDSB). (2024). Energy Consumptions and Emissions Report - 2022/23. Retrieved from the Toronto District School Board website:
https://www.tdsb.on.ca/environment/Home/Environmental-Leadership/Energy-Management
Toronto District School Board (TDSB). (2024). Toronto District School Board 2024-2029 Energy Conservation and Demand Management Plan. Retrieved from the Toronto District School Board website:
https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/environment/docs/Toronto%20DSB_2024-2029%20ECDM %20plan_Final.pdf
Toronto District School Board (TDSB). (2010). Go Green: Climate Change Action Plan. Retrieved from the Toronto District School Board website:
https://ppf.tdsb.on.ca/uploads/files/live/92/1756.pdf
Comments