Language selection

Search


Energy Benchmarking Data Snapshots For All Building Types

ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® banner

On this page

All building types

ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® is a tool used to track the energy use of 26,000 buildings in Canada. Energy benchmarking can help identify opportunities to save on energy costs and reduce environmental impact. This document provides a snapshot of the Canadian data for all building types entered into Portfolio Manager as of December 2020.

Population overview

Quick facts

  • 26,000 buildings
  • 318.5 million m2 floor area
  • 0.9 GJ/m2 median site energy use intensity (EUI)
  • 1.4 GJ/m2 median source EUI
  • 214 ENERGY STAR certified buildings
Map of Canada with numbers displayed over province and territories
Text version - population overview map
Population overview
Province or Territory Number of buildings benchmarking
Alberta 3,400
British Columbia 4,000
Manitoba 1,600
New Brunswick 575
Newfoundland and Labrador 100
Northwest Territories 25
Nova Scotia 1,100
Nunavut <20
Ontario 12,000
Prince Edward Island 65
Quebec 2,000
Saskatchewan 400
Yukon 300

Fuel and population breakdown

Figure 1. Total energy use breakdown

Pie chart - total energy use breakdown

This diagram shows the total energy use breakdown for all buildings in the tool for the given year.

Text version - total energy use breakdown
Total energy use breakdown
Fuel Energy use breakdown
Electricity 52%
On-site Electricity <1%
Natural Gas 40%
Fuel Oil <1%
District Steam 5%
District Chilled Water 1%
Propane <1%
Other 1%

Figure 2. Benchmarking by building type

Pie chart - benchmarking by building type

This diagram shows the number of buildings for each scorable type as a percentage of the tool number of buildings benchmarked in Portfolio Manager. Office is the most common building type.

Text version - benchmarking by building type
Benchmarking by building type
Building type Benchmarking by building type
Office 27%
Medical Office <1%
K-12 School 10%
Senior Living 2%
Warehouse 3%
Hospital 1%
Food Retail 2%
Non-food retail 4%
Other 33%
Multifamily Housing 16%
Hotels <1%
Ice or Curling Rink 1%

Table 1. Benchmarking by city

Benchmarking by city
City Buildings Floor area(m2)
Greater Toronto 7,200 135,500,000
Greater Vancouver 2,200 24,500,000
Island of Montreal 1,000 24,000,000
Winnipeg 975 6,000,000
Calgary 1,400 22,000,000
Ottawa-Gatineau 1,100 19,500,000
Edmonton 775 12,500,000
Halifax Regional Municipality 500 4,000,000
Victoria 175 1,000,000
Quebec 200 2,750,000
Regina 125 1,000,000
Fredericton 65 750,000
Charlottetown 40 200,000
St John's 30 250,000

Cities included are the capital cities and the largest metropolitan areas for each province. Only the top 14 cities are shown.

Table 2. Benchmarking by province and territory

Benchmarking by province and territory
Province or territory Buildings Floor area(m2)
Alberta 3,400 40,500,000
British Columbia 4,000 33,000,000
Manitoba 1,600 8,000,000
New Brunswick 575 3,000,000
Newfoundland and Labrador 100 350,000
Northwest Territories 25 <100,000
Nova Scotia 1,100 6,000,000
Nunavut 25 <100,000
Ontario 12,000 189,000,000
Prince Edward Island 65 300,000
Quebec 2,000 34,500,000
Saskatchewan 400 2,250,000
Yukon 300 450,000
Total 26,000 318,500,000

For privacy reasons, data are not provided for provinces and territories with fewer than 20 registered buildings and/or 100,000 m2 of gross floor area. Numbers may not sum to the total indicated due to rounding. Variations from previous snapshots are possible because of changes in user entry or improved filtering, and data cleaning.

Benchmarking Growth

Figure 3. Overall benchmarking growth

Pie chart - total energy use breakdown

This diagram shows the overall growth of benchmarking buildings in the tool since its adoption in 2013.

Text version - overall benchmarking growth
Overall benchmarking growth
Year Number of buildings benchmarking
2013 6,100
2014 8,400
2015 10,500
2016 11,500
2017 16,000
2018 18,000
2019 22,500
2020 26,000

Figure 4. Benchmarking growth by Province and Territory

Pie chart

This diagram shows the growth of benchmarking buildings by province and territory in the tool since its adoption in 2013.

Text version - growth by Province and Territory
Benchmarking growth by Province and Territory
Province and Territory Number of buildings benchmarking by Year
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
AB 800 1,200 1,500 1,900 2,300 2,600 2,800 3,400
BC 1,100 1,800 2,000 2,200 3,000 3,200 3,400 4,000
MB 100 300 1,000 1,000 1,400 1,600 1,600 1,600
NB 20 100 100 100 200 200 400 500
NL - 30 40 45 90 95 100 100
NS 100 100 300 300 500 700 800 1,100
ON 3,100 3,800 4,300 4,600 6,600 7,400 11,000 12,000
PE - - 35 40 60 60 60 65
QC 400 600 800 900 1,400 1,700 1,900 2,000
SK 100 200 200 200 200 300 300 400
Territories - - - - 50 50 50 325

Figure 5. Benchmarking growth by Census Metropolitan Area (CMA)

Pie chart - total energy use breakdown

This diagram shows the growth of benchmarking buildings by Census metropolitan area (CMA) in the tool since its adoption in 2013.

Text version - growth by Census Metropolitan Area
Benchmarking growth by Census Metropolitan Area (CMA)
CMA Number of buildings benchmarking by Year
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Calgary 400 600 700 700 800 900 1,000 1,400
Charlottetown - - 30 30 40 40 45 45
Edmonton 100 100 300 300 500 600 700 800
Fredericton - - - - - 30 50 65
Greater Toronto 2,300 2,500 2,700 2,800 4,100 4,500 6,800 7,300
Greater Vancouver 700 1,100 1,400 1,500 1,900 1,900 2,100 2,200
Halifax Regional Municipality 100 100 200 200 300 400 400 500
Island of Montréal 300 300 400 400 700 800 900 1,000
Ottawa-Gatineau 300 400 400 400 500 600 1,000 1,100
Québec City 40 55 85 85 100 100 100 200
Regina 100 95 100 100 100 100 100 100
St. John's - - - - 20 25 25 30
Victoria 25 60 95 95 100 100 100 100
Winnipeg 100 200 500 500 700 900 900 900

Figure 6. Benchmarking growth by building type

Pie chart - total energy use breakdown

This diagram shows the growth of benchmarking buildings by province and territory in the tool since its adoption in 2013.

Text version - growth by building type
Benchmarking growth by building type
Building type Number of buildings benchmarking by Year
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Food Retail 400 400 200 300 300 300 400 400
Hospital 65 200 200 200 200 200 200 300
Hotel 70 80 100 100 100 100 100 100
Ice/Curling Rink - 40 75 80 100 200 200 200
K-12 School 400 600 1,100 1,100 1,600 1,700 2,000 2,500
Medical Office 25 25 35 40 75 85 100 100
Multifamily Housing 400 500 800 800 1,000 1,200 3,300 4,100
Non-Food Retail 80 100 200 200 300 300 700 1,100
Office 2,800 3,300 3,900 4,300 5,400 5,900 6,500 6,900
Senior Living 25 35 85 95 100 100 300 400
Warehouse 100 100 200 200 400 400 700 800
Other 1,500 2,700 3,400 3,800 6,200 7,000 7,900 8,800

Certification Trends

Table 3. Total certification by province and territory by year

Total certification by province and territory by year
Province or territory 2018 2019 2020
Alberta 28 29 33
British Columbia 15 32 35
Manitoba 4 6 6
New Brunswick 2 5 4
Newfoundland and Labrador 0 0 0
Northwest Territories 0 0 0
Nova Scotia 2 2 0
Nunavut 0 0 0
Ontario 55 76 93
Prince Edward Island 0 0 0
Quebec 13 10 6
Saskatchewan 0 1 5
Yukon 0 0 0
Total 119 161 182

This table shows the sum of certifications per year and province in Canada (this includes first-time certifications and re-certifications).

The certification program recognizes buildings that are in the upper 25% of energy performance compared to similar buildings across Canada. You can learn more here.

Energy and area distribution

Figure 7. Top performers by building type relative to median

Pie chart - total energy use breakdown

This diagram shows the number of buildings in the tool with a Source EUI above or below the median as determined from the survey data.

Text version - top performers by building type relative to median
Top performers by building type relative to median (GJ/m2)
Building type Source EUI (GJ/m²)  
Office 0.9 P10
Office 1.56 P50
Office 2.58 P90
Medical Office 0.78 P10
Medical Office 1.59 P50
Medical Office 3.1 P90
K-12 School 0.56 P10
K-12 School 0.93 P50
K-12 School 1.47 P90
Senior Living 0.91 P10
Senior Living 1.63 P50
Senior Living 2.74 P90
Warehouse 0.36 P10
Warehouse 0.99 P50
Warehouse 2.28 P90
Hospital 1.9 P10
Hospital 3.28 P50
Hospital 4.78 P90
Food Retail 1.47 P10
Food Retail 3.36 P50
Food Retail 5.31 P90
Non-Food Retail 0.82 P10
Non-Food Retail 1.41 P50
Non-Food Retail 2.4 P90
Other 0.53 P10
Other 1.64 P50
Other 5 P90
Multifamily Housing 0.55 P10
Multifamily Housing 1.06 P50
Multifamily Housing 1.63 P90
Hotels 0.89 P10
Hotels 1.62 P50
Hotels 2.71 P90
Ice or Curling Rink 1.12 P10
Ice or Curling Rink 2.24 P50
Ice or Curling Rink 3.52 P90

Figure 8. Source EUI distribution

Legend

Portfolio Manager distribution;
10th Percentile = 0.62 GJ/m2;
50th Percentile (Median) = 1.39 GJ/m2;
90th Percentile = 3.1 GJ/m2

Bar graph - Energy intensity distribution

This diagram shows the source EUI distribution for all buildings in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. The median source EUI is 1.39 GJ/m2

Text version - source EUI distribution
Source EUI distribution
Building source EUI (GJ/m2) Number of buildings
ALL p10 0.62
ALL p50 1.39
ALL p90 3.1
0 0
0.2 383
0.4 726
0.6 1,232
0.8 2,019
1 2,502
1.2 2,950
1.4 2,887
1.6 2,502
1.8 1,954
2 1,555
2.2 1,168
2.4 892
2.6 747
2.8 531
3 344
3.2 283
3.4 256
3.6 193
3.8 187
4 156
4.2 127
4.4 99
4.6 92
4.8 92
5 82
5.2 67
5.4 53
5.6 42
5.8 35
6 31
6.2 38
6.4 32
6.6 31
6.8 21
7 30
7.2 22
7.4 31
7.6 32
7.8 24
8 19
8.2 26
8.4 30
8.6 25
8.8 23
9 19
9.2 14
9.4 20
9.6 12
9.8 23
10 17

Figure 9. Distribution of floor area and buildings

Legend

blue

% Floor Area

red

% Buildings

Bar chart - Distribution of floor area and buildings

This diagram shows that larger buildings represent a relatively small portion of the number of buildings, but account for a majority of the floor space benchmarked in Portfolio Manager. The median gross floor area is 4,800 m2.

Text version - distribution of floor area and buildings
Distribution of floor area
Floor area Percentage of population
less than 500 m2 0%
500 to 1,000 m2 1%
1,000 to 5,000 m2 6%
5,000 to 10,000 m2 8%
10,000 to 20,000 m2 19%
20,000 to 50,000 m2 31%
Over 50,000 m2 36%
Distribution of buildings
Buildings Percentage of population
less than 500 m2 15%
500 to 1,000 m2 9%
1,000 to 5,000 m2 27%
5,000 to 10,000 m2 14%
10,000 to 20,000 m2 17%
20,000 to 50,000 m2 13%
Over 50,000 m2 5%
Definitions and data information
ENERGY USE INTENSITY (EUI)
EUI is the energy use per square metre at a property. EUI enables you to compare different size buildings.
SITE ENERGY VERSUS SOURCE ENERGY
There are two ways of measuring energy: at the site and at the source.
Site
SITE ENERGY is the simplest way to measure energy because it accounts only for the energy your property itself uses, as measured by your energy meters. The usage that appears on your utility bills is a site energy measurement.
Source

SOURCE ENERGY not only measures the energy used by your property, but also accounts for energy losses incurred during the production, transmission and delivery of energy to your property, source energy is a more accurate measurement of the energy actually required to run your building.

ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager uses source energy. This is the most equitable unit of evaluation, which enables a complete assessment of building-level energy efficiency.

For more information, see the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager Technical Reference: Source Energy.

Data quality

The data is self-reported and has been filtered to exclude outliers, buildings with less than a full year of consumption data, cases that are used for testing purposes, and an additional filter was applied. Variations from previous snapshots are possible because of changes in user entry, improved filtering, and data cleaning. Buildings registered in Portfolio Manager do not represent a randomly selected sample and are not the basis for the ENERGY STAR score.

For more information on ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, contact Natural Resources Canada at buildings-batiments@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca

The ENERGY STAR and PORTFOLIO MANAGER names and the ENERGY STAR symbol are trademarks registered in Canada by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and are administered and promoted by Natural Resources Canada.

Page details

Date modified: