Photo courtesy Brookfield Properties

Government and commercial buildings like this 20-storey Ottawa complex will benefit from the data collected through the Canada Green Building Council's (CaGBC's) Green Building Performance Initiative (GBPI).

Those interested in participating in the inaugural round of Canada Green Building Council's (CaGBC's) Green Building Performance Initiative (GBPI) have until September 30.

Under GBPI, building owners and facility management report their energy/water use and progress toward certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED Canada) program, allowing CaGBC to create a 'living' database for nonresidential projects.

Through the council's web-based building performance management system, building owners will be able to go online and take a structured, standardized approach to:
• recording and monitoring energy/water use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions;
• assessing energy and environmental performance of a portfolio of buildings (including carbon footprint and conservation potential);
• identifying energy and environmental improvements using LEED Canada templates;
• obtaining performance metrics and design standards to improve design of new buildings;
• accessing training to guide staff in maintaining high performance; and
• assessing LEED Canada scores, putting their buildings on track toward certification.

This first round of pilots currently involves:
• more than 60 commercial office buildings (covering about 3 million m² [32.3 million sf]);
• several hundred K-12 schools; and
• over 60 government and utility company administration buildings and operations facilities.
(Additional categories will be initiated during the coming years to address other building types.)

For the pilot round, planned workshops will help participants assess energy and environmental performance of their buildings and the development of action plans to move building portfolios toward LEED certification (if the building owner chooses).

Those interested in being included in the GBPI should contact Kris Munden, CaGBC special projects co-ordinator, via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .