Located in Toronto’s prestigious Yorkville neighborhood, Minto’s 61 Yorkville is a mixed-use building combining 181 apartments, amenity spaces, and commercial space. In partnership with Ecosystem, Minto will benefit from a deep energy retrofit that will reduce energy use intensity by 50 percent and dramatically lower greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent, which qualified the project for the City of Toronto’s Deep Retrofit Challenge funding.
Launched in 2022, the Deep Retrofit Challenge aims to accelerate emissions reductions from buildings in Toronto and identify replicable pathways to net zero. Grants of up to $500,000 were awarded to eight buildings to support deeper-than-planned energy retrofits. Minto Yorkville was awarded a grant in this first cohort.
An air-source heat pump (ASHP) will be installed on the roof of the building, replacing an existing cooling tower. New controls sequences will prioritize heating from the ASHP over the gas-fired boilers that will remain in place for redundancy. The ASHP will also be integrated into the cooling network and will provide preheating for domestic hot water. Retro-commissioning of the existing lighting controls to further optimize the existing systems will also be conducted.
Ecosystem has contractually guaranteed that the project will achieve the requirements of the Challenge grant:
With the forecasted 80% GHG emissions reduction, the project far exceeds The City of Toronto’s 50% GHG reduction requirement and serves as exemplar for multi-unit residential towers in Ontario.
Air-source heat pumps
Heat recovery chillers
Pump and fan controls optimization
Replacement of domestic booster pumps
