A new potential net-zero emission commercial building has made its way to Princess St.
The Canadian Infrastructure Bank (CIB) and Modern Niagara Group Inc. (Modern Niagara) announced in 2022 they would spend $25 million to upgrade a 230,000-square-foot building. Located at 945 Princess St, the building’s grand opening took place Oct. 3, with multiple individuals giving speeches about the three-year process of renovating the building. Brad McAninch, chief executive officer of Modern Niagara, gave his own speech about Canada’s long road to sustainable buildings and meeting Canada’s net zero by 2050 plan.
Modern Niagara’s vision for the facility “is to create an exciting environment for discovery, experimentation, and innovation that serves all sectors,” McAninch said. Sectors include environment, energy solutions, manufacturing, water management, and renewable energy.
The company is committed to replacing its fossil fuel-based heating system with an electric one that utilizes heat pumps, enhancing insulation and creating a more energy-efficient, sustainable space. These upgrades will reduce the building’s carbon emissions by over 80 per cent, ing the City of Kingston’s objective to lower overall emissions and achieve a facility net-zero carbon rate, according to Modern Niagara.
Intent on hosting a variety of companies at the industrial data centre, Modern Niagara will include Queen’s, Green Centre Canada, a company that transforms chemistry and material innovations of companies into products, and Sparq Systems, a low-cost solar power conversion company, in the facility.
CIB currently manages roughly $13 billion in investments, including numerous clean energy projects. Recently, CIB’s CEO faced an investigation by the Board of the company following allegations of a conflict of interest related to a $210 million financing project, due to ties with a senior vice-president at the recipient company. The CEO was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.
“To put it into perspective a little bit, theres 500,000 commercial buildings similar to this in Canada. All of them today, or the vast majority of them, are emitting some level of carbon, meaning between now and 2050 all of them need to go through a retrofit, stop emitting carbon and get to net zero in time,” McAninch said in his speech.
McAninch said from now until 2050, roughly 50 buildings a day have to be renovated in order to meet this net-zero goal.
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