Check for leaks in your toilets at least once a year. Add 10-15 drops of food colouring to the toilet tank, leave for 15 minutes and then check. If you see any colour in the bowl, there is a leak which needs to be fixed. Approximately 20% of toilets leak.
Fix leaky faucets right away as these can account for as much at 5% of all indoor water use.
Retrofitting Water Efficient Fixtures
Replace older toilets with high-efficiency, low-flow or dual flush toilets, which use as little as 5 litres per flush as opposed to 15 litres for traditional toilets.
Install high-efficiency, low-flow aerators on all faucets. These restrict the flow and can cut consumption by 6%.
Install high-efficiency, low-flow showerheads. Prices range from $15 and up and they take less than 10 minutes to install.
Ensure that hot water pipes are insulated
Buy a “Retrofit Kit” from a hardware or plumbing store. A typical kit may contain two low-flow showerheads, two toilet tank displacement devices and two toilet tank leak detection dye tablets, as well as literature on efficient water-use practices.
Use of Water
Decreasing indoor hot water use will save you in energy costs as water heaters account for about 15% of a home’s total energy requirements.
Turn off the water when brushing your teeth, shaving or washing.
Clean fruits and vegetables in a pan instead of running the faucet.
Plan ahead - thaw food in the refrigerator instead of under running water.
Run your dishwasher and washing machine only when full. Front loading washing machines cost more but they use 1/3 less water per load. Washing machines with the “Suds Saver” option are suggested.
Saving Water Outdoors
Water your lawn only when needed, or not at all. Walk on your grass to find out if it needs watering; if you leave footprints, it may be time to water. If not, the lawn probably does not require it.
Water in several short sessions: three 10-minute sessions an half-hour apart. This encourages deeper, healthier root systems.
Adjust your lawnmower to a higher setting and mow more frequently. Longer grass blades (2½-3")provide more shade and help retain moisture.
Water your gardens and flowerbeds in the cool of early morning or late evening to decrease evaporation which can be as much as 30%.
If it doesn’t grow, don’t water it! Ensure that your sprinkler is positioned so that water is not wasted on sidewalks, gutters or paved areas.
Lay 2" of mulch around trees and plants to retain moisture.
Clean hard surfaces with a broom, not a hose.
Wash vehicles with a bucket and sponge instead of a hose.
Get a cover for your pool and cut evaporation up to 90%.
Council Resolution: We will allocate the necessary resources to develop and implement a strategic energy management plan that will reduce our energy consumption and its related environmental impact.
Vision
We exercise stewardship in our use of finite energy resources to demonstrate leadership, optimize our delivery of services, and enhance the overall quality of life in our community.
Policy
We will incorporate energy efficiency into all areas of our activity including our organizational and human resources management procedures, procurement practices, financial management and investment decisions, and facility operations and maintenance.
Goals
To continuously improve the energy efficiency of our facilities and processes in order to reduce our operating costs, our energy consumption and the concomitant greenhouse gas emissions.
Overall Target
We will reduce our consumption of fuels and electricity in all municipal operations each year between now and 2020.
Objectives
To implement energy audits on all municipal facilities during the next five years;
To convert all lighting in town facilities, parking lots and street lighting to LED.
We need reliable, low-cost, sustainable energy sources delivering energy to the most efficient facilities and energy-consuming technology feasible.
Stakeholder Needs
Internal stakeholders (Council, CAO, staff) need to be able to clearly communicate the corporate commitment to energy efficiency, and to develop the skills and knowledge required to implement energy management practices and measures. External stakeholders (the Province, community citizens and groups) need the municipality to be accountable for energy performance and to minimize the energy component of the costs of municipal services.
Municipal Energy Situation
Our assessment of organizational capacity for energy management with respect to energy policy; organizational structure; employee awareness, skills and knowledge; energy information management; communications; and investment practices indicates the following: The Town of Mono has pursued many measures to improve the energy efficiency of municipal equipment. Some of these measures include: Interior and exterior lighting upgrades at the town offices and Monora Park Pavilion Proposal to Council for conversion to LED street lighting Approved FIT project for solar photovoltaic applications at Town facilities. As the understanding of corporate energy consumption improves, staff will be equipped with the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions. This improved understanding will also reveal how simple actions like commissioning and maintenance procedures can improve existing equipment efficiency.
How We Manage Energy Today
The management of energy consumption and the energy performance of our facilities and equipment are the responsibilities of: Finance (cost management), Works Department (maintenance), Department managers (operations), the CAO for leadership.
Summary of Current Energy Consumption, Cost and GHGs
Summaries of energy consumption and greenhouse gas may be found in appendices to this plan.
Trends in Energy Consumption
Our energy consumption decreased due to efficiency created by upgrading our buildings with spray foam insulation, high efficiency furnaces and LED lighting retrofits. This trend will continue with additional upgrades and retrofits.
Summary of Current Technical Practices
Our assessment of operations and maintenance practices, facility and equipment condition, and energy performance indicators establishes the following priorities:
Development of standard operating procedures incorporating energy efficiency optimization,
Enhancement of preventative maintenance procedures,
Continuation of our retrofit of lighting system in Mono Centre Community Centre in 2015
Implementation of the LED Street lighting conversion in 2014.
Renewable Energy Utilized or Planned
The Town of Mono aspires to show leadership in the promotion and development of renewable energy systems that are compatible with our asset management and land use planning objectives. As a result, we have applied for and received approval to develop a solar photovoltaic system on the rooftop of the municipal garage/shop building, subject to capacity of the adjoining street hydro system to take the resultant additional current. The town will consider possibilities for additional roof top installations on municipal buildings.
As an integral component of the management structure, the energy management plan is coordinated with the municipality's budget planning process, preventative maintenance plans, environmental management plan, and the overall asset management plan.
We will develop criteria for the design and/or acquisition of new buildings that include energy performance factors and that use as appropriate the principles embedded in performance standards such as LEED and the Model National Energy Code for Buildings.
Business Procedures
We will carry out a comprehensive review of all business processes and modify them as necessary in order to incorporate energy efficiency considerations.
We will carry out the required development of business procedures and communication programs and implement them methodically according to the planned timelines within the resources constraints that apply.
Asset Level
We use department and facility energy team representatives to facilitate the implementation of facility level business procedures and communication initiatives, including energy performance reporting.
Overall Target: We will reduce our overall municipal energy consumption (from all facilities and streetlights) by 5% from 2014 (based on baseline data) to 2019. The baseline was determined by averaging the annual consumption in ekWh for 2011 and 2012 for all facilities reported under Regulation 397/11 plus streetlights as they are such a significant energy consumer.
Green House Gas Emission
Governments at all levels are moving to address emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), in light of scientific evidence on how human activities are affecting the world's climate. For more information on the science, see the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The combustion of fossil fuels in buildings is a major source of GHG emissions that fall under local government influence. Municipalities can lower emissions by improving energy efficiency of buildings and using more renewable energy. The Town of Mono is committed to both objectives through the development and implementation of this Energy Conservation and Demand Management Plan (CDM). We will continue to track and report on GHGs as part of our regular reporting on energy consumption and will evaluate progress in this area against our overall reduction target.
Cost
Summary of Current Energy Consumption, Cost and GHGs: The current energy usage by building is detailed in Appendix A. Our energy usage is updated monthly in the Energy Planning Tool (EPT) and reported annually to the Ministry of Energy.
Energy Consumption: We will review and evaluate our energy plan, revising and updating it as necessary, on an annual basis as based on the Energy Consumption Reports that are submitted to the Ministry of Energy on an annual basis as required under Regulation 397/11.
The Mono Community Policing Committee is run by volunteers who live and/or work in the Town of Mono and meets bimonthly to allow for feedback from committee members, individual residents, and the OPP Community Policing Officer. The committee also operates the Neighbourhood Watch program.
Tax certificates show the amount of money owing against a property. If you are buying a new property you can order a certificate to be sure there are no outstanding amounts owing when you take ownership. Anyone can purchase a tax certificate by submitting a letter requesting a tax certificate, along with the fee payable to the Town of Mono.
You may email a scanned PDF letter request and cheque copy to cathy.crawford@townofmono.com. The original letter along with payment should be placed in the mail the same date as the request.
