Renewable Energy Transition Roadmap

In January 2019, council adopted a new Environmental Master Plan that includes community-wide goals of achieving 30% emissions reductions by 2030, and 80% by 2050 (relative to 2016 emissions levels) and the goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2050. The Renewable Energy Transition Roadmap is a long-term technical blueprint that provides pathways to achieving these ambitious goals.

The Roadmap is also a climate action plan – the first developed for the Banff community since 2003. The cornerstone of the plan is a comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the community that uses 2016 as a reference year. From this reference year, two scenarios were modelled to the year 2050, based on assumptions for population, land use, technology uptake, and a variety of external factors. The scenarios include: 1) business-as-usual (BAU), which describes the community’s emissions trajectory assuming no new emissions reduction efforts are undertaken, and 2) low-carbon (the ‘Roadmap’ proper) which documents the emissions impact of an ambitious suite of 30 actions. These actions are grouped into four broad categories:

Energy efficient buildings
Local low-carbon energy
Importing renewable energy
Low-carbon transportation

The Roadmap describes the proposed actions in detail, summarizes the modelling results, and makes recommendations for implementation/next steps.

Renewable Energy Transition Roadmap (PDF)

Study Boundary

An accurate GHG inventory requires the selection of a suitable physical boundary that defines what sources of energy and emissions will be included. This study’s project boundary does not coincide exactly with Town’s municipal boundary (Figure 3). The numerous Parks Canada sites and hotel/resort properties located immediately outside the official town boundary are inseparable from the town proper in terms of employment, tourism activities, transportation systems, water services, waste management, and other factors. Additionally, these sites all lie ‘behind’ the Town’s permanent traffic counters located on Norquay Rd and Banff Ave, so including these sites greatly simplifies the transportation modelling aspect of the study. Although originating outside the study boundary, intercity/visitor transportation emissions are included in the emissions inventory and modelling.

Proposed actions for energy efficiency improvements in buildings

#	Action	Application	Assumptions and Timing
	New Buildings
1	New and renewed residential building energy performance requirements	Increased energy efficiency in residential buildings as part of an enhanced building code.	All new buildings are Passive House compliant starting in 2030.
2	New and renewed commercial building energy performance requirements	Increased energy efficiency in commercial buildings as part of an enhanced building code.	All new buildings are Passive House compliant starting in 2030.
	Existing Buildings
3	Energy efficiency retrofits of homes	Make existing housing stock more energy efficient.	90% of all dwellings achieve thermal savings of 50% and electrical savings of 50% by 2050. (17,350 m2 retrofit/year)
4	Energy efficiency retrofits of commercial/hospitality buildings	Make existing commercial building stock more energy efficient.	90% of all commercial buildings achieve thermal savings of 50% and electrical savings of 50% by 2050. (10,000 m2 retrofit/year)
5	Municipal building retrofits	Make municipal buildings more energy efficient.	100% of all municipal buildings achieve thermal savings of 50% and electrical savings of 50% by 2030.
6	Recommissioning	Periodically reset and optimize buildings’ HVAC and energy systems for peak energy performance.	Recommission all major buildings every 5 years to reset performance to baseline or better.

Proposed actions for emissions reductions from energy generation

#	Action	Application	Assumptions and Timing
	Heat & Power from Biomass/Biogas
7	Wood waste district heating	Wood chip boiler to heat Town buildings (possible future expansion)	Capacity: 150 kW by 2020 - 2,300 GJ by 2020 - 6,300 GJ by 2025
8	Biogas (RNG) Cogeneration	Anaerobic digestion of biosolids and/or food waste at the WWTP	Capacity: 220 kW by 2026 - 5,844 GJ heat - 1,948 MWh electricity
	District Energy with Natural Gas Cogeneration & Geoexchange
9	Congeneration	Natural gas, RNG at Fenlands Rec Centre	Capacity: 294 kW by 2023 - 4,730 GJ heat - 876 MWh electricity
10	Congeneration	Natural gas, RNG, and geo-exchange in downtown core	Capacity: 3.34 MW by 2023-2028 - 149,000 GJ heat - 23,700 MWh electricity
11	Congeneration	Natural gas, RNG, and geo-exchange at Banff Centre	Capacity: 1 MW by 2023 - 45,000 GJ heat - 9,500 MWh electricity
12	Congeneration	Natural gas, RNG, and geo-exchange at Banff Springs Hotel	Capacity: 1.83 MW by 2023 - 89,000 GJ heat - 18,600 MWh electricity
	Distributed Renewable Energy Generation and Storage
13a	Community-wide Solar PV	Residential rooftop	1.45 MW by 2050
13b	Community-wide Solar PV	Commercial and hospitality rooftop	11.5 MW by 2050
13c	Community-wide Solar PV	Parking lot solar canopies (80% of lots and 60% ground coverage)	9.6 MW by 2050
14	Facilities Solar	WWTP site	120 kW by 2023
15	Small scale wind	Small wind turbine at the WWTP	5 kW by 2023
16	Heat recovery at WWTP	Heat pumps to recovery heat from treated effluent	Capacity: 90 kW by 2023 - 3500 GJ heating energy
17a	Heat pumps (ambient heat)	Residential air source and ground source heat pumps	55% of homes have heat pumps installed by 2050
17b	Heat pumps (ambient heat)	Commercial air source and ground source heat pumps	75% of commercial buildings (unless connected to district heat)
18	Electricity storage	Local or utility-scale storage for electricity generated from renewables	1.7 MW total

Proposed actions for emissions reductions from imported energy

#	Action	Application	Assumptions and Timing
	Importing Renewable Energy
19	Renewable electricity procurement	Purchase renewable energy from outside of town	Increase renewable electricity purchases, as a percentage of all electricity consumption to: - 35% by 2035 - 50% by 2050
20	Renewable natural gas procurement	Purchase of RNG from outside of town	Increase RNG purchases, as a percentage of all natural gas consumption to: - 5% by 2030* - 10% by 2040 - 20% by 2050

*ATCO (Banff’s natural gas distribution company) supports the Canadian Gas Association’s 2030 target of 10% RNG blended into natural gas streams. The Roadmap goes beyond this target post-2040.

Proposed actions for emissions reductions from transportation

#	Action	Application	Assumptions and Timing
	Transit
21	Increase transit frequency	Increase frequency on Route 1 to every 5 minutes; Route 2 every 10 minutes; all other routes to every 15 minutes	Increase in-town transit mode share to 20% by 2030. Increase in-town visitor transit mode share to 30% by 2030
22	Expand regional transit	Expand rapid transit routes and frequencies between Banff, Lake Louise, Canmore.	Increase regional transit mode share to: - 10% residents by 2030 - 20% residents by 2050 - 30% multi-day visitors by 2050
23	Expand intercity transit (Calgary to Bow Valley)	Introduce an on-road electric train/coach bus service between Banff and Calgary.	Increase external transit mode share to - 10% single day visitors by 2030 - 20% single day visitors by 2050 - 30% multi-day visitors by 2050
24	Electrify local/ regional transit	Transition Roam fleet to EV buses.	100% electric by 2030
	Vehicle and Fleet
25	Electrify Town fleet	Install charging stations at most public buildings.	Municipal vehicles are 100% electric by 2030. All civic facilities have charging equipment by 2022.
26a	Coordinate EV incentives for local vehicles	- Improve awareness incentive programs - Assign priority parking stalls for EVs, with chargers.	- 100% of local new vehicle sales are EVs by 2030. - 100% of vehicle sales to visitors are EVs by 2040
26b	Coordinate EV incentives for visitor vehicles	- Improve awareness incentive programs - Assign priority parking stalls for EVs, with chargers.	- 100% of local new vehicle sales are EVs by 2030. - 100% of vehicle sales to visitors are EVs by 2040
27	Electrify commercial vehicles	Freight and delivery vehicles are electrified.	100% of new commercial vehicles are electric by 2030
28	Create a carshare service	A carshare service is implemented, based on successful examples in other cities.	Car ownership and vehicle mode share decline 5% by 2025.
29	Congestion charge/ car-free zones	Designate Banff’s downtown area as an active transportation and transit only area (restricted use or congestion charge).	Shift 30% of day visitors to active and transit transportation modes.
	Active Transportation
30a	Cycling infrastructure and programs	Create cycling lanes, storage options, bike lanes, and bike and e-bike sharing programs.	Increase cycling mode share to 15% by 2030.
30b	Walking infrastructure and programs	Improve walking infrastructure (sidewalks, crosswalks) and wayfinding	Increase resident and visitor walking mode shares to 50% by 2030.