50 Prince Arthur – GWLRA Residential Drives Energy Efficiency with New Technology

GWLRA Residential continually looks to innovate to improve operational efficiencies, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and enhance occupant comfort. This is the approach our asset management team took in 2022 at 50 Prince Arthur, a 149-suite apartment building located in Toronto’s luxurious Yorkville community. Working with our airtightness consultant, the team looked to improve the efficiency and operation of one of its make-up air (MUA) units by applying an aerosolized pressure and spray technology called Aeroseal. This technology is used to minimize duct leakage, a major cause of energy loss in buildings.

The aerosolized sealant, which is composed of a vinyl acetate polymer, works by being atomized and injected into ventilation systems to seal small holes in duct-work, creating tighter seals and reducing air leakage. Prior to sealing, conditioned air would flow into unintended spaces, wasting energy and impacting occupant comfort. The application of the sealant is non-disruptive to occupants and residents and does not produce any volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

The team also installed additional sensors and controls for the MUA unit, to further enhance its efficiency and operation, and identified and sealed larger holes found within the ductwork during testing.

Post-retrofit, the air flow through the MUA’s ventilation shaft has improved by 32% and reduced duct leakage to less than 5%. These savings produce a clear environmental benefit, resulting in a combined reduction in natural gas and electricity usage of 322,743 ekWh, over the study period. By reducing this utility usage, the building avoids producing 56 tonnes per year of CO₂e emissions, which is the same as 13.2 homes’ energy use for an entire year. The financial benefit of this efficiency improvement is also significant, resulting in estimated utility costs savings of $21,570 per year. This is a direct savings for our owner client, and is equivalent to over $600,000 in value creation (at a 3.5% cap rate).

With the success of the pilot, the team is looking to deploy this technology at other sites to further support GWLRA’s efforts to improve energy efficiency and strive for lower GHG emissions amongst its portfolio of managed assets.