Impact of Toronto’s Avenues & Mid-rise Building Guidelines on Solar Energy Generation Potential

As cities grow, strategies for how and where to accommodate growth are increasingly important. Similarly, renewable energy is gaining importance as a means of reducing our dependency on fossil fuels and other non-renewables, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, and creating energy resiliency at a local level. The purpose of this Major Research Project is to determine the impact the Mid-Rise Building Performance Standards, from the City of Toronto’s 2010 Avenues and Mid-Rise Building Study, have on solar access and to quantify the potential of energy generation using solar photovoltaic systems along the Avenues in Toronto. What impact do the Performance Standards have on solar access to mid-rise buildings along the Avenues? The research concludes that low-podium built form provides the most benefit for the study area – Eglinton Avenue West, at Bathurst Street: the porous street-wall built-form, as outlined in the Mid-Rise Building Performance Standards, provides the highest solar energy generation and energy savings potential.