Making progress on McMaster’s commitment to a net zero carbon campus

The next step in McMaster’s Net Zero Carbon Roadmap is the acquisition of two new electric boilers, which, when installed in late 2025, will reduce our campus’s carbon emissions by 23%. To enable this transformative project, the university is participating in Ontario’s Industrial Conservation Initiative (ICI) program by the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO). The ICI is also known as the Chasing the Peak or the Peak Shaver program.

The ICI program provides savings to organizations that decrease their draw from the provincial power grid during periods of high demand. By participating in this program, organizations help maintain the electrical grid’s reliability and reduce the need for the province to build additional energy sources to meet this demand.  

When advised that electricity is in high demand, such as during hot summer days, the university will reduce its draw from the provincial grid by using our natural gas backup generators to generate our own electricity. These are the same generators that ensure the campus has a reliable source of electricity during outages to power research labs, health facilities and other critical university operations. 

Thinking provincially, acting locally   

McMaster is one of many organizations participating in the ICI program, which, due to Ontario’s electricity generation supply mix, ultimately has a net-zero carbon effect across the province.  

As explained by Engineering professor Jim Cotton, when the provincial grid experiences high electricity demand, such as during the hottest days of summer, “the carbon emitted by the peak shaving (backup) generators would be similar to the carbon that would otherwise be emitted by the province’s centralized gas plant to power campus.”     

While the carbon impact is similar, an additional benefit of generating our own electricity on campus is that we avoid transmission loss. When electricity travels from a power plant to campus, 3-5% is lost due to transit; when electricity is generated locally on campus, 100% remains available for use.    

Through this program, the university has the potential to save between $1.8 and 3.5 million annually on its hydro bill.  These savings will go towards the electric boilers, which, when operational, will reduce McMaster’s carbon emissions by almost a quarter.  

Learn more from McMaster Mechanical Engineering Professor Jim Cotton on how the backup generators fit into the Net Zero Carbon Roadmap at the university. Cotton, an expert in sustainable energy and part of the Centre for Climate Change, consulted with the university on this project.   

Adapting to changing electrical demands   

McMaster is committed to operating the backup generators for the least amount of time possible. To support this minimal use, our Facility Services team works closely with an electricity peak advisory service that recommends when to operate the generators to fulfill the ICI program requirements.   

When the university first planned for the ICI program in 2020, based on the Net Zero Carbon Roadmap, it was estimated that the generators would need to run about 100 hours per year to meet the ICI program criteria.  

However, Ontario’s electricity demand has increased over the past three years. In addition to higher summer temperatures and extended heat waves, the changing electricity use patterns have increased the length of the electrical demand peaks, resulting in extended run times for the backup generators. 

To participate in the ICI program and receive the savings needed to fund the electric boilers, the university will be operating the generators for more than 100 hours during the summer of 2024.