Toyota’s Eastern PDC certified carbon neutral

Toyota Canada’s Eastern Canada Parts Distribution Centre (ECPDC), has been awarded the Zero Carbon Building – Design certification by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC), making it one of the most environmentally sustainable buildings of its kind in the country.

The facility with 44,356 square-metres of warehouse and office space in Bowmanville, Ontario,was announced in 2018. With 150 staff, it supplies parts for Toyota and Lexus across Eastern Canada.

Its green features include:

• A site carefully selected to minimize impact on local waterways and ecosystems
• Geothermal heating to reduce the building’s reliance on emission-producing fuels
• Dynamic self-dimming glass to control glare and help reduce the need for cooling
• A 25,000-litre cistern to supply the facility’s low-flow toilets and urinals with rain or snow collected from its roof, saving more than 325,000 litres of water per year
• A 965 kW rooftop solar panel array that generates 1153 MWh annually, providing all the carbon offsets needed on-site
• Natural, drought-resistant plants and multi-use outdoor trails for the community – features which ultimately limit the facility’s overall environmental impact.

“In this critical decade of climate action, corporate leadership is essential,” said Thomas Mueller, president and CEO of the Canada Green Building Council.

“By designing and building their new parts distribution centre to meet targets inspired by Toyota’s Environmental Challenge 2050, Toyota Canada has gone above and beyond, setting a high standard for other corporate leaders to ensure we are transitioning to a low carbon future in everything we do.”

CaGBC’s Zero Carbon Building Standard is Canada’s first green building program to make carbon emissions the key indicator for building performance. According to CaGBC, a zero-carbon building is highly energy-efficient and either produces onsite, or procures, carbon-free renewable energy in an amount sufficient to offset the annual carbon emissions associated with operations.

“From the very beginning, our new ECPDC was designed with environmental sustainability in mind,” said Tony Kelly, vice-president of customer services at Toyota Canada.

“Zero Carbon Building certification is an acknowledgement of our efforts to go above and beyond – not only to meet our own sustainability targets, but to limit our carbon footprint for future generations.”

The building is also registered under the LEED green building rating system, and is targeting a LEED Gold certification.