Centre For Local Research into Public Space (CELOS)
posted March 05, 2008
This is an ongoing effort to organize the research material acquired by CELOS into a more formal research structure.
See Optimira Energy Savings Reports for a report on the results of the first year of evaluation of the program by Optimira (formerly Cinergy).
posted January 20, 2009
One of the key aspects of Municipal governance is program administration. As a research organization, CELOS is interested in the functionality of public administration, and its effect on public space.
In 2004 CELOS became aware of a $10M contract that had been let to Cinergy Canada, to implement energy savings in Arenas (including outdoor rinks) under Toronto's Energy Retrofit Program. CELOS began accumulating information about it. Now that the implementation phase of the contract is over, we are interested in seeing how it went. By that we mean we are interested in investigating how the mechanics of the contract were implemented.
Fortunately, this should be straightforward, as there are two relatively precise documents governing the implementation of this contract. At the same time there is a substantial amount of money involved and therefore responsibility involved. These realities make the project an ideal candidate for investigation. The two documents are
One of the key Energy Retrofit Program requirements is that retrofits be financed out of energy savings over no more than a ten year period. We therefore propose to pay particular attention to the monitoring and verification of this requirement by City administrators.
At core, we are interested in the capacity of City administrators to pursue due diligence in this type of circumstance - the oversight of a complex contract. We hope to apply insights from this investigation to the formulation of subsequent research.
See also Update 2009 - General Followup Notes