When the City of Varennes’ municipal library was no longer meeting provincial building standards or the needs of residents, the city decided to take a bold step forward and replace it with a “net-zero” energy library. The new library will produce as much energy as it consumes.
A cluster of research institutes are located in Varennes, including the federal CanmetENERGY Research Centre. Varennes made excellent use of this breeding ground for innovation and partnered with both CanmetEnergy and Concordia University’s Solar Buildings Research Network in Montreal to plan the most sustainable building possible.
By March 2013, shovels were in the ground and Varennes was on its way to constructing Canada’s first net-zero energy institutional building.