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Heat Pumps Add Cooling for Toronto Community Housing Residents

Case Study

Updated Aug 19, 2026

66 Walpole Ave, Toronto

Type

Town house complex, owned by Toronto Community Housing Corporation

Old System

Electric baseboard radiators, electric hot water tank, 7.6 LPF toilets

New System

LG multi-split cold climate air source heat pumps, Rheem Air Source domestic hot water heat pumps, and low flow toilet retrofit.

Partners

Toronto Community Housing Corp. | Ecosystem

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Project Details

66 Walpole Ave, Toronto: Town house complex, owned by Toronto Community Housing Corporation

Old System: Electric baseboard radiators, electric hot water tank, 7.6 LPF toilets

New System: LG multi-split cold climate air source heat pumps, Rheem Air Source domestic hot water heat pumps, and low flow toilet retrofit.

Partners: Toronto Community Housing Corp. | Ecosystem


April 2023. City of Toronto. In May of 2019, TAF joined project partners to retrofit a 1987 townhouse complex in Toronto’s east end. We aimed to reduce site-wide energy consumption by 20% by introducing cold climate air source heat pumps (CC-ASHP) into each suite, investigating the opportunity for air source domestic hot water (DHW) heat pumps, and replacing all toilets with low flow equivalents. We also hoped to improve residents’ thermal comfort and reduce their exposure to extreme summer heat.    



Recommendations

  • Create a mock installation to test new technologies.

    Understanding sequencing and interaction of trades, and troubleshooting issues without disrupting residents prior to a full building rollout improves results and resident satisfaction.

  • Enable cooling

    to increase resident comfort and satisfaction, reduce peak demand, and protect against health impacts of extreme heat.

  • Lengthen cycle times and reduce return temperatures to allow GAHP to reach maximal steady-state efficiency.

    Increase the deadband of the GAHP controller to keep it on for longer periods, installing the heat exchanger in a counterflow configuration to promote better heat transfer (and likely reduce the temperatures in the GAHP glycol loop). And, add more intelligent control to the recirculation loop such that it is not unnecessarily mixing hot water with the cold city water prior to the GAHP heat exchanger.

22%

reduction in greenhouse gas emissions

$5k

annual savings on energy bills

100%

tenant satisfaction with thermal comfort

17%

reduction in electricity demand

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