Date: October 20th, 2017

University of Toronto
Department of Civil Engineering

CIV282/CIV220
Prof.Sanaz Ghasemi/Prof.Susan Andrews

Improving the Greater Toronto Area’s Urban Metabolism

Mong Hang Karen Chu

Signature:

*This report is entirely my own work and those not are referenced sources of
information
1.0 Introduction
Urban metabolism is defined by the means of quantifying the sum total of all
materials and commodities, such as energy, water, and waste, needed to sustain the
urban region’s inhabitants [1]. The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is located in Ontario,
Canada and consists of five regions: City of Toronto, Peel Region, York Region,
Durham Region, and Halton Region (Appendix 1, Figure 1). The five regions cover an
area of 7124.15 square kilometres. An urban metabolism study of the GTA was
conducted in 2003 and studies the changes of inputs and outputs between 1987 and
1999 [2]. This report analyzes the different attributes in the urban region influencing the
inputs and outputs of GTA and the urban metabolism. The report begins with a
description of the GTA and the influence of climate, population, and major infrastructure
on the urban metabolism. Then, it identifies the current problem of greenhouse gas
emissions due to transportation and discusses strategies for improving the efficiency of
the GTA’s urban metabolism. Finally, a critique of the urban metabolism analogy is
presented which accesses the utility of it to engineering analysis.
1.1 Attributes Influencing the Inputs and Outputs of the GTA’s Urban Metabolism
Population, land use, transportation, and climate are four attributes that influence
the urban metabolism of the region. In Table 1, a description of each element is
provided as well as its influence on the urban metabolism through inputs and outputs
such as the region’s food, water, energy, materials, wastewater discharge, solid waste,
and air emissions.
Table 1: Attributes and their influence on the Urban Metabolism

Attributes Description Influence on inputs/outputs

Population -Increased by 20% between This results in an increase in

1987 and 1999, from resource consumption of water,
4,037,613 people to 5,071,324 energy, food, and materials,
people[2] leading to an increase in waste
production.
 -Approximately 6.417 million
people as of the 2016 census,
density of 849/km^2[3]
Land Use -Currently, an additional 1,070
km^2 of rural land will be
urbanized by 2021, which is
almost double the size of the
City of Toronto[4]
-About 92% of the land is
Ontario's best farmland[4]
Transportation -Vehicles requires a large
amount of energy and fuel to
operate and releases pollutant
emissions such as CO2
The urbanization of the GTA
causes more emissions to be
emitted and energy used from
new commercial, residential, and
industrial buildings. As well, the
development of roads results in
more carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions from the increase of
vehicle usage.
The urban sprawl also overtakes
green space, and therefore less
farmland is available to grow
crops and create food sources
for the growing population. This
means that more imports are
required to sustain the lives in
the area.
Theses emissions include
greenhouse gases, such as
carbon dioxide, that contribute to
global warming. Global warming
results in climate change and
therefore affects the inhabitants
of the urban region.
Climate The average temperature
ranges from -3 degrees
Celsius in January and 21
degrees Celsius in July [5].
With the cold winters and hot
summers, more energy is used to
normalize the temperature
through the use of heaters and
air conditioners.

2.0 Inputs and Outputs of the Greater Toronto Area

An overview of the inputs and outputs are presented in the Figure 1. Inputs
include food, energy, water, and materials, while outputs compose of wastewater
discharge, solid waste, and air emissions. The diagram represents the GTA in the year
1999. Calculations for each input and output can be found in Appendix 1.1

Figure 1: Inputs and Outputs for the Greater Toronto Area in 1999 [6][7]
 Below are the changes of the inputs and outputs of over the period between
1987 and 1999.
Food Consumption: With the increase in population, the total consumption by
humans has increased by 27% from 1987 to 1999. However, the per capita
consumption (kg/year) only increased by 1% during the 12 year period.
Water: The majority of water is pumped through Lake Ontario. An increase of
24% total water supply occurs in 12 years from 1987 to 1999.
Energy: Gasoline and electricity. Gasoline: Gasoline and diesel use have
increased by 27% and 67%, respectively, over the 12-year period [2]. The increase in
population has allowed for an increase in people purchasing vehicles resulting in an
increase purchase of gasoline and diesel fuels. Electricity: Increase in electricity
consumption of 20% over the study period.
Materials: Material input to the region in 1987 corresponded to 86400 square feet
of building space and CAN$420 million of engineering works; in 1999 material input
corresponded to 45000 square feet of building space and CAN$1036 million of
engineering works [2].
Wastewater Discharge: Generally, Lake Ontario is used for both water supply
and wastewater discharges (Figure 1). The wastewater discharged has increased 4%
by volume, but per capita discharges have decreased by over 17% over the 12-year
period from 1987 to 1999 [2].
Solid Waste: As a result of the increased inputs, solid wastes production have
increased. However, improvements in recycling has decreased the total residential
waste disposal in the GTA from 1,548,000 t in 1987 to 1,372,000 t in 1999 [2].
Air emissions: The City of Toronto data shows that transportation is the main
source of several pollutants. It accounts for over 80% of NOx and CO emissions and
60% of SO2 emissions [2].
3.0 Strategies for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
One of the major contributions to air emissions is transportation, especially in the
City of Toronto. In Figure 1, it is seen that air emission in tonne per person per year is
higher than the combination of residential and commercial and industrial waste by
1,820%. Roughly 11.4 million Canadians reported that they drove a vehicle to work in
2011 [8]. The constant use of vehicles release CO2 emissions in our atmosphere and is
capable of absorbing infrared radiation, trapping and holding heat in the atmosphere. By
increasing the heat in the atmosphere, CO2 are responsible for the greenhouse effect,
which ultimately leads to global warming. Below are two solutions to minimize the CO2
emissions.
3.1 Tri-Reforming Processing Air Emission Filter
A solution to reduce CO2 emissions is through the installment of devices that
absorb CO2 emissions and repurposes the emissions for energy use through the
process of tri-reforming. Tri-reforming is the process that refers to simultaneous
reforming of oxidative CO2 steam from natural gas and is a synergetic combination of
endothermic CO2 reforming, steam reforming, and exothermic oxidations of methane
(Figure 2) [9]. This process allows for CO2 emissions to undergo chemical reactions to
generate heat that can be used to increase energy efficiency. The device consists of a
vacuum that intakes the emissions and transforms it into a hydrogen gas/CO2 ratio
component that can be used to generate heat. The heat is stored in a thermal battery
that can be removed and replaced when at its capacity. Devices are mounted on each
street light post at a level parallel to vehicles, approximately 1.45m from the ground, at
high traffic volume location such as the Highway 400 series in Toronto or major
intersections, as this is where the heaviest concentration of CO2 emissions are located.
Street lights are placed at consistent intervals ranging between 55-89 m and are on
both sides of the road which makes the location of the devices more effective. During
set intervals of time, the devices are maintained and thermal batteries are replaced
where the heat from the old battery can be used in . The device can also include a
tracker to account for the amount of CO2 intake and when the thermal battery is at
capacity.
 Figure 2: Example of process of tri-reforming using electric power plants [9]

3.2 Highway 401 Extension

The Highway 401 in Toronto is considered to be the most used highway in North
America (FIgure 3). The average annual daily traffic count in 2016 was 1,209,000
vehicles [10]. The large volumes of vehicles causes congestion and therefore results in
vehicles not moving. Air emissions are continuously being emitted even though it does
not benefit the vehicle user and causes more exhaust than necessary.

Figure 3: Toronto Highway 401 rush hour traffic jam, July 2016 [11]
 A solution to relieve the traffic volume is to build a highway extension above the
current highway. With the new extension, more space is available for vehicles to
travelled the same route and resulting in less traffic congestion, leading to lower CO2
emissions. This solution is implemented by dividing the highway into sections and
applying construction to one section at a time. As construction is still in process, the
original highway can still be in use to avoid more traffic congestion with an alternate
route. Construction of the extension in each section will be an active site until it is safe
for vehicles to pass underneath, therefore only causes a relatively small inconvenience
at a time. Each individual section will then be connected through concrete bonding
which allows concrete pieces to stick together. The downfalls of this solution is the high
cost amount to complete the project and the amount of time needed for it to finish.
4.0 Urban Metabolism Analogy
Urban metabolism is described as an analogy of a living organism’s method to
sustain living and an urban area's functionality and its effect on the inhabitants. These
two have similarities such that both systems take inputs and return a form of waste.
Living organisms take in food while urban regions take in resources and materials.
Complex organisms, such as humans, design a space to survive and work to optimize
it. However, the decisions that humans make can also affect the lives of those around.
Although they are similar, the analogy does not strongly represent urban metabolism.
Living organisms are self-operating beings that ignore other factors and are responsible
for themselves and makes use of its inputs for their benefit. In comparison, urban
regions depend on the population and design of the area for their functionality and one
action can cause a chain of consequences. A better analogy of urban metabolism can
be the ecosystem environment. Ecosystems contain living organism that work together
to achieve a liveable environment similar to urban regions. Both urban regions and
ecosystems have similar inputs and outputs, such as water and waste. Animals may
require to move to a location closer to a source of water which resembles the human life
where humans move closer to their workplace to maximize efficiency.
 The urban metabolism analogy using organisms as a metaphor is useful to
engineering analysis to an extent. As engineers, it is efficient to measure each input and
output in an area to develop an understanding and analysis of the region. This allows
for focus in one particular element and optimization designs for that element. However,
since an urban area is more similar to an ecosystem, every component is
interdependent with one another and cannot be separated into domains for an accurate
representation of the region. Inputs and outputs analysis creates a good model but not
the reality of the area. As a whole, both urban regions and ecosystem are living
environments which allows for a good analogy compared to the analogy to a natural
self-operating system.
5.0 References
[1] Wolman, A. 1965. The metabolism of cities. Scientific American 213(3): 179-190.
[2] Sahely, H.R., S. Dudding, and C.A. Kennedy. 2003. Estimating the urban
metabolism of Canadian cities: GTA case study. Canadian Journal for Civil Engineering
30: 468-483
[3] Population and Dwelling Count Highlight Tables, 2016 Census. ​Statistics Canada.
[Online]. Available:
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/pd-pl/Table.cfm?Lan
g=Eng&T=304&SR=46&S=87&O=A&RPP=5&PR=35&CMA=0&CSD=0
[4] Urban Sprawl. ​Greenbelt Ontario.​ [Online]. Available:
http://www.greenbeltontario.org/pages/urbansprawl.htm
[5] Canadian Climate Normals 1981-2010 Station Data. ​Government of Canada.
[Online]. Available:
http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_normals/results_1981_2010_e.html?searchType=st
nName&txtStationName=Toronto&searchMethod=contains&txtCentralLatMin=0&txtCent
ralLatSec=0&txtCentralLongMin=0&txtCentralLongSec=0&stnID=5051&dispBack=0
[6] Lake Ontario. ​Encyclopedia Britannica.​ [Online]. Available:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Lake-Ontario
[7] Toronto’s Fastest-Growing Companies: 2017 PROFIT 500. ​Canadian Business.
[Online]. Available:
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/lists-and-rankings/profit-500/2017-greater-toronto-are
a-fastest-growing-companies/
[8] Commuting to Work. ​Statistics Canada. ​[Online]. Available:
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/as-sa/99-012-x/99-012-x2011003_1-eng.cfm
[9] Tri-reforming: A new process for reducing CO​2 emissions.
​ ​Pennsylvania State
University. ​[Online]. Available:
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/archive/ci/31/i01/html/01song.html
[10] Highway Management. ​Ministry of Transportation.​ [Online]. Available:
https://web.archive.org/web/20131005053711/http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/engine
ering/
[11] Toronto, Ontario, Canada July 2016 Epic rush hour gridlock traffic jam on Toronto
highway 401. ​Shutterstock.​ [Online]. Available:
https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-18146674-stock-footage-toronto-ontario-canad
a-july-epic-rush-hour-gridlock-traffic-jam-on-toronto-highway.html
[12] Greater Toronto Area Map. ​Wikipedia. I​ mage. [Online]. Available:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Greater_toronto_area_map.svg
[13] Roadway Lighting Design Guide. ​SaskPower.​ [Online]. Available:
http://www.saskpower.com/wp-content/uploads/residential_streetlight_engineering_prac
tices.pdf
6.0 Appendix 1

Figure 1: Map of the Greater Toronto Area divided into the five main regions and their
sub-regions [11].

1.1 INPUTS/OUTPUTS
Food​:
● Total Consumption: 4794.0x10^3 tonne/year [2]
● Per capita consumption: 946.0 kg/year = 0.946 tonne/year [2], 1kg = 0.001 tonne
Water​:
● 930,467,125 tonne/year [2], 183.5 tonne/person/year = 930,467,125
tonne/5071324 person/year
Energy​:
● Gasoline 5,494,000 m^3 [2]= 5,494,000 tonne
Electricity​:
● 46,121 GWh/5,071,324 person = 0.0091 GWh/person
 ● 3600 GJ = 1 GWh, 0.0091GWh/person = 32.76 GJ/person
Materials​:
● Concrete: 6,300,000 tonne/year, Lumber: 186,000 tonne/year [2]
Wastewater Discharge​:
● *797,853,500 tonne[2], 797,853,500 tonne/ 5,071,324 person = 157.3
tonne/person
*Data from 1998
Solid Wastes​:
● *Residential Waste: 1,548,190 tonne[2], 1,548,190 tonne/5,071,324 person =
0.305 tonne/person
● *Commercial and Industrial Waste: 2,772,000 tonne[2], 2,772,000
tonne/5,071,324 person = 0.547 tonne/person
*Data from 1987
Air emissions​:
● GHG: 83,000,000 tonne[2], 83,000,000 tonne / 5,071,324 person = 16.37
tonne/person
● *NOx: 147,583 tonne[2], 147,583 tonne / 5,071,324 person = 0.029 tonne/person
● *SO2: 49,888 tonne[2], 49,888 tonne/ 5,071,324 person = 0.0098 tonne/person
*Data from 1995
Figure 2: Tables illustrating lighting design standards[13]