Driving lasting impacts through positive influence, with Russell Horne

Through technical expertise and commitment to innovation in his role as Manager of Facilities Energy and Asset Management, Russell Horne has helped advance the City of Kingston, Ontario’s efforts in climate action, energy performance, and sustainable asset management across 100 facilities. His leadership earned him the 2025 CAGBC Award for a Green Building Champion. We recently sat down with him to discuss his drive and developing replicable sustainability solutions that elevate the industry and stimulate change at scale.

You are responsible for the prioritization of projects for the City of Kingston’s 15-year facilities capital budget. What are your most important selection criteria and how important are retrofits in the mix?

Top consideration goes to regulatory compliance and health and safety, ensuring buildings meet code requirements, accessibility standards, and life safety needs. Asset condition and risk of failure are also critical, with priority given to facilities where system failures could disrupt essential services or create costly emergency repairs. Sustainability and climate resilience guide decision-making, the alignment of end-of-life equipment with retrofit projects plays a key role by extending asset life, improving energy performance, and enabling significant carbon reductions in line with net-zero targets. As infrastructure ages and climate commitments grow, retrofits are expected to make up a larger share of long-term investments, given their ability to meet both asset management conditions and climate goals.

Can you tell us a bit about your post-project review process and how it helps you replicate effective sustainability solutions across your portfolio?

Our post-project review process is structured to capture lessons learned, measure outcomes, and identify best practices that can be applied across the City’s facilities portfolio. After each project, we conduct a comprehensive assessment that compares projected versus actual energy use, greenhouse gas reductions, costs, and operational performance. By systematically analyzing what worked—and what didn’t—we can replicate effective sustainability solutions, such as high-performance HVAC systems, building envelope improvements, or electrification strategies, across other facilities. This approach ensures continuous improvement, drives consistency in performance outcomes, and accelerates progress toward our corporate climate and decarbonization goals. We have found that a robust commissioning plan is often one of the best tools to ensure long term performance is met.

How do these projects translate into wider sustainable community improvement plans?

The City’s facility sustainability projects contribute directly to broader community improvement by demonstrating leadership in energy efficiency, decarbonization, and climate resilience. Upgrading municipal buildings reduces greenhouse gas emissions, lowers operating costs, and frees up resources that can be reinvested in community programs. These projects also serve as visible examples of sustainable practices, encouraging private developers, institutions, and residents to adopt similar approaches. In addition, they support wider community goals such as improved air quality, reduced energy demand on the grid, and resilience to extreme weather events.

What does winning the CAGBC Award for Green Building Champion mean to you?

It is a meaningful recognition of my commitment to sustainability and decarbonization. It validates the efforts of our entire team in advancing innovative energy-efficient designs, implementing low-carbon technologies, and promoting operational excellence across a large portfolio of facilities. Beyond the accolade itself, it reinforces the value of setting ambitious sustainability goals, demonstrates leadership in the public sector, and helps raise awareness within the community about the importance of green building practices. Most importantly, it provides me with energy to continue fighting for a better future for my daughter and every future generation.