One of the core parts of a circular economy is local energy production. We cannot rely on our energy always coming from elsewhere; we need to do our best to produce as much energy locally as possible.
Obstacles
Under Ford the province is moving in the wrong direction, still embracing fossil fuels while having dismantled many renewable sources and slashing spending on energy efficiency programs. Clearly Toronto must take matters into its own hands, especially after the short-sighted partial privatization of Toronto Hydro.
Renewables
Toronto must not wait for the province or homeowners, the city needs to invest in as many renewable sources of energy as possible. We need to be installing solar panels everywhere appropriate, we need to find ideal places for wind turbines (like in Hydro fields where people do not live anyways), and we must consider tidal energy too. The waters around RC Harris water treatment plant seem ideal for tidal generation.
Local energy support
There is some support for homeowners, Toronto has the Home Energy Loan Program and the feds have the Canada Greener Homes Grant but these are still just loans and require repayment on a set schedule. People are strained as it is, and those who can afford the loan payments on top of their day-to-day costs, likely can afford not to do it. A better repayment would be based on the precise energy savings of the homeowner, so they are breaking even with past costs.
Buildings
While Toronto requires new city-owned buildings to be net-zero, it is still optional for private buildings. It should be mandatory to include as much renewable energy as possible on new builds, from solar panels to water turbines. There is a lot of energy lost on the water flowing through large buildings, both the fresh water and the waste water. There is also potential for gravity storage and gravity power generation with elevators.
Conservation
We need to get far more innovative with renewable energy sources, but far more importantly, we need to CONSERVE more energy. Many Torontonians are not just wasteful with respect to garbage and emissions, we frequently are quite wasteful with electricity. If we cannot increase local sources of energy while cutting down on our consumption of energy we can never attain a circular economy.