A city councillor says that if Kingston is going to tout itself as a sustainable city, it should look at building renewable energy-generating facilities to power city-owned buildings.

Building one large facility or several smaller ones could end up saving the city money in the future, Councillor Mark Gerretsen said.

If the idea is successful, the city sells excess energy back to the province and generate revenue, he said.

"With the rebates and programs out there ... we can pay off the capital investment and, in the end, it can come at no cost to the taxpayer," Gerretsen said.