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SBE16: Toronto – Pamela Blais – Land Use Planning: Getting Serious About GHG Reduction

We were happy to attend the Sustainable Built Environment Conference September 19th and 20th in Toronto. There was so much material and interesting ideas that we decided to do a series of blog posts re-capping the presentations.

The first post is on a talk that Pamela Blais, of Metropole Consultants gave entitled “Land Use Planning: Getting Serious About GHG Reduction” which talked about how large scale urban planning of the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region can have a significant impact on the overall Green House Gas Emissions of the Region.

Notes from the Presentation follow:

– Ontario lowered their emissions by 6% below the 1990 reference year in 2014, but we have significantly more aggressive reduction targets: 80% reduction by 2050.
– Transportation accounts for a very large portion of the energy used in Canada: “2/3 of GHG emitted by Canadian Households are from transportation vs 1/3 from running the home (heat, electricity)” and GHG’s from transportation have INCREASED over the last 25 years while those from running the home have remained constant.
– If all other variables are held constant except having a household change to a more accessible location then GHG’s can be reduced by 36%.
– A “green house and green car” in a suburb still consumes more energy then a conventional house/car in an accessible location.
– The current plan for the development of the region is the “Growth Plan from 2013” prepared by the Ontario Government and “The Big Move” prepared by Metrolinx.
– The Growth Plan contains 25 urban growth centres with density targets, provisions for 40% new housing units within the already-urban areas and minimum greenfield density targets.
– “It’s cumbersome” — it requires each municipality to ratify, develop their own plan, and conduct a 10 year review. The majority of Municipalities have not begun the 10 year review.
– Unfortunately development has not happened as planned around the “urban growth centers” but instead has happened in totally different areas — in the Greater Toronto Area it is mostly within the Airport Megazone around Pearson which has over 1 million auto-trips per day. Transit was focused on these “urban growth centers” not on the actual areas receiving the most car trips.
– Updates to the Growth plan are increasing the density and greenfield targets, and are incorporating climate change considerations.
– Cities are changing: making areas more accessible, multi-modal.

Overall Ms. Blais suggests:

– A vision that is ambitious and realistic
– We put transit in the right places
– We don’t undermine transit investments with highway investments.
– Large-scale proactive rezoning of strategic areas
– Integrate jobs/housing locally in new suburbs
– Have flexible planning tools

It was a great presentation and we think that particularity the point about the Airport Mega-zone receiving the most riders within the GTA, yet falling without of the scope of the Growth Plan or the Big Move is very insightful.

Stay tuned for the next post int he series

Net-zero Upgrade to Toronto Semi-Detached House

Ontario’s climate action plan seeks to improve the energy efficiency and performance of buildings in order to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The province has identified that we need to take all buildings to Net-Zero or near Net-Zero Energy Use. This means upgrading the leaky, badly insulated homes which pre-dominate much of Toronto and were built after World War 2.

The first stage is aiming to be complete in the Fall of 2016.

In broad terms, we are making this Toronto semi-detached home Net-Zero energy by adding external insulation, making the home air tight, replacing the original single-pane windows with new high performance windows and doors, installing efficient heating and ventilation equipment, and mounting solar panels on the roof. The upgrades to the home will make it more comfortable, improve the appearance of the home, reduce energy consumption and therefore lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

There are three phases of the renovation: envelope and window upgrades, mechanical system changes, and the installation of PV panels.

Please give us a call at 416-868-9774 to learn more!

Green Energy Doors Open 2016 – Thanks for Coming out!

Thank you to everyone who made it out to the event we hosted as part of 2016’s Green Energy Doors Open. We were overwhelmed with interest and ended up giving three seminars instead of the planned two! We hope everyone found the seminars informative and helpful.

A blog post on the event by Craig Stephens of the Green Energy Doors Open team can be seen here.

If anyone missed out on the presentation feel free to give us a call, email or swing by the office to learn more.

Green Energy Doors Open “is a province-wide, year-round communications campaign and showcase of individual, community and commercial sustainable energy projects organized and spearheaded by the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association. The initiative aims to showcase advancements in the sector, demonstrating that Ontario is already on the path to building a 100% clean and sustainable energy system. Green Energy Doors Open takes place in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.”

High Performance House near Parry Sound

Construction has begun on the high performance house near Parry Sound that Coolearth designed. The house is a 2200 sqft permanent residence for a couple looking to move to their dream property on a lake near Parry Sound, Ontario.

The houses of Frank Lloyd Wright have always thrilled the couple and they have been able to travel in-person to many of his houses. By combining our client’s experience and inspiration we brought our design and technical abilities to create a four-season high performance house which is bright, well insulated, functional and has a flexible design. While we accentuated the horizontality, like Wright did, of the cottage with overhangs which also double as shades from the hot summer sun, we also used local traditions as an inspiration in the wood and brick cladding.

The principles of Passive House were used throughout to minimize thermal bridges, create a very air tight yet well-ventilated envelope, and to have well insulated walls (R-56 roof, R-42 walls, R-51 exposed floor). The design has a low-embodied carbon footprint because we used timber for the structure, and cellulose insulation for the walls and roof. The combination of this elements provides a whole-house solution in a very comfortable house.

The owners learned many of these concepts throughout the process and decided to install a sleek direct vented wood stove which included 2′ of concrete blocks concealed on top of the burning chamber that act as a thermal storage. The house aims to resist blackouts and blizzards by providing alternative heating sources combined with high levels of air tightness and insulation.

Green Energy Doors Open Climate Action Showcase Kicks Off on September 9th

Green Energy Doors Open Climate Action Showcase Kicks Off on September 9^th

Visit Events Across Ontario on September 9^th, 10^th, and 11^th

Sustainable energy and sustainability initiatives will be the focus for many Ontarians on the weekend of September 9 to 11 during Green Energy Doors Open. Thousands of people are expected to visit the 150 events that are taking place across the province, showcasing the passion and enthusiasm of individual homeowners, community groups and organizations for solar, wind, net-zero homes, electric cars, geothermal and more.

“With climate change action being a cause of both concern as well as excitement for many people, this initiative by the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA) provides a great opportunity to get close to actual projects and to learn from the experiences of those who have spent their time and energy to develop them,” saysNicole Risse, OSEA’s Executive Director.

“Buildings and transportation account for about 70% of greenhouse gas emissions in urban centres, so greening our buildings is essential. The good news is that it’s doable. At TD, our green building program is the key reason we’ve been able to reduce GHG emissions from energy by 20% since 2008, despite occupying 26% more space,” says Karen Clarke-Whistler, TD’s Chief Environment Officer. “Green Energy Doors Open is a great opportunity to see a huge range of innovative green buildings. It’s incredibly inspiring, and we are excited that the idea of Green Energy Doors Open is spreading and now includes other provinces, such as Alberta and British Columbia.”

“At Enbridge, we believe in sustainability and are concerned about the impacts of climate change. With and for our customers, we have worked for years striving to find innovative solutions to save energy and to improve the overall efficiency of their buildings. That is also why we started the “Savings by Design” initiative, which is a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to gain maximum energy efficiency in new building structures. We are proud to partner with OSEA on this campaign as it gives us the opportunity to inform the public about this part of our business,” explains Shannon Bertuzzi, Manger, Residential Energy Solutions of Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc.

“Our members are very excited to be supporting this initiative again,” says Joe Mulhall, President of the Canadian Union of Skilled Workers. “Green Energy Doors Open hosts are teaching us that we can power, heat, cool and move ourselves sustainably, while building resilient and prosperous communities and acting responsibly to mitigate Climate Change.”

The events during Green Energy Doors Open are family friendly and offer a lot of variety – both in terms of technologies that are being demonstrated as well as in the type of events that are taking place, ranging from community BBQs, over site tours and EV test drives, to workshops, movie screenings, and much more.

More sample events across Ontario include:

1. Oxford County Renewable Energy Gateway

Renewable Energy and EV Tour

Woodstock

http://greenenergydoorsopen.ca/events/oxford-county-renewable-energy-gateway/

2. GRIT Lab Tour

Green Roof Innovation Testing Lab at UofT

Toronto

http://greenenergydoorsopen.ca/events/grit-lab-tour-2/

3. Heartland Forest & Niagara Beeway Conservation Day

Conservation Tour and Activities

Heartland Forest, Niagara

http://greenenergydoorsopen.ca/events/heartland/

4. Burford Community Centre Solar Project BBQ

Free public BBQ to celebrate community solar project

County of Brant

http://greenenergydoorsopen.ca/events/burford-community-centre-solar-project-bbq-green-energy-doors-open/

5. Bike Tour of Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation

Sustainable Housing Bike Tour

Ottawa

http://greenenergydoorsopen.ca/events/bike-tour-centretown-citizens-ottawa-corporation-ccoc-properties/

Events are taking place in communities all over Ontario. The Green Energy Doors Open website (www.GreenEnergyDoorsOpen.ca) and Green Energy Doors Open Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/greenenergydoorsopen/) provide details about the different events, their location as well as schedules.

Green Energy Doors Open is a province-wide, year-round communications campaign and showcase of individual, community and commercial sustainable energy projects organized and spearheaded by the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association. The initiative aims to showcase advancements in the sector, demonstrating that Ontario is already on the path to building a 100% clean and sustainable energy system. Green Energy Doors Open takes place in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.

The Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA) is championing a prosperous Ontario with a thriving sustainable energy sector, good jobs, resilient communities and healthy environments powered, heated, cooled and moved by portfolios of sustainable energy by raising public awareness, advising decision makers and establishing forums for new market opportunities and collaboration. Find us on the web at www.ontario-sea.org.

Media Contact:

Nicole Risse, Executive Director, OSEA
416-977-4441 ext. 3
416-892-0559 (cell)
Nicole@ontario-sea.org

German Certified as Passive House Designer

The Coolearth team is proud to announce that German Vaisman has been certified as a Passive House Designer in Toronto.

We look forward to continuing to work with clients in Ontario, Toronto, and Cottage Country to design and supervise the construction of Passive Houses. To learn more about Passive House design in Ontario and our residential design service, please visit this page.