59 Carden St.

A greener city hall

Posted by Magda
The new city hall building is going to have some neat eco-features. In the language of eco-architects, it'll be LEED-silver certified. It'll also have these features:

-a green roof over half the building -- with supplies coming from a local company
-a living wall -- as developed at the University of Guelph
-use of natural light
-75% of construction materials will be diverted from landfill
-building materials have recycled content, and some are reused from past projects
-materials are extracted and manufactured locally -- within 800 km
-promoting alternate modes of transportation by minimizing parking capacity, providing bike lock-up and showers, encouraging carpooling, being accessible to local transit

No more clothesline bans -- sort of

Posted by Magda
A city committee decided this morning to ban clothesline bans -- more or less. It's a ban on future clothesline bans, and it passed with no opposition at committee this morning. (Of course it still needs to go through council before it becomes official.)

But it doesn't cover existing bans.

"This is not retroactive, unfortunately," said Jim Riddell, the city's director of community design and development services.

When I wrote a story about clotheslines last summer, Richard Gazzola, with Smith-Valeriote law firm, said existing covenants would likely supercede new city bylaws.

Anything but a drive-thru

Posted by Magda
Councillor Maggie Laidlaw was characteristically colourful last night in her comments about the vacant gas station site at London and Woolwich.

She said Tim Hortons was considering at one point turning the site into a drive-thru.

"I'd love to have it derelict rather than a drive-thru," she said.

There's a proposal on the table for it to be neither -- a company called Quantum Murray wants to buy it to potentially build ten environmentally friendly townhouses, perhaps even to LEED standards, on the site.

(Interestingly, council has no concrete plans to stop drive-thrus at this point, though there is some discussion of the issue.)

Can we learn from Eden Mills?

Posted by Magda
Some of the 350 residents of Eden Mills are working to decrease their footprint on the planet -- to nothing. The effort is spearheaded by Charles Simon, pictured below.

It's a noble, though staggering, effort, initially attempted by the village of Ashton Hayes, population 1,000.

Some have suggested this kind of effort is appropriate for a small town, but less so for a big city. Is that really true? In many ways, big-city living is better suited to environmental efforts, because it's easier to take transit, and with more grocery stores to choose from, it's easier to find the one that has local produce.

At the same time, I can see how a small town can more easily develop a kind of positive peer pressure.

Here's hoping things go well for Eden Mills -- Ashton Hayes cut its emissions 20 per cent in the first year -- and that they show us reducing our footprint is something we can all contribute to in a very big way.

Our green city

Posted by Magda
A local environmental program could save the city one megawatt of energy, 1,700 tonnes of coal, 1,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and $1.5 million in energy costs over five years, council heard tonight.

Project Porchlight has handed out 30,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs to Guelph homes, and was reporting back to council on the savings that installing all those bulbs would bring.

But it wasn't the only wildly successful environmental program council heard about today.

Green Impact Guelph is also distributing energy-saving kits, and has spun a $50,000 provincial grant to do so into a project worth $600,000 in money and in-kind donations. Plus, they've been hearing from homeowners eager to get the kits and who have installed the items, which include a low-flow showerhead and insulation for piping.

Cutting energy use is an individual thing, but these organizations are helping Guelph residents push the envelope a bit.

A worthwhile investment

Posted by Magda
The city is planning to add two staffers next year to promote energy efficiency. The project manager for the Community Energy Plan would manage the 30 community projects aimed at cutting energy use. The energy conservation co-ordinator would help cut energy use in city-owned buildings. (These new jobs may yet not materialize -- they've so far only been recommended by staff.)

Councillor Karl Wettstein said today during preliminary budget discussions that he views the energy plan manager as an investment, because the position would presumably save money by cutting energy use.

I'd love to see the city adopt a UBC model. That university has an active sustainability office that employs seven people -- four of them fulltime -- and is funded entirely through money saved by cutting energy consumption.

That way, as their efforts become more successful, they're able to take on more projects. That model has resulted in aggressive projects like green-certified buildings that use natural ventilation and composting toilets and a recycling program that keeps 2.5 million tonnes of paper out of landfill every year.

Practicing what they preach

Posted by Magda
There was an interesting moment at this morning's budget meeting when a city staffer was describing the need for more investment in energy-saving measures at the city.

Leanne Piper pointed out that it was a bright day outside, but the blinds in the council chamber were shut and the lights were on.

Instantly, the lights went off and staff and councillors sprung up to open the blinds.

Here's hoping more of these common-sense, good-for-the-earth measures are adopted as the city puts more cash into energy saving programs.

Being green goes high-tech

Posted by Magda
A new local project will soon allow you to track your energy consumption up-to-the-minute. Guelph Environmental Leadership is putting up a kiosk and website to help you track your electricity and gas consumption and, eventually, things like water use and commuting distances. It'll also let you compare against other similar homes.

It's an innovative way to give people information that'll help them shrink their footprint on the earth. Read more about it in today's Mercury.

Yesterday, Guelph Hydro gave $25,000 to the $500,000 project. Pictured are (from left) Jerry An of the University of Guelph, Dorothy Remmer of Remmer Consulting, Glynis Logue of Guelph Environmental Leadership and Art Stokman of Guelph Hydro.