green houses & alternative energy in ontatio

good article from cnet that translates well to here.

ontario to become a leader in alternative energy - which I guess correlates to the article in the star the other day "critical mass a definite factor".

Still dissapointed that there doesn't seem to be any greenhomes for sale in Toronto.

Green Toronto Festival in Nathan Phillips square

Well, you've got to give credit where due. There was another 'green' event in Toronto yesterday "Green Toronto Festival" in Nathan Phillips square.

A random selection of stalls with various not for profit, for profit, and volunteer organisations - everything from wind/solar energy, walking/cycling groups, 'green themed' estate agent, backyard tree planting, a green business/enterprise network, commute options 'smart commute' (as public transport is so bad out of downtown there seems no current option - big expansion planned by the TTC though commentry on CityNews), and many many more, see the full list of exhibitors. I loved the fact that the city had put on a little fresh water trough direct from the city mains - a great way on a hot day to let people have access to water without having to sell bottled water!

Having a dig around the toronto.ca website there seem to have been a few good incentives, esp one around green roofs, just wonder if this is still being publicised... I know from looking around the rooftops downtown, there certainly doesn't seem to be a wrath of them around... seem to be a few companies though 'greenspaceroofing', also see other article below.

Yesterday I was there again for the farmers market - wasn't that much selection by the time I got there (which is hopefully a good sign!), but the product seemed to be generally good - see here for a list of famers markets in GTA.

Open Doors Toronto

What a great event - Open Doors (in the star and globeandmail, ctv) I know other cities do it - certainly I saw the London one be advertised enough times (although I never made it).

Personal favourites were:

• Levitt Goodman House (for the green roof, and sleek modernist design of the house), I'm not sure that they'd really thought about the entire project in a carbon neutral (or zero-energy building) way, like say bedzed in the UK. But the view out over the grass from the main bedroom looked particularly calming.

• The roof garden and living biowall at Robertson Building, The if only there would be a few more of those in this city, the effects of the smog and heat might, might be reduced...

• Another notable was the interesting Ravina Project with huge the solar panel harnessed to his roof - interesting character running the 'project', a retiree couple who are the 'only' people doing this type of research on this latitude... They essentially are going by the official guidelines for degrees of set up, and then every other day setting the solar panel up as if it was a radio receiver with the sun the publisher - he'll be uploading his data in November to the web...

It was good to see the interest level of the people in these events and in the Green Living show but I think that the mindset of the population isn't there yet - the love affair with the car & the cookie-cutter houses especially if Toronto is going to be the greenest city in North America - (reducing dependence on car). But first the public transport needs to be sorted out - as its all a bit shocking! - really surprised that there's smog in this fair city - but its not easy...

The other interesting point that came out was the improvements to your house - as in the ones above (solar, wind, etc) - which would attract subsidies (incentives and rebates) when installing can actually increase your annual tax rate, as it increases the value of your house - bit of a double edge sword that needs to be addressed... Maybe the type of approach by the UK for zero stamp duty (paid when you buy a house) for carbon neutral houses is one effective means to get the developers and population to start thinking green...

See also this interesting article from the Economist.

First week...

So, I've been in Toronto for a few days... Been in a first communion of the niece & nephew of my girlfriend (who is the reason that I'm here), been towed (due to the efficiency of the parking wardens - and the complexity of the parking signs; I'm sure they must have been english lawyers in a previous life), and started to look for a new home... Which is where the reason for this post started...

We were looking into Eco-style builds in the UK, which although isn't exactly a mature market, the awareness seemingly from estate agents and the public seems to be backward...

Although on saying that there is a green show that we'll be going to on Sunday, so I may have to eat my words - Green Living Show. And also we literally walked in on a new business that restored some faith that someone must be thinking a bit more environmentally (villagetechnologies) - unlike all of the 'cookie cutter' homes that seem to be appearing all around the outskirts of Toronto & all of the 'distinct' housing (castle look alikes, victorians, wainscotting etc).

So I thought I'd start writing this as I start to research what we're going to do about housing etc... (not to mention that everyone here drives a car, all of the cars seem to drive less mpg than their equivalent in Europe - which seems very perplexing...)