Transitioning to transit

More Canadians are taking transit. How many more? According to the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA), about 14 per cent more. Over the five years from 2004 to 2008, the number of regular service rides increased to 1.83 billion per year from 1.6 billion. That’s about five million Canadians per day riding transit. The increase from 2007 to 2008 alone was 63.8 million rides. That’s about 175,000 Canadians per day.

Now, the cynics will say this increase has been fuelled by the cost of downtown parking in Canada’s major cities, or even a lack of downtown parking in Canada’s major cities.

But we like to think it’s about concern for the environment. One bus full of people is the equivalent of taking 45 cars off the road. Consider this – if your round-trip commute is 32 kilometres, and you decide to take the bus every day and leave your car at home, you’d reduce of CO₂ emissions by 2.8 tonnes per year. This means the 45 cars replaced by a bus would represent a reduction of about 126 tonnes. And that’s only 45 cars.

But wait, there’s more

Today’s transit technology is a lot cleaner than the smoke-belching buses of yesteryear. According to the CUTA, clean diesel technology, a combination of more efficient fuel injection, particulate filters and catalytic converters used in conjunction with ultra low-sulphur diesel fuel, has reduced exhaust particulate matter 90 per cent since 1993. Ultra low sulphur diesel fuel has less than 15 parts per million sulphur.

Another innovation is biodiesel, fuel produced from oilseeds, vegetables or animal fat. It’s not really a new concept. Rudolf Diesel had vegetable oil in mind as a fuel when he invented the diesel engine in the 1890s. But for most of the engine’s history, it’s been run on petroleum-based fuels. Biodiesel can be blended with conventional diesel without major modifications. Common blends are B5 (five per cent biodiesel and 95 per cent conventional diesel) an B20 (20 per cent biodiesel and 80 per cent conventional diesel). Saskatoon Transit reported a 7.2 per cent reduction in GHGs using B5 with a canola-based biodiesel additive.

Perhaps the biggest boost to clean transit is the hybrid bus. Like hybrid cars, hybrid buses have two power sources: an internal combustion engine (usually diesel) and an electric motor that runs off batteries recharged by the diesel engine and regenerative braking. The electric motor gets the bus moving, and once underway, the diesel engine kicks in. At top speed, only the diesel provides power. The advantages of hybrid buses include about 30 per cent less fuel consumption and correspondingly fewer emissions.

Bus fleets in most major Canadian cities are a mix of clean diesel, biodiesel and hybrid buses and any remaining conventional gasoline or diesel buses are being replaced with their cleaner cousins.

So for a two-pronged assault on emissions, leave the car at home and take the bus.

Change is… green: a year in renovations

Many of the buildings we live and work in are in need of serious changes in order to meet the challenges of a more environmentally and energy-conscious world. Commercial buildings alone, for example, are responsible for 13 per cent of Canada’s carbon emissions. And with new tools like a simulation program designed to improve a building’s efficiency and government incentives, it’s no wonder that many Canadian locations saw green renovations in 2009. Among the many high profile green renovations of 2009, Flow took a look at…

Google’s Canadian headquarters and a pair of Canadian hospitals that included technologies as progressive as a solar heating system and familiar as triple-glazed windows. And while it hasn’t been a renovation per se, the construction of Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business goes to show that green buildings are starting out fresh as well.

Internationally, Flow covered the undergo $350 million green renovations on the Sears Tower and the Utopian plan for the headquarters of The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The need for efficiency and a lower carbon footprint, after all, is a global issue. But not every green renovation is taking place in buildings.

Some of the most important green renovation projects are currently happening inside the minds of Canadian students and working professionals. As we outlined with the five top green careers for 2009, a growing “green collar” sector is emerging to fill the gap left as eco-professionals begin to retire.

Specific programs like Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy and Canada’s Green Energy Action Fund are designed to promote green careers in energy and the technology to enable them. These programs are part of a general trend toward education that reflect a broader awareness of energy as it impacts the daily world.

And if 2009 is any indication, the message is already resonating with young people across North America who invent energy innovations. If a 15-year-old Texan can create an algae-powered energy system or a 17-year-old Calgarian can invented a solar powered tracking system, there’s hope that the changes we’re making in our buildings and our ways of thinking really can change the world.

Checkered flag going green

Are auto sports eco-friendly?

At first glance, you’d think auto racing wouldn’t qualify.  Consider: they burn a lot of fuel to zoom around and around in circles doing nothing but going fast and entertaining thousands of fans.  Whether you enjoy it or not, that’s hardly model environmentally-friendly entertainment.

Fair enough, but now consider this.  This year’s Honda Indy Toronto burned nary a liter of good old fashioned gasoline.  Each of the cars participating in the race ran on 100 per cent ethanol.

Much gasoline available today has small amounts of ethanol mixed in. Regular cars built in the past 30 years can all run on a blend with 10 per cent ethanol, and not too long ago, an Ottawa gas station made just such a concoction available to the public. It was considered a big deal.

So cars running on 100 per cent ethanol are a very big deal.  Especially racing cars, because going faster (and they go really fast) burns more fuel.  That’s complicated math, but it means the carbon emissions from these cars is nil. This race is pollutant-free.

The Indy Racing League (IRL) is certainly making an effort.  Since 2007, they have been racing with 100 per cent ethanol fuel and have replaced old lead wheel weights with ones made of a less corrosive, more environmentally-friendly material. They installed trackside recycling containers, and donate leftover food to local food banks.

The IRL has been doing its level best to have people equate “auto racing” with “eco-friendly.”  That, at least, deserves an honorary checker flag.

Toughing out climate change commitments in tough times

Have you heard? The economy is bad. So it’s time to tighten the belt, cinch the purse strings, stretch our dollars. Except wait—what about climate change? Sure it sounds good when we’re fat and happy, but what happens once the economy turns sour? Many countries are choosing to commit to the environment despite tough economic times. 

Australia has the highest per capita levels of greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has set some lofty targets, planning to cut emissions by between 5% and 15% by 2020. He is also requiring industrial polluters to bid for government licences to emit carbon, which would cover 75% of Australia’s emissions.

27 countries of the European Union recently committed to reducing carbon emissions by 20% by 2020, compared to 1990 levels. 

China has set targets to improve its energy efficiency, Brazil is tackling deforestation and Mexico has set new emissions goals.

Scotland recently raised a pint to Mother Nature by proposing an 80% reduction in the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and addressing burgeoning shipping and aviation emissions.

In the US, emissions have actually increased by 17% since 1990. President Obama has committed to reducing them to 1990 levels by the year 2020. 

Developing countries such as Nigeria and South Africa are also making efforts to cut their countries’ emissions by 20-30% over the next 10 years. 

If leadership is about having vision and prospering in times of adversity, there are many countries which are blazing a new emissions reduction trail.

Energy Efficiency: A New Construct

Despite the ready availability of energy-efficiency technologies which would significantly reduce businesses’ operating costs, a ground-breaking federal study indicates that they’re under-utilized – if used at all. The National Round Table on the Environment & and the Economy and Sustainable Development Technology Canada  have found that commercial buildings account for no less than 14% of end-use energy consumption. As a result, they are responsible for 13% of Canada’s carbon emissions.

“Technologies are not being taken up, with the result that energy use and carbon emissions continue to grow,” they say in a summary of their 114-page study, Geared for Change. “Climate policy makers need to consider not just long-term national greenhouse gas reduction targets, but specific policies and actions on a sector-by-sector basis to get the deep emission reductions already set by the Government of Canada.”

Success, they say, requires a shift away from national-level policies to a more parochial approach because each sector of the economy has a distinct emissions footprint which necessitates sector-specific solutions.

Hence the collaborative study of commercial buildings. It flows from a 2006 NRTEE report on long-term energy use in Canada in which the think-tank stated that efficiency improvements alone could reduce the commercial sector’s annual carbon emissions by 58% from a 2050 “business as usual” scenario. The following year, an STDC report indicated that commercial buildings’ emissions could be reduced easily and significantly by 2030.

However, the latest research has found a “fragmented and diverse” sector with apparently entrenched resistance to improved efficiency. It also indicates that addressing that resistance will become a greater challenge as Canada moves to a more service-oriented and knowledge-based economy that likely will increase employee densities in the commercial sector.

Its energy consumption grew by 25% between 1990 and 2005, yielding a 27% jump in carbon emissions, and while its energy intensity increased from 1.69 gigajoules per square meter to 1.84 GJ/m2 between 1990 and 2003, it fell to 1.62 GJ/m2 by 2005.

The fundamental complexity of the commercial sector with myriad building designs, ownership and operation, coupled with the involvement of all levels of government, underscores the need for more focuses emissions policies.

“This multi-jurisdictional governing framework makes it difficult in turn for developers and owners to stay abreast of applicable policies and available resources regarding energy efficiency,” the NRTEE and STDC say. “Other barriers to technology adoption . . . . range from issues related to risk management, information gaps, complexities in the commercial building value chain, financial costs related to being the first mover in the market, energy pricing that does not account for environmental externalities, and institutional and regulatory barriers caused by existing policy frameworks.”

“No one measure on its own is sufficient to wring the necessary emission reductions from the sector and achieve our targets,” they say. “The most effective is a . . . carbon price coupled with increasingly stringent regulations – but with the application of focused technology subsidies or incentives.”

Carbon-neutral colleges

Leadership by example.  It basically means walking the walk and talking the talk. When it comes to action on climate change, college campuses across the US are attempting to do just that. 

…With the help of a former president.  

The Clinton Climate Initiative is helping colleges and universities to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions with an injection of 1 billion dollars to fund carbon neutral programs.  It’s one component of many in reaching the long-term goal of climate neutrality, but a highly symbolic one.  

The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) is a partnership of 427 like-minded college and university presidents.  From all 50 states, schools as small as Wells College and as large as Arizona State, they attempt to set short and long term goals towards climate neutrality.  

What are the colleges actually doing towards those goals?  Obviously conditions and challenges vary immensely from state to state, much less from Brown University to Lane College. The funding from the Clinton Climate Initiative is available to the ACUPCC to use how they see fit.

The ACUPCC plans on pursuing both short- and long-term projects toward carbon neutrality. That can mean basic infrastructure upgrades, such as retrofitting inefficient buildings.  Or, it can mean embarking on advanced climate change research.  UC San Diego, for example, is examining how cyberinfrastructure can be used in research universities to create carbon-neutral environments. 

Indeed, the carbon neutral college initiative is passing climate change leadership from one former leader to a generation of future leaders.

Green cake?

The way of the future lies in green cake. Sounds like a line from Dr. Seuss, but it’s how the music industry is using their position as social icons to demonstrate the need for change. And Cake, the ultra-cool band behind such hits as No Phone, Short Skirt Long Jacket, and Never There, is doing just that.

Cake uploaded video onto their fan site of the installation of a photovoltaic system on the roof of their Sacramento recording studio. The band announced  that their next album album will be recorded exclusively with solar energy.

 

This isn’t an isolated feel-good story, either. The greening of the music industry is a growing trend that advocates hope becomes the standard.  The CLIF GreenNotes program is a perfect example, not just because it grew by five artists recently, but because their program is based on supporting eco-conscious artists.  

GreenNotes helps musicians integrate environmentally friendly touring practices. GreenNotes funds artists to use biodiesel, sell organic cotton shirts, print on recycled paper and soy ink, stock backstage with locally grown organic produce, and buy renewable wind credits to offset their remaining carbon footprint.

GreenNotes has helped their musicians reduce their carbon emissions by 25 percent, eliminated the use of more than 2,900 pesticides, and offset 2.2 million pounds of carbon.

Bigger names are getting into the act, too.  The Barenaked Ladies will be using biodiesel, buying carbon offsets, recycling and ditching disposables.  In addition to spearheading the “Vote for Change Renewable Energy Project”, Pearl Jam has a Carbon Portfolio Strategy that includes using biodiesel on tour. 

If such notorious sybarites as musicians can change their tune, maybe other industries can follow their act.

Eco-friendly gardening gets a green thumbs up

It used to be that one would get green with envy when ogling the perfection of a neighbour’s garden. That may still be true today, but these days it’s also better to just simply get green, period.

According to some, just because gardening gets you close to nature, it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily good for nature. Just look at all the environmental issues waiting in the weeds. The most obvious one is carbon emissions from equipment such as lawn mowers and leaf blowers. According to Metro Vancouver, lawnmowers account for three to five per cent of Canada’s air pollution overall.

Less obvious factors that make gardeners’ thumbs less green than once thought include high water consumption, excessive tilling and even the paper consumed to produce gardening catalogues.

This article from thespec.com presents practical tips like using a push mower to reduce emissions, going organic, planting native vegetation, and many more, in case you think your garden could use a touch more green.