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.

Hospital upgrades

Two Ontario hospitals are undergoing renovations that will cost millions now, but save a ton of money – and emissions – over time. Partnered with Honeywell, Cambridge Memorial in Cambridge and St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton plan to decrease their overall energy costs with upgrades that will hopefully pay for themselves. A SolarWall air heating system is among the energy-efficient upgrades and retrofits planned.

Air passing through SolarWall’s perforations is heated and redirected by a fan into the building. Cambridge Memorial is using three of them to reduce their carbon footprint.  It will apparently be the largest of its kind, at five stories tall.

While hospitals are a relatively new domain, Honeywell is no stranger to eco-friendly retrofits. They’ve also been involved in a similar program of retrofits in a Pennsylvania school district, expected to save about a million dollars annually.

Recently, more hospitals have been built with an eye on energy efficiency. One prominent example is the new Alberta Children’s Hospital. Opened in 2006 in Calgary, it was built with triple-glazed windows and energy efficient, state-of-the-art mechanical systems.

Victoria’s new Royal Jubilee Hospital is set to be completed in 2010. Plans include a green roof and LEED-accepted building materials. Even the process of construction will be environmentally conscious, incorporating a sediment tank to prevent building materials from washing off the site. As a result, it has already been awarded LEED Gold status. No surprise, given British Columbia’s well-publicized mandate to make all new infrastructure projects worthy of LEED Gold.

Indeed, LEED Gold status “championship” gold worth its weight in…well, gold.

Star Power

Home owners in Ontario and Saskatchewan are thanking their lucky stars.

Just like your kitchen appliances, houses can be given the coveted Energy Star designation, too. By meeting a list of requirements, licensed Energy Star builders, like EnerQuality in Ontario, can put the famous blue star logo on their projects.

In this pilot project, to achieve Energy Star rating homes must be at least 30% more energy-efficient than provincial building code requirements. That translates to huge savings in home energy use and cost – by keeping an eye on efficiency during construction.

The McGill family in Ontario reports paying much less for their monthly bills in their new Energy Star home than their previous one – which was 1,000 square feet smaller. They even say their health is better, which they attribute to their higher-efficiency air filter.

Sounds fantastic, but is it actually done? By bits and pieces. Tankless water heaters, Energy Star-rated windows and doors, proper insulation – among other things. They also install low-flush toilets, and low-flow showerheads to keep water usage down.

Recently, EnerQuality Homes upped the ante by creating the Greenhouse initiative. You might consider it a “hybrid” between Energy Star and LEED status.  Greenhouse aims to conserve energy as well as materials. EnerQuality president Corey McBurney says most houses are “overbuilt.”

“Greenhouses” will take advantage of optimal-value engineering; they use recycled products, and reduce the amount of lumber used to make houses.

With such cost-effective, energy efficient programs available, it’s no wonder homeowners are looking so starry-eyed.

Carbon footprint of the internet is growing

When Google started, there weren’t enough computers around to bother worrying about their combined energy efficiency.

Over time, computer and Internet use has exploded in ways they never imagined. In addition to probably rubbing their hands with glee, Google also started devoting resources to thinking about how much energy they were wasting.

Every search and every page you load requires energy, releasing 20 milligrams of CO2 per second. While it may not be included in your energy bill, it comes from somewhere. Giant data centres – warehouses of servers storing every Internet file – require lots of energy.

The Internet has an enormous carbon footprint, and it’s only getting bigger. Certain environmental groups claim the IT industry has an even bigger carbon footprint than the aviation industry. It happened so quickly that many Internet firms had a hard time catching up.

Luckily, some were prepared. Google’s headquarters makes use of 9,200 solar panels, and their new Toronto office is Bullfrog-powered. It’s also constructed almost entirely from recycled materials, from old tires for their floors, to pop cans recycled into work stations.

Google’s data centres were already upgraded to be energy-efficient about six years ago; way ahead of the curve. The company is now looking at enhanced geothermal energy as an equally green – but possibly more reliable – energy source.

In Kelowna, the biggest green data center in Canada has recently been completed, and runs on hydroelectricity. RackForce Networks Inc says that it has only 2% of the carbon footprint a typical data centre does.

In time, renewable energy sources may prove the most important “Google search” ever.

Simple solutions to a pressing challenge

The folks who thought up Project Porchlight, a highly-successful home-grown campaign promoting compact fluorescent light bulbs for the sake of energy efficiency; have turned their attention to the automobile. Their driving force is Stuart Hickox of Ottawa, whose One Change organization, has teamed up with private- and public-sector partners to promote tire gauges and oil changes as significant vehicle efficiency improvements.

The additional benefit of properly-inflated tires, of course, is improved road safety. 

One Change volunteers and staff handed out 1,000 keychain-size digital tire gauges and $30 Canadian Tire oil and filter change coupons at the recent 2009 SuperEX. Other partners in the venture were Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The goal is to distribute 12,000 gauges and discount coupons in the Ottawa area. 

Hickox, founder and executive director of One Change said the expected annual savings on fuel and auto-service costs should average about $90. That’s based on a formula that uses data developed by NRCan and assumes that at least 40 per cent of cars have at least one underinflated tire. Hickox also said that more efficient cars should curb their annual carbon dioxide emissions by an average 740 kilograms. 

“We are trying to convert awareness to action,” he said, agreeing that while tire pressure may be “deep in the back of everyone’s mind,” it’s something too many motorists ignore. “Simple actions matter.” 

That was the philosophy he espoused with Project Porchlight, the first project Stuart, his wife and some friends began in the Hickox family’s basement in 2005. It quickly spread across the country and into the U.S., where millions of light bulbs have been distributed in Washington state and New Jersey. 

“We’re not your typical environmental group in that we have no political agenda,” Hickox said. “No single source provides all funding; we have partnerships with businesses, non-profit groups and governments. 

“It’s not the old joke about how many people it takes to change a light bulb,” Stuart said, “It’s a question of how many light bulbs it takes to change society!”

Microsoft Launches Home Energy Monitoring Tools

Microsoft would like you to become more energy efficient – and they would like to get you there. A brand new, and free, trial application called Microsoft Hohm allows users to monitor and understand how they are using energy in their homes. It will also make suggestions on how users can cut consumption, manage their energy – and save money.

Hohm prepares a personalized energy report, with personalized recommendations. It asks why, when, and how much energy you use, and determine where energy can be cut back, and where home improvements can be made. It also reveals your total annual energy costs; helpful graphs and pie charts make the results easier to understand.

The website is filled with tips on how homeowners can reduce energy and money wastage. There is also a community for Holm members who can support each other, give each other suggestions, feedback, and words of advice.

Microsoft has partnered with four west coast utilities for the project: Puget Sound Energy, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Seattle City Light and Xcel Energy. Customers of these utilities will have a more in-depth energy report.

If the name Hohm conjures images of yogic meditation, you might be on the wrong track; the developer of the software says the unusual spelling is a pun; the electrical unit of resistance is Ohm.

However, one might argue that the software’s purpose is to live in greater harmony; something with rather “Omm”-like qualities.

Travel tip: Hypermiling can help save gas

If the car is loaded, the trailer is hitched and the price of gas has hit the summer highs: it must be time for an epic summer road trip.

Think about adopting hypermiling techniques to cut fuel costs and help the environment.

Hyper-what?

Though it sounds like a new kind of Olympic sport, hypermiling is more about just laying off the gas. We introduced it last October as a phenomenon sweeping the eco-enthusiasts of the nation. Now hypermiling is hitting the news again, but this time, as something for everyone. It uses a whole trunk-load of strategies to maximize your engine’s efficiency and minimize the energy losses that occur when you brake and accelerate. Turn your lead foot into a green foot. Think less Mario Andretti, more Driving Miss Daisy.

Keep a consistent speed, avoid Fast and the Furious-style driving, speed-racing and photo-finish starts and stops and you’ll cruise to your destination on less.  And turn off that cruise control when you’re going up a hill. Experts say that advanced hypermilers can attain the Gold Medal in fuel-economy by reaching levels comparable to hybrids and sometimes even better.

Other techniques include increasing your car’s tire pressure to at or near the maximum listed on the tire’s sidewall, which lowers its rolling resistance. This is controversial, but safe for drivers who know what they’re doing. The tires will last longer, run cooler, wear more evenly and save you fuel. And yes, you actually have to drive at or below the speed limit. Got the need for speed? Well as speeds double, the force needed quadruples. It takes four times as much engine power to move a car at 100 kph as it does at 50 kph.

So this summer’s Travel Tip: slow and steady wins the race. Coasting through your road trip will save you cash, which can otherwise be spent on ice cream and hotels with swimming pools.

Conservation TIPS for the summer

Summer is officially here!

Summer means warmer days and evenings, more daylight, and afternoons on the patio. It also means energy use patterns change, and with it, strategies to use less and conserve should change too.

Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency has released its conservation TIPS for the summer, and there’s loads of good and useful suggestions in there. One major area for Canadians to consider is their summer appliances. Do they need to be gas-powered?

Your mower, trimmer(s), leaf blower, and others consume a lot of fuel and produce significant amounts of carbon dioxide. Electric mowers and trimmers work equally well while consuming proportionately much less energy.

Even better are manual versions. Do you really need a high-octane blower when your broom is right there? And there’s the added benefit of being whisper-quiet. You know how your neighbour’s dog drives you crazy, barking to be let in, then out, and over again? Same idea.

Canadians can also reduce the energy consumed by their indoor appliances. First of all, why are you using your oven so much in the summer, anyway? In winter, sure, a pot of chili hits the spot – but during a heat wave? Cool down with cool foods.

If you do use your oven, make sure the range fan is turned on (which many forget), which doesn’t just keep smells in the kitchen. It effectively vents excess heat from your kitchen to outside, where it doesn’t stifle, and you’re less likely to turn on the A/C.

By switching a few energy habits into summer-mode, you can beat the heat and the energy bills!

UN focus: revive economies and protect the planet

To paraphrase Kipling: “environmentalists are environmentalists, and economists are economists; never the twain shall meet.”

There is a widespread assumption that “green” policies are, by definition, expensive. That there is a choice to be made between ecologically sound practices and profit – or at least a trade-off.  Whether that’s accurate is beside the point – perception becomes reality.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) sees the current financial crisis as an opportunity to change that equation. With climate change accelerating, droughts lengthening, forests, wetlands and species disappearing, this may be both our last and best chance to change that course.

What the world needs now, says UNEP, is a Global Green New Deal. Given the tremendous resources being channeled into propping up tottering institutions, why we aren’t using some to also trigger an overarching energy efficiency program – providing an immediate economic stimulus?

These goals don’t have to be mutually exclusive. UNEP asks, where are the jobs of tomorrow going to come from?  The same industries being rescued from bankruptcy? Consider the steel and car industries, which provide around five million jobs each. That’s not likely to increase.

So, you may ask? Consider that the world’s population is projected to increase by up to 3 billion by 2050. Those people will need jobs, too. The possibilities for income generation from green technologies needs to be further explored.

UNEP proposes heavy investment in the recycling industry and in managing natural resources and ecosystems. In turn, these eco-industries will provide services which will be integrated into the economy.

To quote another classic: the Chinese use the same symbol for “crisis” and “opportunity.” UNEP asks us to take the former and see the latter.