Down and dirty with clean air

Published at 5:57 pm on June 3, 2009
No Comments

About the author:

Meghan Housley

Tags:

clean air, Environment (12), mayor's tower renewal, Smog Summit

Share this article:

Today, political representatives from municipalities across the GTA gathered to discuss what they are doing to reduce carbon emissions at the 10th Annual Smog Summit held at Toronto City Hall.

After an informative and inspiring keynote address by green economy expert Storm Cunningham, mayors and city councillors from Toronto, York, Halton and Peel Regions shared the steps their cities have taken to fight climate change in the GTA.

Initiatives included banning plastic water bottles (Burlington), enhancing public transit (Mississauga), improving bike and walking paths (Ajax), and building a more energy efficient City Hall (Pickering).

The final speech at the Smog Summit came courtesy of Eleanor McAteer, project director of the Tower Renewal Project. She spoke of how many of Toronto’s 2000 high-rise apartment buildings were erected in the 1960s and 1970s, well before there was any thought of environmental costs.

McAteer noted that the 12-plus story buildings have terrible insulation and require a lot of energy to keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Not wanting to be all doom and gloom, McAteer says that the Tower Renewal Project views this as an opportunity.

Starting with four pilot sites at various corners of Toronto, including one in the heart of downtown at Jarvis and Wellesley, Tower Renewal is looking at ways to trim energy costs and add community development initiatives.

Using deep lake water to cool the buildings, creating on-site food production and retaining storm water are some examples McAteer mentioned the revitalized buildings would use.

She admits it is a complex project, but the overall goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by tw0- thirds by 2020.