Going Green

Green Stewardship with a Resuable Bag

If you are working towards a completely Green kitchen and lifestyle then here’s the next step. Reusable mesh bags made from cotton-mesh. These are a great alternative to all those disposable plastic bags that you stash the broccoli mushrooms and apples into the refrigerator that get trashed right after. These bags are made of 100% organic cotton, come in two sizes and allow your food to breathe. You can find them at StewardBags. They runabout about $3.75 for the large and $3.25 for the small, but a good long term investment. They can also be found at the Healthy Butcher.

Currently plastic bags constitute about 10% of debris on U.S. shorelines and China will save 37 million barrels of oil a year by banning fee plastic bags. Plastic bags also have a big impact on wildlife… there are some facts on their website. Buy 5 or 6 for your friends or clients for a gift instead of that big bottle of wine.

Share a Garden

Want to garden but no backyard. Go to sharingbackyardstoronto. A new initiative started in B.C. to get locals together to share garden spaces. Gives folks an opportunity to grow their greens and share with homeowners while being high-rise residents or otherwise without a garden. Another great Green idea.

Trim Your Air Conditioning Costs With These Tips

1/ change your furnace filter monthly. If your filter is gummed up your blower motor has to work harder which will increase your electricity use. This can reduce the chance of equipment failure and save you from an expensive service call.

2/Keep your hands off the temperature. Decide to live in a slightly warmer space say 24%, then stick to it. Resisting changing the temperature will keep your bills down and help the environment.

3/ Buy a new air conditioner. If your system has been around for a decade or more it won’t be very energy efficient. A new system with a SEER rating (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) of 14-20 will cut your energy bills up to 30% and cool your home more quickly.

4/ Location is important. Install your new system on the north side of your home or in a shaded area. A unit in direct sunlight can use up to 10% more energy. Don’t plant shrubs around the unit, this can block intake and exhaust of air.

5/ Use Ceiling Fans. If you can use ceiling fans instead of air conditioning your electricity bill for cooling will reduce to about .15 cents per day.

6/ Turn off the A/C when your on vacation… you could save up to $70.00 on this one.

7/ Seals Cracks around your windows and doors. This can stop the loss of up to 30% of cool dry air. Caulking windows and weather stripping doors can save you several $ per window and door over the year.

8/ Keep it Shady. On hot days close your blinds. Depending how your home sits this could save you as much as

another 10% in cooling costs.

New Type of Grass Sprouting

Hey, there’s a new type of grass that requires almost no maintenance . Called Eco-Lawn and created by Wildflower Farm founders Miriam Glodberger and Paul Jenkins.

Eco-Lawn is a blend of seven fescue grasses that are naturally insect and weed resistant.
It grows an inch a month and is so dense you only have to mow once a month.

No fertilization or water required because the root system goes 9-14 inches deep and in August your lawn will be green without water.

Apparently you can over-seed an existing lawn and it eventually will take over your existing grass. However, it will take 3-4 years to fully mature and develop as it grows slowly.

Eco-Lawn also helps carbon emissions because the lawn mower is only used once or twice per summer.

This sounds right up my alley

The cost is $29.95 for a five pound bag which covers 1000 sq. ft. of lawn and you can order it at www.wildflowerfarm.com

North York Green Community in the Planning Phase

Both Tridel and the K& G group are planning a green community in North York . It’s within 5 minutes of the YOnge- Sheppard subway. About 10 acres, there are 4 condo buildings planned , townhouses, rental apartments and a park in the works.

The project will have 1195 homes and be completed over the next 5 years.
Consumers are now starting to ask for LEED certification along with larger suites. Hopefully this will get us away from the thousands of pocket sized boxes being created by developers.

There are 5 LEED categories, they are:
Sustainable sites
Water efficiency
Energy and atmosphere,
Materials and resources
Indoor environmental quality.

North York Green Community in the Planning Phase

Both Tridel and the K& G group are planning a green community in North York . It’s within 5 minutes of the YOnge- Sheppard subway. About 10 acres, there are 4 condo buildings planned , townhouses, rental apartments and a park in the works.

The project will have 1195 homes and be completed over the next 5 years.
Consumers are now starting to ask for LEED certification along with larger suites. Hopefully this will get us away from the thousands of pocket sized boxes being created by developers.

There are 5 LEED categories, they are:
Sustainable sites
Water efficiency
Energy and atmosphere,
Materials and resources
Indoor environmental quality.

Native Plants and Saving Water

Want an easy care garden try planting native plants that don’t need water. There are plants that thrive in clay and beach sand. Because these types of plants have been thriving on the planet for thousands of years they attract butterflies and song buirds and support beneficial wildlife better than hybridized plants.

For more information on this you can contact the North American Native Plant Society at 416-631-4438 or visit their website at www.nan-ps.org, LEAF at 416-413-9224 website is leaftoronto.org and Wildflower farm at 1-866-476-9453 or wildflowerfarm.com. They are in Coldwater Ontario and specialize in these types of plantings.

Builders Going Green

Builders are looking for ways to obtain easy credits leading to certification under the LEED environmental rating system. This is an acronym for Leadership In Engineering and Design developed in the U.S. and adopted in 2004 by the Canada Green Building Construction Council.
LEED sets green benchmarks awarding up to 70 points in 6 different categories, including sustainable site development, water conservation , energy efficiency , selection of materials and indoor air quality. From this buildings are ranked in four classes, certified, silver, gold and platinum.

So buyers are going to be hearing more and more about simple improvements the current trend is bike storage which gives them a very easy credit.

Currently developers of L Tower, a 55 storey condo adjacent to Hummingbird Centre are aiming for LEED gold, the 2nd highest class. This will help them to distinguish the building esthetically and environmentally making the building easier to sell as markets will eventually slow from their current pace. Older less environmentally friendly buildings with high maintenance fees will become less desirable.

A Gold LEED designation could amount to a building having a 30% saving on water and energy compared to a conventional building.

The Toronto Community Housing Corp has sights set on LEED gold as well for the new Regent Park development. They are shooting for mixed development with 60% market rated units and green development plus architectural excellence.

An example of items that would gain LEED points would be dual flush toilets that cost $300-$400. more per unit. Kitchen cabinetry would have to be produces with low-emitting adhesives and sealants .. which means getting the manufacturing industries to change their standards.

So builders who courageously pioneer this will pay higher upfront costs. High performance windows, concrete for walls must contain 40% slag a by-product of steel production, low off-gassing carpets. Building for Platinum is much more difficult than gold. The upside is that their buildings will probably be more popular and retain higher values.

One builder in Hamilton building a rental apartment building is using most of the above plus solar heating for hot water, captured rainwater for flushing toilets, low flow fixtures for showers and sinks.

Energy Star appliances and heat recovery ventilation in each units. Meters for monitoring electricity used in each unit. A kill switch so that tenants can turn off all electricity in their unit when they leave the building, wind turbines, a reflective white roof to reduce heat gain and landscaping with native plants that don’t need water. The developer is Robert Manherz who built an off the grid home for himself.

Wow if you were a tenant wouldn’t you love to rent in this building?

To make a 10 storey building with about 84 units efficient enough to merit LEED points will cost about $300,000 but the future savings will be roughly $100,000 per year making the effort well worthwile.

The highest LEE certification at the moment for a mid-rise and highrise residential building is silver. Several more are targeting for platinum

LEED Rating Levels are:
Certified ( 26-32 points)
Silver (33-38 points)
Gold (39-51 points)
Platinum (52-70 points)

Registration – Once a building is registered with the council there must be a years occupancy and certification for it to be deemed as meeting LEEDS targets.

What this means for us as home buyers is a higher standard and quality of construction, lower costs and greater market value retention. Watch out for these new buildings and we will keep you informed on the blog here as they come along. Many builders of course will do the minimum just to get registered. That makes the rating system above important to note.

Hope this helps. Best Aeriol.