GC 2020
178 results found
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Include energy costs in city & province-funded construction projects.
Construction projects get graded based on how cheap they are. But that costing model doesn't include the total environmental impact of a project, such as the carbon released by removing old buildings, the ongoing energy cost of the structures, etc.
The best way to get an environmentally conscious city is to put in economic incentives. Construction is a very high-impact area where the city can exert influence simply by changing the guidelines. A cheap, high-impact proposal.
Other cities are already doing it, and from what I hear UBC is already doing it for their own projects.
7 votesThe draft Greenest City Action Plan addresses ways and means of rewarding projects that are more energy efficient.
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Waterless Urinals
Save millions of gallons of water!
Plumbers don't like them but i think there is a huge potential for this!6 votesNot specifically part of Draft Greenest City Action Plan, but efficient fixtures and incentives are.
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Turn existing "bike streets" into proper separated bike routes
The network of bike streets is a great start, but drivers aggressively squeeze cyclists close to parked cars, increasing the risk of accident. Create physically separated bike lanes on these routes - perhaps by getting rid of one or both sides of street parking. (Or forbidding driving altogether on those routes!)
138 votesThanks for sharing this idea!
The city’s new active transportation plan will soon be in development, and hopefully completed within the next year.
A big part of the work ahead is to identify the complete cycling network, and the type of facility that is most appropriate and/or feasible for different routes. In some cases (e.g. busy arterial routes), separated lanes might be the best approach; in other cases (e.g. lower car volume neighbourhood streets), enhanced traffic calming and/or further reducing car access might be more appropriate. Travis cited some great examples in the Netherlands where cars are ‘guests’ that are allowed in, but do not dominate.
In all cases, the goal should be to make routes that feel safe to all potential cyclists, including beginners, children, and seniors.
For more information, visit http://vancouver.ca/cycling .
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Develop a local food hub and expand the availability of local food at a neighbourhood level
A local food hub would support the distribution, processing and storage of local food, a current gap in the local food system. This hub would then be connected to avenues to access locally produced food distributed throughout the neighbourhoods, making more available food produced locally by farmers outside Vancouver as well as urban farmers.
506 votesThe draft Greenest City Action Plan includes a variety of actions to support the availability of local food at the local level.
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create incentives for every homeowner to install Photovoltaics, Wind Turbines, or Solar Hot Water
We have to have a GREEN REVOLUTION to really make a difference in our attempt to be "Sustainable". We have to remove our dependence on fossil fuels. Every home could generate enough power to run most of its appliances. We need a smart grid.
Read "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Thomas Friedman.
"10 easy steps for a green future" - sorry, some sacrifice is required....
64 votesVancouver’s Solar Homes Pilot is offering $4300 towards the cost of solar hot water systems in Vancouver – this is roughly 50 per cent of the cost of a system. The funding is available to 30 homes on a first come, first served basis. In order to qualify for the rebate, your system must be installed by December 31, 2010.
Beginning January 1, 2011, we will be offering $3,000 towards the cost of a qualifying system. Systems must be installed by February 15, 2011.
Will consider extension of program to other areas/technologies.
Details here: http://vancouver.ca/sustainability/SolarHomes.htm
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136 votes
You may be interested in learning more about the following programs:
UBC Line Rapid Transit Study – http://vancouver.ca/ubcline and http://www.translink.ca/ubcline
Central Broadway Planning Program – http://vancouver.ca/broadway
Cambie Corridor Planning Program – http://vancouver.ca/cambiecorridor
____________________Outside City of Vancouver boundaries:
Surrey Rapid Transit Planning Program – http://www.translink.ca/en/Be-Part-of-the-Plan/Public-Consultation/Current-Consultations/Surrey-Rapid-Transit-Study.aspx
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Retrofit apartments to have individual control over radiator heating
Many low-rise apartment buildings are heated by radiators connected to a central boiler. In lots of these buildings, individual apartments do not have a thermostat or radiator control. Often the building is overheated in winter, with windows open and the boiler working even harder. Lobbies and hallways are also sweltering.
A City program could install valves on each radiator to give occupants individual control and reduce energy wastage. There would be a hugely beneficial return on investment in terms of reduced energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the city.
10 votesHas been implemented in pilot program.
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543 votes
Requires support from TransLink. The City will continue to support this idea, through measures including secured rights-of-way (e.g. the centre median on 1st Avenue near the Olympic Village). The recent Olympic Line streetcar demonstration was very successful and helps make the business case for this project.
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No more floor-to-ceiling windows
Change the building code to reduce floor-to-ceiling windows. This type of condo design requires an unecessarily large amount of energy for heating and cooling. These windows usually have a couch or TV unit or shelf shoved up against them and blocking the view anyway! Even putting a solid wall on the bottom 25% of each storey would reduce energy use. (And hopefully liven up the architecture compared to the currently ubiquitous - and boring - walls of glass condos.)
10 votesGlazing ratios are addressed in our passive design toolkits and may be revised in design guidelines. This idea is included in the Draft Greenest City Action Plan.
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Ban garburetors - they waste water and put waste in water
Change the building code to ban garburetors. Organic material shouldn't use drinking water to be conveyed to the sewage plant for treatment, it should go in a composter
26 votesThis is part of the proposed Liquid Waste Management Plan.
http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/wastewater/planning/Pages/default.aspx -
Stop automated sprinklers
I've seen automated sprinklers spraying while it's raining! Encourage people to choose plants that will thrive knowing that summers are dry periods. Or at least accept less-than-perfect lawns for a couple months of the year. I notice this mostly around condos that just have small strips of grass. They should replace the lawn completely with alternate groundcover - nobody uses it as a lawn anyway.
15 votesSprinkling regulation enforcement is
part of Draft Greenest City Action Plan. -
Assess all green business/economy ideas by eco-equity indicators
At the Pecha Kucha night sponsored by the City of Vancouver to launch this website, Kevin Millsip described the importance of striving for an eco-equitable future: one in which our cities are not only green but just in its ways of providing for people of all incomes, races, and education levels. Let's build a dimension of equity into the green economy we want — healthy, sustainable and inclusive.
21 votesEco equity is addressed through focus on generating job creation opportunities for full spectrum of workers, from high skilled to those with barriers to employment. This is an idea that is included in the Draft Greenest City Action Plan
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Installing a 50 kw Wind Turbine @ Vanier Park to power the MoV, PSC & MM to showcase wind energy
Vanier Park's ideal location for wind and reducing the GHG's for Vancouver's 3 major museums would not only be beneficial environmentally but would be a major attraction to the public.
17 votesGreat idea. The Vancouver Park Board has examined opportunities for small wind energy generation at locations further west like Jericho.
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Granville bike/walking corridor
Granville street was happily car free for years. Cars fluidly use Seymore and Howe for accessing the Granville St. bridge. Let's eliminate the road and parking on Granville St. and replace it with a two way bike path, gardens/parks, public gathering areas and outdoor eating. Having an alternative transportation area in the core of our city will be a strong symbol of our goals.
5 votesThe Rediscover Granville program was a big success in 2009, and the City will be looking to continue and build upon this work in future years. More broadly, the draft Greenest City plan will include directions to explore pedestrian-only and pedestrian-priority streets in the downtown core. Potential locations will be identified at a later date (e.g. as part of the transportation plan update).
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Label local/green building materials.
I would choose local/green building materials if there were some system of assurance. I would prefer to buy BC wood/materials for my house.
7 votesThe City is supportive of building materials labeling however not in our jurisdiction to implement this.
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Host an sustainability ideas series (e.g. films, lectures, how to sessions)
Sustainability is a complex and difficult topic. Many people get a sense about what it is, some don't get it at all and many others think green consumerism (e.g. cloth bags, CFL lightbulbs) is all that's required to build a friendly and safe global future. A multimedia ideas series, perhaps at community centres, would be a great tool to inform people about what is actually required (e.g. reducing overall consumption) for us to build a sustainable global civilization.
10 votesWill share this idea with other organizations in the community that already have some of this type of programming.
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Extend food waste collection program to include apartments and condos
While the curbside food waste program is terrific, detached homeowners already have the option of composting in their yards. Extending the program to include apartments dramatically reduce municipal waste and will finally make composting available to the growing number of Vancouverites living in high-density buildings (which is also great for the environment).
770 votesThe City supports Metro Vancouver’s plans to ban food scraps from the incinerator and landfills by 2015. The City will collaborate with Metro Vancouver to develop and implement a plan to ensure apartments, condos, businesses and institutions have access to food scraps collection programs before the ban comes into effect.
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Separate organic matter out of the waste stream and convert it to biogas
When food scraps and organic matter decompose in landfills, methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is created. If captured properly, methane can be used as a fuel source (known as biogas). Biogas is considered carbon neutral since, unlike natural gas, it does not add any new carbon to the atmosphere. Separating organic matter out of the waste stream and converting it to biogas lowers the greenhouse gas emissions associated with our waste, creates a new fuel source, and makes recycling easier.
29 votesThe City has already started a food scraps collection program for neighbourhoods where yard trimmings are collected. These materials are currently composted. With more organic waste diversion, the City will explore opportunties to implement technolgies that produce biogas like gassifiers and anaerobic digesters.
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Ban all and any fireworks!!
[Idea submitted via email by Michael Csupak]
I encourage you to educate yourselves about pyrotechnics.
The “Festival of Lights” I believe it is called is a large scale pollution, initially the atmosphere, we all breathe the air, then the particles will settle in our waters we drink and the fish lives in and in the soil we grow our food in and so on. The chemicals used in the fireworks are poisonous and some cases are RADIOACTIVE. A very good scientific study was produced by the University of Vienna, sighting much of the specifics.
Concentrations of similar explosives used by…
22 votesMetro Vancouver is considering the implications of a partial ban and alternatives to fireworks (e.g. light-shows)
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Ban power washers for residential use
[Submitted via email by Patrice Allen]
"Ban power washers for residential use, and monitor their use or find alternatives for commercial use. At present they are noisy, gas-sucking or power sucking annoyances that waste tons of water while owners wash their trucks, their driveways and their dogs. It stuns me. I have sat outside of a Safeway store at the tables provided and watched while two men have power washed a concrete planter and a small portion of sidewalk, for HOURS, using TONS of water and power. Why, in Rain City, do we have to powerwash everything that is exposed…
0 votesAn outright ban on power/pressure washers is not part of the Draft Greenest City Action Plan, but education about appropriate uses and alternatives to their use is part fo the plan.
