657 results found

1. green teams at work

   All companies have green teams - staff run program that engage staff in being greener at work and at home.

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   1 comment  ·  Create green jobs  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →

2. create landscaped outdoor furniture

   Improve outdoor spaces to encourage pedestrian activity and animation of public spaces by creating a series of fun, large-scale landscaped furniture, like grass sofas & loveseats... See the example in England:

   http://inhabitat.com/2010/07/26/gigantic-lawn-lounges-sprout-throughout-england/new-6-28/

   2 votes

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   1 comment  ·  Improve access to nature  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →

3. make bus transfers optional

   I often don't need to transfer onto another bus or train so I would like it to be optional to receive a ticket after paying. So much paper waste could be reduced.

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   3 comments  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →

4. Provide home owners with a tax rebate for installing compostable toilets.

   The availability of composting toilets is growing, with a variety of kinds to suit home owners' purposes. Our clean water sources in Canada are abundant, but also the equivalent to gold on an international scale: we should treat it this way. Let's not flush our potable water sources down the toilet. Composting toilets use little to no water at all. We should provide incentives for Canadians to make this change.

   12 votes

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   1 comment  ·  Use less water  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
   under review  ·  AdminGreenest City Planning Team (Admin, CG2020) responded

   Not specifically part of Draft Greenest City Action Plan, but efficient fixtures and incentives are.

5. Variable Property Taxes based on FSR

   Many SF homes built in the city today have huge footprints. Real estate economics shouldn't govern the size of homes. Reward existing homeowners and new home builders by allowing property tax discounts for greater green space surrounding their homes. Smaller homes with larger proportion of the land landscaped in trees or gardens increases the quality of city life.

   5 votes

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   2 comments  ·  Build carbon neutral new buildings  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
   under review  ·  AdminGreenest City Planning Team (Admin, CG2020) responded

   Incentives are being considered for homes that are built sustainability and to be energy efficient.

6. Heat pumps not electric baseboards in all new homes!

   Electric baseboard heat is the single largest use of electricity for most condos. They are egregious wastes of electricity and provide inferior heating characteristics. Virtually all are installed with manual thermostats which wastes much more energy. If programmable heat pumps were required as the building code standard electricity consumption could be reduced dramatically, and heat pumps also have the ability of providing air conditioning during our global warming summer heat waves.

   18 votes

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   3 comments  ·  Build carbon neutral new buildings  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
   under review  ·  AdminGreenest City Planning Team (Admin, CG2020) responded

   This idea is included in the draft Greenest City Action Plan

7. High Speed Rail to Seattle

   From waterfront station tunnel underground to YVR then the line would follow parallel to highway 99 and then follow the I-5. Traveling an average speed of 250 km/hr you could reach YVR in 3 min at 4.10$, the border in 14 min, Bellingham in 23 min at 29.00$, Everett in 46 min at 58.00$ and finally Seattle in 57 min at 71.63$..... Imagine the possibilities of being able to travel to from downtown Vancouver to Downtown Seattle in just under an hour. Not only would this create green jobs, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it would also show Vancouver leading the green revolution.

   From waterfront station tunnel underground to YVR then the line would follow parallel to highway 99 and then follow the I-5. Traveling an average speed of 250 km/hr you could reach YVR in 3 min at 4.10$, the border in 14 min, Bellingham in 23 min at 29.00$, Everett in 46 min at 58.00$ and finally Seattle in 57 min at 71.63$..... Imagine the possibilities of being able to travel to from downtown Vancouver to Downtown Seattle in just under an hour. Not only would this create green jobs, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it would also… more

   626 votes

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   11 comments  ·  Create green jobs  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
   under review  ·  AdminGreenest City Planning Team (Admin, CG2020) responded

   This idea is not included in the Draft Greenest City Action Plan, but it is supported in principle. Convened a high speed rail summit in July 2010 to discuss this proposal

8. Don't Incinerate -- Reduce!!

   Incineration is a controversial method of waste disposal. If we want to be the Greenest city, we will not get there by incinerating ANY waste. A more comprehensive plan to encourage reduction not only of household waste, but also restaurant and other business waste. Extended food waste collection, consumer education and pay-to-throw programs would all be part of this.

   27 votes

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   3 comments  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →

9. A Call to Town Hall - Plant Veggies, not Flowers

   A Call to Town Hall - Plant Veggies, not Flowers
   Poverty Reduction, Environment Protection and Community Building

   Goal
   Reduce poverty, involve community, promote healthy lifestyles, reduce personal and city spending, create a well connected and safer community, add natural nutrients back to top soil, and educate about healthy living and healthy food.

   Most cities and towns have multiple flower gardens that are taken care of by city workers. Call your local city hall, ask them to plant hardy vegetables in garden spots instead of the usual flowers. Vegetable plants produce very beautiful flowers that turn into edible veggies like Squash, beans, sun-chokes, tomatoes, cucumber, and zucchini, just to name a few of the basics.
   You can still enjoy the beauty of all the flowers the vegetable plants produce and even add a few seasonal flowers in the mix.

   A few times a year, the community can get together for a harvest. The harvest can then be sold at farmers markets, donated to needy families, or whatever idea someone else may have.

   Poverty Reduction
   Many types of Vegetables can be stored for quite a long time. we can help reduce poverty if the harvested food is donated to those who need it.

   Community Involvement
   Involving community members by allowing everyone to participate in weeding, watering, and harvesting.

   Promote a Healthy Lifestyle
   There are currently hundreds of millions of dollars spent on Marketing campaigns each year. These vegetable gardens will help to promote healthy eating with people walking by a bunch of veggie gardens all day.

   Save Money
   Reduce city spend by having community volunteers do some work such as weeding, and general garden maintenance.

   Education
   Demonstrations, informational tours, and meetings can be held at garden spots for educational events related to growing your own garden in the city.

   Harvesting
   Harvesting the crops can be a community event bringing individuals and families together a few times a year to sell and/or give away the crops. Harvesting your own seeds will eliminate purchasing expensive annual flowers that die and wither each year.

   Rebuilding for future Generations
   Over time each garden spot will rebuild itself to a more natural state and balance itself to support the types of vegetables being grown. Adding natural nutrients such as it's own compost to top soil each year will build a healthy garden for future generations.

   Safer Community
   Creating a well connected and safer community is always on the top of the list for most families and singles these days. Getting to know more people in your community will create a safer atmosphere by having more people watch out for each other more.

   The infrastructure for maintaining these gardens already exists in most cities and towns across North America. Some gardens even have automatic sprinkler systems. Very little needs to be done to make this idea possible. Help make 2010 a year of community and health. Plant Veggies!

   A Call to Town Hall - Plant Veggies, not Flowers
   Poverty Reduction, Environment Protection and Community Building

   Goal
   Reduce poverty, involve community, promote healthy lifestyles, reduce personal and city spending, create a well connected and safer community, add natural nutrients back to top soil, and educate about healthy living and healthy food.

   Most cities and towns have multiple flower gardens that are taken care of by city workers. Call your local city hall, ask them to plant hardy vegetables in garden spots instead of the usual flowers. Vegetable plants produce very beautiful flowers that turn into edible veggies like Squash,… more

   41 votes

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   3 comments  ·  Encourage local food  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
   started  ·  AdminGreenest City Planning Team (Admin, CG2020) responded

   This idea is included in the draft Greenest City Action Plan. Action to date on this issue include community gardens and green streets on City-owned property. The City has also developed an edible landscaping policy http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/socialplanning/initiatives/foodpolicy/tools/links.htm#Edible

10. Plasma incineration

    Incinerate garbage with plasma arc gasification technology, which breaks down waste primarily into elemental gas and solid materials, which may be reused. May also be net producer of electricity.

    An analysis would need to be done to see if viable specifically for Vancouver's needs.

    3 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →

11. 2 stroke scooters

    The 2 stroke engine requires both gas and oil to burn, the emissions of a 2 stroke lawnmower are worse than even large trucks, a 2 stroke scooter is even worse than a lawnmower as the engine is bigger. It's great that a 2 stroke scooter is not so bad on fuel consumption and is smaller in need of materials to build. But 4 strokes and electrics are readily available. I think that we'd all breathe easier if 2 stroke scooters weren't allowed to belch out noise and pollution in Vancouver.

    1 vote

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    0 comments  ·  Reduce greenhouse gas emissions  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →

12. Build an underground UBC Line SkyTrain along the Broadway corridor that connects with the existing V

    The 99 B-Line bus is a key cog in many students coming from the suburbs and a source of their many frustrations. For too long students in Burnaby, New Westminster, Surrey, Langley, etc have sacrificed two hours of their day just to learn at one of the most beautiful and prestigious universities in the world. Being able to connect them via SkyTrain will greatly affect the quality of transportation to campus. The Broadway corridor itself has been waiting for something like this for sometime, and connecting it with the Millennium line at VCC-Clark would do wonders to curb the time crunch with buses. Although this is very beneficial to students, people who travel along the Broadway corridor to access the Vancouver General Hospital, Canada Line will see decreased travel time. It seems like the next logical step and I feel that it is a win-win for many people in the Greater Vancouver Area.

    The 99 B-Line bus is a key cog in many students coming from the suburbs and a source of their many frustrations. For too long students in Burnaby, New Westminster, Surrey, Langley, etc have sacrificed two hours of their day just to learn at one of the most beautiful and prestigious universities in the world. Being able to connect them via SkyTrain will greatly affect the quality of transportation to campus. The Broadway corridor itself has been waiting for something like this for sometime, and connecting it with the Millennium line at VCC-Clark would do wonders to curb the time… more

    29 votes

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    8 comments  ·  Travel predominately by foot, bike, and transit  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
    AdminGreenest City Planning Team (Admin, CG2020) responded

    TransLink is currently leading a study to determine the best approach to deliver high-capacity, fast, frequent, and reliable rapid transit for the Broadway Corridor from Commercial Drive to UBC. A number of technologies and alignment options are being considered, including rail rapid transit (e.g. SkyTrain), surface light rail transit, and bus rapid transit.

    The City of Vancouver is directly involved as a partner agency in the study. In April 2010, City Council endorsed ten principles to guide City input into this process (http://vancouver/ubcline/principles).

    Visit http://vancouver.ca/ubcline to learn more about this work, including upcoming public engagement events.

13. Encourage Eco-Industrial Parks & Eco-Business Zones

    The city can develop an eco-business strategy to help build networks of businesses who work together to : reduce their impacts, resource consumption rates, strain on public infrastructure, and, of course, costs.

    Eco-Industrial Parks and eco-business zones are effective models for greening new and existing industry/business activity: By acting collectively, and taking lessons from natural systems, we can create new green business opportunities and transform existing employment areas to use less resources like water & energy, and to attract progressive new green businesses to town.

    12 votes

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    3 comments  ·  Create green jobs  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
    under review  ·  AdminGreenest City Planning Team (Admin, CG2020) responded

    Need to research eco-industrial practices. Strathcona is implementing at a neighbourhood scale. This idea is included in the draft Greenest City Action Plan.

14. Set up a Vancouver city treeplanting carbon offset program, adminstered by the city and implemented

    A home owner can request a tree-planting in their yard; a qualified assessment is carried out to select the right species the right placement in the yard with guidelines to ensure the permanence of the tree. These guidelines would ensure any views for your neighbours, power-lines sewer lines etc.. everything to ensure the tree need not be removed in the near future.

    The City then delivers and plants the tree with maintenance guidelines for the homeowner. The home owner gets a few dollars off their taxes every year that the tree remains growing(Audits required as in any tree-planting carbon scheme) and their name and a dedication goes into the "Tree stewards registry" permanently noting when the tree was planted and a small phrase of dedication to be there for review by all future residents and neighbours.

    The tree is solely owned by the homeowner, the carbon credits are owned by the City. For the City it's a 'not for profit' scheme where profits are diverted to the homeowners tax breaks. The benefit to the city is less expensive carbon credits for the Cities needs, and a definite step to being the greenest City. The City already plants hundreds of street trees annually and operates its own tree-growing nursery in Langley providing good quality tree stock (at low cost.); these current efforts can be rolled into this new carbon offset department.

    The City could have a locally overseen avenue for their carbon offsets which also enriches Vancouver's beauty and environmental health.

    Vancouver's Trees;
    ~ are a source of beauty in our environment
    ~ condition the air by absorbing CO2 and pollutants in the air
    ~ supply oxygen, that we breathe
    ~ reduce heat in the summer through the evaporation of water from the leaves
    ~ reduce the wind factor in the winter
    ~ control erosion
    ~ provide a rain canopy
    ~ act as noise buffers
    ~ provide privacy
    ~ soften the urban landscape
    ~ encourage neighbourhood pride
    ~ increase land values
    ~ reduce energy costs associated with heating and cooling homes
    ~ provide food and shelter for wildlife
    ~ when part of a convalescent's environment,
    contribute to the healing process reduce the stress of urban living
    ~ provide leaf mulch

    A home owner can request a tree-planting in their yard; a qualified assessment is carried out to select the right species the right placement in the yard with guidelines to ensure the permanence of the tree. These guidelines would ensure any views for your neighbours, power-lines sewer lines etc.. everything to ensure the tree need not be removed in the near future.

    The City then delivers and plants the tree with maintenance guidelines for the homeowner. The home owner gets a few dollars off their taxes every year that the tree remains growing(Audits required as in any tree-planting carbon scheme)… more

    27 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Plant additional trees  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →

15. Provide incentives to purchase electric vehicles (cars or bikes).

    Many subsidies exist in the USA and Ontario. Vancouver will be one of the first markets to have the Nissan Leaf launch in, but we do not have any subsidies for EVs. Promote EVs now!

    21 votes

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    3 comments  ·  Travel predominately by foot, bike, and transit  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →

16. Cap building energy consumption for different building types on a per occupant basis NOT area

    There is no use in capping annual energy consumption on a per area basis if we continue building larger buildings. If we want to effectively limit total energy use, let's do it on a per occupant basis (i.e. kWh per building occupant).

    6 votes

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    0 comments  ·  Build carbon neutral new buildings  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
    under review  ·  AdminGreenest City Planning Team (Admin, CG2020) responded

    Will move toward outcomes based codes which will take area and occupancy into account. This idea is included in the Draft Greenest City Action Plan.

17. 99 B-Line along Broadway to use Trolley Buses via an express trolley wire, similiar to Hastings St.

    Installing a second set of "express" trolley wires along Broadway similiar to the express wires on Hastings St, would allow the 99 -B-Line, to use zero emmision articulated trolley buses. Currently using trolleys would be no better than the regular "9" service. Express wires would allow the buses to pass each other and would allow the "99" service to run express without conflicting with the local "9" service.

    19 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Travel predominately by foot, bike, and transit  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
    AdminGreenest City Planning Team (Admin, CG2020) responded

    TransLink is currently leading a study to determine the best approach to deliver high-capacity, fast, frequent, and reliable rapid transit for the Broadway Corridor from Commercial Drive to UBC. A number of technologies and alignment options are being considered, including rail rapid transit (e.g. SkyTrain), surface light rail transit, and bus rapid transit. Electric-powered trolleys are included as part of the bus options.

    The City of Vancouver is directly involved as a partner agency in the study. In April 2010, City Council endorsed ten principles to guide City input into this process ( http://vancouver/ubcline/principles ).

    Visit http://vancouver.ca/ubcline to learn more about this work, including upcoming public engagement events.

18. New streetcar lines to revitalize commercial activity on arterials

    Streetcar lines bring development money to streets that need investment. The City should partner with the private sector and TransLink to add streetcar lines as a way kickstart commercial activity and bring pedestrian life back to arterial streets.
    Prime candidates: Hastings St from downtown into Burnaby, Powell St, Prior/Venables, Kingsway, E Broadway, Nanaimo, Renfrew

    19 votes

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    0 comments  ·  Travel predominately by foot, bike, and transit  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →

19. Eliminate minimum parking requirements within 800m of SkyTrain stations

    New developments should not require parking if they are close to rapid transit stations. The developer can choose how many parking spaces to include, but they must be underground and accessed by side streets, not the main shopping street.

    10 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Travel predominately by foot, bike, and transit  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →

20. Rezone areas adjacent to commercial streets rather than displacing existing businesses.

    Our network of commercial streets are generally the cultural heart of various Vancouver neighbourhoods. Currently, Vancouver is rezoning many commercial areas to accommodate higher density structures. This is a good ideas; however, this progress is slowly eradicating long-time businesses in commercial buildings. This is also eroding Vancouver's commercial property tax revenue.

    I believe that (in more cases) the city of Vancouver should be rezoning the single family residences that surround these arteries instead. In many cases the houses are generic 'Vancouver Specials' and lowrise, 1950s style homes that were built to accommodate a vehicle-centric lifestyle. Many people are price out of this type of detached home anyway.

    In short: Replace what's not working, not what is.

    Our network of commercial streets are generally the cultural heart of various Vancouver neighbourhoods. Currently, Vancouver is rezoning many commercial areas to accommodate higher density structures. This is a good ideas; however, this progress is slowly eradicating long-time businesses in commercial buildings. This is also eroding Vancouver's commercial property tax revenue.

    I believe that (in more cases) the city of Vancouver should be rezoning the single family residences that surround these arteries instead. In many cases the houses are generic 'Vancouver Specials' and lowrise, 1950s style homes that were built to accommodate a vehicle-centric lifestyle. Many people are price out… more

    4 votes

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    0 comments  ·  Travel predominately by foot, bike, and transit  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
    under review  ·  AdminGreenest City Planning Team (Admin, CG2020) responded

    Concern for the continued viability of existing business is an important issue in Neighbourhood Centre and Corridor planning initiatives. However, rezoning residential properties to allow for commercial uses should be considered on a case-by-case basis (it could work in some areas, but not in others) and should proceed with caution.