GC 2020
657 results found
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19 votes
This has long been a priority at the municipal level. Regionally, support is required from higher levels of government (e.g. Metro Vancouver, TransLink, Province of BC) as other municipalities.
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Make It Mandatory That Asphalt Roofing Shingles Be Banned from Landfills (and recycled instead)
In the Vancouver region alone approximately 80,000 tonnes of tear-off roofing shingles are disposed of in our landfills each year! 80,000 tonnes means 160,000 barrels of oil used and 4.8 million tonnes of CO2 produced! This is unnecessary waste, and there is one company making a difference in this area that grinds up the shingles to be sold as binder in asphalt paving mixes and as fuel for kilns. To keep this huge amount of waste that could be re-used out of our landfills, the city of Vancouver should partner with this company by either purchasing grinders so the landfills…
19 votes -
Require all properties to capture rainwater/manage rainwater runoff on-site
In a city like ours, we should not be letting valuable rainwater sheet off the sidewalks and streets all winter, while we use drinking water to flush our toilets!
While this ventures into the territory of the provincial building code, the City of Vancouver can show leadership in requiring all buildings to capture and manage rainwater run-off on-site (e.g. through rainwater cisterns, stormwater planters, rain gardens, bioswales, etc.). There are many policy precedents for this in Germany, and excellent examples of beautiful rainwater management in Portland.
Reducing stormwater runoff will reduce incidents of sewage overflow (combined sewer overflow events) into…
19 votesThis is captured in rezoning requirements. The City has also developed a Waterwise Landscape Guide http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/guidelines/W005.pdf
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bike elevator
Bike elevators are used in Norway to assist with steep hills - used much like a T-Bar on a ski hill. Place them in a few strategic areas to increase bike traffic (and reduce cars!).
See http://www.trampe.no/english/ for an example.19 votesBike escalators are an interesting idea that may make sense elsewhere in the region (e.g. urban bike routes with a very steep, extended incline). The City of North Vancouver has expressed interest in the past in this idea for Lonsdale Avenue.
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Promote electric taxicabs with tax and license fee incentives
One way to get people out of their cars is to make taxis more available and less expensive. And Vancouver's taxi fleets can be made greener by encouraging a shift to Electric Vehicles.
18 votes -
Create an East West bike lane
Remove parking on Broadway and encourage commercial access for bikes
18 votesThanks for sharing this idea!
The city’s new 10-year cycling program master plan will soon be in development, and hopefully completed within the next year. A big part of the work ahead is to identify where separated bike lanes might be appropriate.
Lessons learned from the downtown trial will be an important input into the plan. The results so far support evidence elsewhere that separated bike lanes are a great way to make cycling more attractive on busy streets.
For more information, visit http://vancouver.ca/cycling .
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Create scramble intersections at major intersections
A scramble intersection allows pedestrians to cross in every direction at the same time. Vancouver used to have them in some downtown locations, but they were phased out. Toronto now has one at Yonge & Dundas.
Let's bring them back - Burrard & W Georgia? Main and Hastings? Cambie and W Broadway? Many possibilities.
18 votesGreat idea!
The City has been interested in scramble intersections for some time, and staff are currently exploring different locations where they might be suitable. High pedestrian volumes are an important criteria, although there are other considerations as well.
Those interested in learning more about pedestrian volumes downtown and throughout the city might want to check out the City’s 2001-2002 Pedestrian study (http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/transport/pedstudy/). -
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 votesThis idea is included in the draft Greenest City Action Plan
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Develop incentives to restore the bee populations
[Submitted via email by Patrice Allen]
Develop incentives to restore the bee populations, not only for their products but for cross-pollination in ALL green spaces.
18 votesHobby bee keeping guidelines under review and there are beehives on top of City Hall. For details on the City of Vancouver bee keeping initiatives, please visit: http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/socialplanning/initiatives/foodpolicy/projects/beekeeping.htm
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Build Salt Marshes
Salt marshes are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, and certainly some of the most productive that occur here on the BC coast (where we have a distinct lack of tropical rainforests and reefs). Salt marshes are nurseries for fishes and invertebrates, and provide an immense amount of food for other animals - especially migrating birds.
However, as the Vancouver coastline has been developed and re-developed many of these valuable habitats have been destroyed. This is not entirely a sad story, as much of the Vancouver shore has been redeveloped in to the Sea Wall and other community…
18 votes -
Switch our power source from water (BC Hydro) to solar or wind
Reservoirs disrupt the natural water cycle, collecting dead biological material, resulting in massive amounts of carbon emissions, among other problems. And are NOT green. Let's switch it over to Solar or wind!
18 votes -
Thermal Depolymerization
I'm aware of the attempts to collect methane from landfills. But there is a better technology that will reduce waste entering landfills in the first place... Thermal depolymerisation. It is still a relatively fledgling - but proven - technology (14-ish years old) but worth looking into. http://www.changingworldtech.com/
This invention is recycling par excellence. It would mean a reduction of new fossil carbon into the atmosphere, with a superlatively effective reuse of existing biomass. It could also solve all the CH4 emission problems of landfills; in fact, farm waste, old tyres, landfills and sewage systems would become a resource.
I realise…
18 votes -
School Compost and Recycling Programs
Install more Recycling and Compost areas inside Schools to decrease litter and keep school gardens healthy
18 votes -
Enable home and building owners to retrofit existing buildings for energy efficiency
Instead of building it all from scratch, let's fix what we already have... Low hanging fruit here. Maybe we need to tie retrofits to property tax bills to create the right incentives.
18 votesFinancing tools (currently under development) may encourage building owners to improve the performance of their buildings rather than rebuild
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Align Capitial Spending to Pedestrian & Cyclist Injury Reduction
Implement annual monitoring, reporting, and targets for injury reduction of pedestrians and cyclists, align capital spending towards injury reduction and away from increasing SOV capacity.
17 votes -
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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Coordinate waste management truck routes
To reduce vehicle emissions, waste management companies for apartment/condos should be coordinated by route / area. I see several different private garbage trucks drive down the same alleys every day. There is a lot of redundancy and extra traffic to collect garbage when several different companies have bins in the same city block. If only one company were responsible for a whole area, their trucks could travel more efficiently, and the number of miles driven by garbage trucks overall in the city would be reduced
17 votes -
17 votes
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Make it mandatory to have 220V plugs installed at every new condo parking spot.
.. in preparation for electric cars.
17 votes -
Use school buildings as evening community learning centres
A tremendous amount of infrastructure goes unused for a large amount of time. School libraries, cafeterias, gymnasiums and classrooms could be rented after school for evening programs like adult education, sports groups, community gatherings, potlucks, etc.
16 votesUsing public school buildings as a shared community resource after hours seems like a sensible way to get better use from existing resources. However, it should be noted that his item will require further consultation and partnership with the Vancouver School Board.
