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How can we reach our 2020
Greenest City Targets?

GC 2020

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62 results found

  1. Divert sewer runoff into groundwater

    Before 1850 when the rain fell on Vancouver, it soaked into the ground, which then fed the over 50 streams which crisscrossed the land. This water which supported a multitude of life then ran to the Burrard Inlet, False Creek and the Fraser River.

    Today most of rainwater ends up on asphalt streets and the rooftops of buildings and this water runs into countless sewers which end up in the same surrounding water systems. As the water runs into the sewers, it picks up pollution from cars, residue from asphalt streets and tar roofs and many other small and large…

    40 votes
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  2. Encourage smaller, denser housing

    Many people around the world live in smaller housing units in denser neighbourhoods. In Toronto, many freehold lots are between 15-20 feet wide. The typical Vancouver lot is 33 feet wide. We could double the density in the City by encouraging the development of smaller, attached homes on freehold lots that are 15-16 feet wide. Density alone is not enough to create a livable city, but density will help to reduce emissions as well as helping to improve the affordability of housing in Vancouver.

    39 votes
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  3. Require Timer Light Swtiches & Motion Sensors for Lights in Building Code / Existing Bldg Retrofits

    It boggles the mind why in North America we light up our interior corridors, parkades and other common areas in buildings 24/7. Motion sensored lights in large parkades and common areas, and light switches on times in corridors and stairwells would keep people just as safe and give them light when it was needed, stopping the energy waste of having lights on all the time. It would also reinforce the conservation mentality that people might then bring into their homes as well.

    39 votes
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  4. Develop a restoration economy

    Promote preservation and redevelopment rather than new development whenever possible in order to minimize destruction of natural and cultural heritage. Capitalize on underutilized and abandoned infrastructure. Revitalize places that have already been developed. Create incentives for the preservation and restoration of buildings rather than tearing them down. This could include incentives for improvements in energy efficiency; community access to services; and improvement or creation of habitat around buildings, for instance.

    27 votes
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  5. Mandatory Lighting Controls for Commercial buildings

    Why are there so many office lights on in commercial office buildings, when nobody is occupying those areas. Mandate the use of green lighting controls (Daylight Harvesting, Absence/Presence detection etc.)

    25 votes
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  6. Encourage renovation of existing housing stock rather than demo and rebuild.

    require new construction to be NET zero and help reduce single family house demolition. The greenest building is one that is already standing.

    22 votes
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  7. Create program for low-income individuals to weatherize existing buildings

    Create incentives as well as training program for low income / marginalized individuals to weatherize existing buildings.

    Weatherizing (caulking and weather stripping gaps in walls, win­dows, doors, roof, and floors) is a simple and affordable energy conservation solution that makes a HUGE difference, often with a payback of less than year. There are many existing buildings in Vancouver that are poorly performing due to a lack of weather-proofing.

    Think of all the green jobs we could create if people were trained in how to do this, and there were incentives make it easier to implement.

    22 votes
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  8. Don't re-invent the wheel

    Get advice and ideas from cities that are already the greenest (European cities) and from local experts (Suzuki Foundation).

    21 votes
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    started  ·  6 comments  ·  Admin →
  9. Awnings

    Encourage Awnings - Connected dry cover improve pedestrian traffic in a rainy city. @ More bus shelters that really shelter.

    20 votes
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    Weather protection will be highlighted as an important design consideration for the pedestrian realm. Many parts of the city (e.g. most of the downtown, most commercial areas) already include design guidelines for weather protection and design guidelines (including requirements for awnings). However, there may be more opportunities to encourage existing buildings to add awnings (and similar weather protection) through renovation and building facade improvement programs.

  10. Compost, compost, COMPOST!

    Encourage people to compost!!!!! Send out info to people and they will build it! And rainwater cachement systems are GREAT too.

    20 votes
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    started  ·  2 comments  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Admin →
  11. rain water toilets

    rainwater can be collected from eco-roofs or rain gutters use in toilets.

    19 votes
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  12. 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 votes
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  13. 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 votes
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  14. More street food more places

    The City's recent allocation of 17 new street-food licenses is a good start. Let's take it to the next level with street food hubs on city-owned parking lots or under-utilized alleyways. These centres could be modelled after those in Portland and feature a wide variety of local, healthy options. A bonus idea: a plate refund system like at the Folk Fest -- so that packaging and wrap can be minimized or done away with!

    16 votes
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  15. Celebrate water! Rain water, river water, ocean water -- let's treat it like we love it!

    Some ideas for celebrating water might include...

    • Making beautiful rain-powered water sculptures as public art
    • "Daylighting" our lost creeks
    • Creating new "creeks" (swales) and ponds to manage our stormwater
    • Making sure our rivers and ponds and coastlines stay/get clean enough to swim in and fish in and play in again

    What are your ideas?

    16 votes
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  16. More car diverters on busy bike routes

    Add more car diverters to busy bike routes: they work!

    15 votes
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    The City implemented several new trial diverters on various bike routes in the summer of 2010. This is part of a program to reduce non-local traffic volumes on those bikeways and to make the bikeways more comfortable for cyclists for all ages and abilities. The pending active transportation plan will explore opportunities for further traffic calming on our bikeways.

  17. Expand the Yellow Fish Markers on Storm Drain Sewers Program

    Historically, industrial man has been accustomed to using our waterways as a dumping ground for unwanted waste. Sadly this has led to our ocean becoming a toxic soup for animals and plants. Agricultural fertilizer runoff cause algal blooms. Inefficient or excessive garbage has caused many massive garbage (mostly plastic) islands to appear in the oceans and has had an adverse impact on seabirds and sea mammals. Chemicals are dumped down sewers and fish are killed immediately. In Burnaby Byrne Creek has had too many such incidents in the past few years; so many in fact that an initiative called “Stream…

    15 votes
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  18. Reduce light pollution

    Relatively easy to correct and largely the result of bad design, light pollution is a common problem throughout the city. Make sure that lights are designed to focus light downwards and not allowed up into the night sky where it disrupts the diurnal patterns of many species (including people).

    14 votes
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  19. City of Vancouver Eco bonds to help home and business owners with green upgrades.

    ECO bonds are helping cities throughout the US with renewable energy and efficiency upgrades to their homes and businesses. By leveraging the lower borrowing rates of the city, Vancouver can help citizens get over the high up-front costs of green retrofits by deducting an additional amount from property taxes over a long term - say 20 years - period.

    14 votes
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  20. Install outlets for electric vehicles in parking lots

    [Submitted via email]

    Consider a downtown parking lot with outlets so plugin electric hybrids can recharge. Could have some type of metre.

    13 votes
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