GC 2020
248 results found
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Build a cooperative economy.
Co-op's are a great tool in building a green economy. They are member driven, and are grounded in local community needs and values. Let's see how many financial, housing, food, transportation, employment, and product needs can be met in our community by cooperatives.
7 votesNeed co-op model in different green sectors.
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Make Vancouver a Mecca for Green Technologies, Innovation and Jobs
Make Vancouver a global destination for companies to develop and demonstrate emerging clean energy technologies, green transportation systems, energy efficiency solutions, water technologies, green building technology etc. by encouraging, facilitating, procuring and enabling projects to happen in Vancouver rather than other cities.
Solving the world's energy problems, curing our addiction to fossil fuels, reducing waste and ensuring access to fresh drinking water are all contributing to the creation of a new green economy is now valued at more than $5.2 Trillion. This is one of the fastest growing markets in the world and cities around the world are scrambling to…
50 votesA strategy in the Draft Greenest City Action Plan is to give economic development priority to green sectors, and develop a green technology centre and network, along with other specific infrastructure and demonstration projects.
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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 votesFinancing tools (currently under development) may encourage building owners to improve the performance of their buildings rather than rebuild
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A Comprehensive Odour Management Plan
A comprehensive odour management plan is needed for the 'greenest city'
Our neighbourhoods smell of a rendering plant throughout the summer and very little action has occured over the decades. A truly green Vancouver would smell nice on warm days and we would then be able to open our windows and cool our houses with the breeze.
5 votesCity of Vancouver will support Metro Vancouver in its efforts to address this.
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Create a Green Enterprise Zone
Vancouver could establish a green enterprise zone that would serve as a magnet for the development of green business, technology, products and services.
27 votesThis idea will be included in the draft Greenest City Action Plan. A Green Enterprize Zone team is establishing an area and some initial projects including two business incubators, specific infrastructure and demonstration projects.
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Tax meat, milk and eggs & stop subsidizing
United nations, World Watch Institute and numerous high profile climate experts have all agreed that animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gas emissions than the entirety of the transport sector. Yet our government will not stop subsidizing meat, milk and eggs making them "affordable" beyond the capacity of our ecosystem. We need to start taxing these products and stop subsidizing them for the sake of our future.
54 votesEcological footprint impacts of different food choices form part of the data gathering; examining the City’s regulatory and policy tools to encourage lighter footprint living is included as an action.
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Increase indoor temperature range, to connect people to outside and reduce energy. Sweaters! Shorts!
Change commercial (including offices) buildings operating temperature range, to decrease air conditioning in the summer, and decrease heating energy in the winter. My estimates show that a changing the range from 2°C to 8°C could decrease overall building energy by 10%.
4 votesWhile the City cannot mandate the temperature that people set their thermostats to, this issue is addressed through occupant engagement as well as education and capacity building for building operators.
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Energy efficiency training
Grassroots training in home energy efficiency assessments so community members can learn and support each other in improving home energy efficiency. A few workshops around the city, and you could train a number of neighbourhood efficiency "experts" to do assessments and workshops in their area.
3 votesEducation and training around energy efficiency are an integral part of the draft Greenest City Action Plan. Occupants determine to a large degree the level of energy performance in a building.
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3 votes
VEDC attracts conferences as part of business attraction program
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Covered bike racks like these from San Francisco (South Park) #bikearc http://ow.ly/i/2AC9
Covered bike racks to keep people's seats dry during the rainy season would increase accessibility and make it more attractive to ride through the winter. This design isn't perfect but it gives you an idea of what we could do.
15 votesThe City supports this idea, and is starting to look at opportunities to implement it.
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Stormwater/Rainwater capture
Kitchener/Waterloo has just introduced a innovative system to reduce the volume and increase the quality of stormwater runoff.
In 2011 they will reduce the property tax and then charge every land owner a "Stormwater Levy" based on the quality and quantity of stormwater coming off of their property. In 2011 this will be a revenue neutral program.
However, there will be a CREDIT program to reduce your stormwater levy by reducing the volume or increasing the quality of the stormwater leaving your site. This creates an economic incentive for the landowner to implement some of the water recycling programs that…9 votesIncluded in the Draft Greenest City Action Plan.
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Ensure City of Vancouver buildings/events only serve vegan food.
The production of plant-based foodstuff is far better for the environment than animal products, which are one of the leading causes of climate change. The City should lead by example, and ban animal products at any event they cater - ie meetings, catered food for staff, event food.
31 votesLow footprint food choices are not the same as vegan food choices in all cases, the analysis is more complex than this. Generally a low footprint diet is local, seasonal food, and limits consumption of red meat, dairy, and some grains. We will look for opportunities to offer low footprint choices in City facilities.
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Futureproof Green Buildings by adapting to projected climate conditions
Green buildings that do not consider future climate conditions are not as energy efficient or as sustainable as they could be
3 votesThis idea is captured in all our green building policy work, particularly our emphasis on passive design.
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Develop a city-supported urban farming program
Community gardens and farmers markets are on the rise in Vancouver, but there remains a need for more productive farms (market gardens) to produce significant amounts of local food.
There are more and more people interested in getting into farming as a livelihood, but barriers such as high land values and low profit margins in traditional farming make entry difficult.
The City could develop a municipally-supported urban farming program where city-owned land would be affodably leased to prospective farmers for a season to gain experience, earn an income, and produce food for local residents. This could be coupled with a…
240 votesCity has supported SOLE food project (in the DTES) and is investigating other urban farming opportunities as part of the draft Greenest City Action Plan.
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Develop sustainable education tax incentives
Provide a venue where Vancouver residents could go online and watch educational videos about sustainable and green ideas. In order to promote and encourage residents to watch the videos provide a tax incentive on say property tax. This will make more people watch these videos with the hope that a light will turn on in their heads as to making lifestyle changes that make sense as demonstrated by the videos.
4 votesThe City only has property taxation authority which isn’t an easy link to encouraging this kind of behaviour, although some form of incentive can be explored in the review of City policies and regulations.
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Encourage vegan options for all!
A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the ***** impacts of climate change, says the report from United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) international panel of sustainable resource management.
1,073 votesLow footprint food choices are not the same as vegan food choices in all cases, the analysis is more complex than this. Generally a low footprint diet is local, seasonal food, and limits consumption of red meat, dairy, and some grains. Low footprint food choices are included in the draft Greenest City Action Plan and will be discussed through community engagement activities.
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Biodiversity and Permeability Standards through the Zoning By-law
Create a biodiversity and permeability performance standards for new development through the Zoning By-Law. A variation on this could be create market incentives for more biodiversity.
8 votesPermeability is already included in the Zoning Bylaw. Biodiversity is not covered by the Zoning Bylaw.
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Ease the bureaucracy for laneway homes in Van. Dense living where we work, play, shop! Less sprawl!
Laneway homes are beautiful, sustainably designed, detached family or single life dwellings. They fit into areas with houses and neighbourhoods that already exist. They take the place of old poorly used garages or unused back gardens. Less freeway traffic to get to the city; less pressure on our agricultural land reserve; less urban sprawl out into the valley.
51 votesExploring ways to facilitate and remove barriers to achieving our green & density goals
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Create a Separated Bike Lane on Commercial Drive
Commercial Drive is a destination shopping street in Vancouver's east side. It is already a popular route for cyclists, but there is currently no cycling facility provided.
The current route network lacks sufficient safe links to shopping destinations. A new separated bike route on Commercial Drive would address this issue and encourage new cyclists. As cyclist traffic increases, local businesses could also benefit from new the new street traffic.
19 votesThe 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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Encourage clothes lines through subsidized "kits" and installation assistance
Dryers are huge energy sucks, and outdoor clothes lines can do a fine job drying laundry (at least for the 50 days a year it doesn't rain!). Perhaps a summer student could be hired to come install clothes lines at residences around the city.
11 votesSeveral years ago the City devleoped water saver kits to help people conserve water. Look for clothes line kits to be ready for distribution in 2011.
