City Council has adopted The Way We Green! YAY!

Thewaywegreen
---This is a repost from July 20th 2011, Kevin summed it all up so well we had to get him up on our blog----

Hello everyone,

City Council has adopted The Way We Green as their strategic longterm plan for the municipality.  Earlier in the morning council voted on whether to allow the public to speak today, and they needed a unanimous vote to approve that.  There were two votes against and so there were no speakers called on outside city administration during the discussion today.  Even so, with 55 business owners and professionals on file in support of The Way We Green [including EcoAmmo], I'm clear that we made a difference in empowering those councillors who were working to get the vote passed.  It also further empowered the administration in their efforts to negotiate with industry representatives expressing concerns.

Going into the 1:30 session, it seemed the council was likely split 6-6 on whether they would vote to approve.  Don Iveson did a masterful job framing the conversation, clarifying what was and wasn't on the table.  In addition, city administrators demonstrated real leadership in presenting their case and request for approval.  Several councillors were very generous in their support of the plan and of the work done by city officials, and pushed for faster adoption, more aggressive goals, and increased action:  Linda Sloan, Karen Leibovici, Ben Henderson, Don Iveson, Kim Krushell, and Amarjeet Sohi.

Thanks to everyone for responding and pledging your support for an important move toward a green future.  Having business come out in support of future-based thinking, strong goals for the environment, and a demonstration that the environment and the economy are parts of the same thing are and will continue to be vitally important.  [Email Kevin to be added to his] distribution list to provide future opportunities to participate for anyone who would like access to future consultation efforts from the City of Edmonton.

Congratulations to everyone on a big win.  Please check your Councillors vote and provide them with feedback. [you can find out who your councillor is here]

Have a great night everyone!

Why You Should Reimagine Your Office Tower

If you work in a high rise office tower, chances are that not much consideration was taken for thermal performance, energy efficiency or even the comfort of employees in regards to sound and natural lighting.

Most of Alberta's downtown building stock was built in the 60s and 70s and they are showing their age. Reimagine is an initiative by Edmonton based architectural firm Manasc Isaac, that aims to transform existing buildings into healthy, sustainable buildings. With plenty of retrofit potential in Alberta it only makes sense. Retrofits are not cheap but when done correctly the potential is immense.

This past week I had the pleasure of attending an event put on by Reimagine in Edmonton. Billed as a Tower Renewal Summit the keynote speaker was architect Sarah Beardsley. She’s responsible for the massive retrofit of the Sears (sorry, Willis) Tower in Chicago. A project still in the planning stages the cost is estimated to be between $200 to $300 million dollars. A not insigificant price tag but the Willis Tower is the tallest building in the western hemisphere. You can read more about it here, it’s quite an impressive project.

The building was completed as Sears Tower in 1973, the heyday of energy ignorance, which means the skyscraper has single-pane windows that leak around the edges and let in hot air in summer and cold in winter, lights everywhere and inefficient electric heating throughout.

"Each old window is like a car driving around," Beardsley said. "And people don't think of it that way it's just a window. But I think maybe we need to start thinking about it that way."

Sears_tower
They're also putting a green roof up on the 90th floor. It's so high up that only mountain vegetation will grow up there. However the green roof isn't what's doing the heavy lifting energy wise. Replacing the windows and addressing the building envelope will carry the mail in that regard. With better daylighting and less need for large, expensive heating and cooling systems the cost savings will be as massive as the tower.

For an energy efficiency geek like me this is crack. I recommend you head to Reimagine’s website and check out their thermal scans of existing buildings in Edmonton and their reimaginings.  Something to keep in mind the next time someone complains about the office temperature/air conditioning/loud fan.