Change Your Lights/Save Money - Now With Financial Incentives!
Written by Duncan Kinney
Have you ever walked down a stairway in a multi-unit residential building and noted that those lights are always on. When no one is in the stairway those lights are, by definition, 100% inefficient. So what would help?
I don't say this very often but Alberta has just instituted a very smart idea. Provide a monetary incentive on a per-light basis to upgrade to newer, more energy efficient lighting.
It's called Light It Right and it's being administered by one of my favourite arms length non-profit organizations, Climate Change Central. These incentives are aimed at the commercial market where, conceivably, they're going to get the most bang for your buck. The types of buildings that can apply are below
Good News Story: Five Renewable Energy Projects Get Funding
Written by Duncan Kinney
Ok, they have an awkward name, the Climate Change Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) but it's one of the most novel and forward thinking ideas Alberta's ruling party has come up with recently.
Couched in this terrible nomenclature is a seed of a good idea. Set a limit on carbon emissions from your worst emitters, set a cap and tax them $15 a ton or let them offset their activities through the carbon offset market. Then use the money raised through the tax to back greenhouse gas reducing projects and technology.
You'd never think it, or see it reported, but Alberta keeps quite good tabs on our largest GHG emitters. Called specified gas emitters, the CCEMC and it's related family of corporations are in charge of collecting data on Alberta's GHG emitters as well as the upkeep of a small carbon credit system. While you might find the data impossible a little tricky to find, I imagine the majority of them are coal fired power plants with the rest being cement/lime/concrete operations. From this they've raised $121 million dollars. Now what do you do with it?
The Co-operators takes the LEED:New insurance discount for environmentally-friendly dwellings
GUELPH, ON and MONTREAL, QC, May 31 /CNW/
The Co-operators today announced the introduction of a 10 per cent insurance discount for eligible Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified dwellings. The Co-operators is one of the first insurance companies to offer such a discount which, together with its other sustainable products and services, is intended to encourage and reward environmentally responsible behaviour among its clients.
Two members of The Co-operators group of companies began offering the discount today. Co-operators General Insurance Company is offering it under the name Envirowise(TM), and at L'Union Canadienne it is known as Rabais Eco-Logik.
LEED certification is granted by the Canada Green Building Council, using internationally accepted benchmarks for design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. It promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability focused on five key areas: sustainable site development, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
"Homes worthy of LEED certification benefit us all by promoting human and environmental health," said Kathy Bardswick, president and CEO of The Co-operators. "We're quite eager and pleased to reward clients who own these homes by introducing these discounts, which are among the first of their kind in Canada."
