The Canada Greener Homes Grant and US Expert Home Improvements Program will help homeowners make their homes more energy-efficient, create new jobs across North America for energy advisors, grow our domestic green supply chains, and fight climate change.
The BC and Washington floods are a mere hint of what climate change could do to the food supply and Premier John Horgan’s statement to “Build back better”.
The Pacific Northwest’s updated climate plan for both BC and Washington state, the CleanBC Roadmap and MRSC Research – ECLEI global sustainable development, have created a strategic plan, promising to take important steps to close the gap between the province’s 2030-2035 emissions reduction target and its plan to get there.
The recent UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, the International Energy Agency released its World Energy Outlook 2021 report highlighting key measures countries must take to close the gap between the amount of emissions that will be reduced under current plans and the amount of emissions that need be reduced to achieve the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
In 27 EU Member States (out of 28) minimum requirements for windows have been introduced. These requirements can be regrouped in three categories: minimum requirements based on the U-value (being Uwvalue or Ug-value), on the Uw-value and g-value separately or on the energy balance combining both the Uw-value and g-value.
The climate crisis is all too real, prompting more than 230 medical journals to warn that 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming above pre-industrial levels risks “catastrophic harm to human health that will be impossible to reverse” and call on governments to respond with “unprecedented funding.”
In late June 2021, the peak, or ridge of a “heat dome” stalled over the Pacific Northwest creating a high-pressure that trapped hot air beneath it and blocked the oncoming jet stream from pushing the weather system on. Poorly insulated homes became “ovens” reaching internal temperatures of over 35C.
Faced with rising energy costs, a greater concern for the environment and an increased focus on the comfort and health of families, home buyers are looking for homes that are more comfortable, healthier, energy efficient, environmentally friendly and less expensive to operate.
Over three quarters of carbon pollution from operating a building can be almost eliminated by switching from natural gas to electricity or renewable natural gas for space and water heating.
Economic stability depends on planetary health, which is impossible without a safe climate. But what policies and measures are necessary to help governments limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and deliver on the promise of a safer, sustainable world for all?
