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Feb. 6, 2008
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Welcome to The Atmospheric the newsletter of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF). In this issue we have information on neighbourhoods going solar, the Dan Leckie Forum, and happenings at TAF itself. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions on this newsletter. Click here for information on contacting us, as well as on subscribing or unsubscribing from this service. |
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 Let the sun shine
Residents of South Riverdale (Ward 30) will get a chance to tap into the power of the sun with the new Toronto Solar Neighbourhood Initiative. The initiative will use funds mandated through the provincial approvals process for the Portlands Energy Centre to support the installation of solar domestic hot water systems in the neighbourhood with either zero interest financing or rebates. The initiative is a joint project of TAF, the City of Toronto Energy Efficiency Office, Toronto Environment Office and Toronto Hydro and will provide valuable experience for the city to help advance an expanded program to promote solar power across the city. Currently, we are recruiting South Riverdale residents to help to review the program design, advise on community marketing, and suggest other ways to help lower South Riverdale’s climate impact. If you are interested in joining the advisory committee, please register at www.toronto.ca/taf/solar.htm TAF is contributing up to $60,000 over two years to this joint venture.
District energy systems can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while improving the reliability of local electricity systems and reducing costs. That’s why TAF has worked with the Canadian District Energy Association (CDEA), and the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) to create Urban Energy Solutions, a national program to promote understanding and development of district energy systems in cities. The program produced reports, case studies and workshops to spread the word about the potential for district energy. It also developed important quantification tools for calculating the greenhouse gas emission reductions that can be achieved through district energy approaches. This work follows in the footsteps of TAF's earlier efforts to support district energy solutions, such as funding the feasibility study for deep-lake water cooling. Now Toronto’s planning department is using these tools and materials to advance district energy planning in Toronto, starting with new waterfront development. A very powerful partnership indeed. More info: www.cdea.ca TAF provided a $25,000 grant to support this joint venture. |
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 Marketing green For the historic St. Lawrence Market, going green means more than picking the freshest vegetables. With plans underway to redevelop the market’s north building (the City plans to replace it with a multi-storey, multi-purpose facility that has a public market on the ground floor), interest has also been building in making the new facility as green as possible. In early December 2007, a “green design charrette” was held at the market to generate ideas about the best available green practices and technologies that could be integrated into the new building. Recommendations arising from the charrette will form the basis of further feasibility assessments and design studies, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that the new North Market building meets the City of Toronto's Green Development Standard. The new building will also be a showcase for low-carbon technologies and will demonstrate the advantages of designing these features in from the beginning of the planning process. More information: www.toronto.ca/stlawrence_market/index.htm TAF staff participated in the design charrette and, pending approval, will provide a grant of $40,000 towards feasibility studies from the recommendations arising from the charrette. |
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 New Directions After 18 months of strategic planning, with significant input from TAF's citizen committees and consultation with stakeholders, TAF has created four new program areas to guide its work over the next three years: SolarCity, TowerWise, LightSavers, and FleetWise. These programs will
integrate grants, financing, policy advocacy, and communications to accelerate the incubation and scale-up of low carbon initiatives in Toronto. Details for the program areas will be announced at TAF's AGM in April 2008. Spreading knowledge While on four months leave in 2008, TAF Executive Director Phil Jessup will be tapped by The °Climate Group, London, U.K, to develop a strategic plan for showcasing carbon reducing projects in rapidly growing Chinese cities. Starting in March, TAF Associate Director Mary Pickering will be Acting Executive Director.
TAF Executive Director Phil Jessup was invited by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, of which Toronto is a founding member, to present a paper on the Toronto Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) Pilot Project at a C40 Workshop on Transport and Congestion, held in London UK in December 2007. John Mende, Director of the City’s Transportation Infrastructure Management division, officially represented the City at the event. Toronto’s 10-vehicle PHEV pilot project has attracted international attention as the largest municipal project of its kind to date (Seattle recently committed to a 13 vehicle pilot test). London, Los Angeles, and many other cities are now contemplating similar pilot test programs. Conversions of hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius to plug-ins can significantly improve fuel economy and reduce carbon emissions, a key focus of TAF’s new FleetWise program.
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 Getting our wheels on
As Toronto works to get its cycling strategy back on track, Europe offers a number of examples of effective programs that can get commuters out of cars and onto bikes. Copenhagen has created a 350-kilometre cycle track infrastructure that has led to an astonishing 37% of city residents using bikes to commute to work. Bicycle infrastructure has also been integrated into the fabric of the city, including bike parking facilities, transit access and priority traffic signals. Along with a number of other cities, including Paris, Barcelona, and Vienna, Copenhagen has also created a public bike share system serving the city core that provides easy access to stylish and well-designed bikes. Paris now boasts 20,000 public bikes that can be picked up and dropped off at locations that are at most 300 metres apart. The Paris system currently has 55,000 subscribers and is aiming for 200,000 by the end of this year. More info: www.c40cities.org/docs/0712transport/day1-sess1-dector.pdf and www.c40cities.org/bestpractices/transport/copenhagen_bicycles.jsp
More about grants For information on our grants program and a full list of TAF grants, please see our website at www.toronto.ca/taf |
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The Atmospheric is sent six times annually. To subscribe, click on the The Atmospheric button on the our website at www.toronto.ca/taf. To unsubscribe, send an email to atmospheric@tafund.org with “unsubscribe” in the subject line. The Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF) is an agency of the City of Toronto, established by Council in 1991. TAF’s mission is to pioneer solutions that accelerate greenhouse gas emission reductions in Toronto by serving as a self-sustaining revolving fund that incubates and finances innovative local solutions. For more about TAF and the projects it supports, please visit www.toronto.ca/taf. Toronto Atmospheric Fund |
The second annual Dan Leckie Forum was held on November 28, 2007, and marked TAF’s first TowerWise event. An enthusiastic group of 65 individuals from the legal, business, tenants, government, and high-rise management and construction communities attended. The Forum’s purpose was to identify strategies that could remove obstacles and accelerate uptake of advanced energy efficiency measures in high-rise homes. Presentations covered the high-rise waterfront, from Graeme Stewart of E.R.A. Architects on Toronto's high-rise inventory and the advantages of better cladding to Nestor Uhera from the City's Energy Efficiency Office, who explained the Better Buildings Partnership. TAF's own Tim Stoate discussed the Towerwise program, while engineer Derek Finn talked about the advantages of hiring an outside expert to help create a coordinated retrofit strategy and Mary Todorow from the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario discussed the split incentive for energy conservation in rental high rises. Keynote speaker Michael Colgrove, from New York State’s Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), outlined New York State’s approach to owner engagement in the retrofit process and its appealing incentives program. The Forum Summary is available online and will be presented to the City for further deliberation and action by key decision makers. Visit 
