Buildings in Toronto to undergo greening as part of Clinton

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Former U.S. president Bill Clinton is set to unveil a major climate change project on Wednesday that will involve the greening of municipal buildings in 16 cities, including Toronto.

Toronto Mayor David Miller is expected to attend the news conference at the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit in New York City, where Clinton is scheduled to make the announcement at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Mayors and governors from more than 30 cities have gathered to attend the summit to talk about ways they can curb climate change. The meeting ends Thursday.

According to details obtained by the Associated Press, the climate change project has the financial backing of a handful of major international banking institutions, which have committed $1 billion US to cover the costs of upgrades to municipal buildings in select cities.

The project, organized by the Clinton Foundation, will involve replacing heating, cooling and lighting systems with energy efficient technology.

It will also involve turning roofs white or reflective to deflect heat from the sun, sealing windows to prevent heat from escaping, replacing windows to allow for more light and setting up sensors that will make lighting and air conditioning more efficient.
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According to the Clinton Foundation, the proposed changes could reduce energy use by 20 to 50 per cent in the buildings that are upgraded. The reduction in energy could mean a decrease in utility bills and a decrease in the amount of greenhouse gases produced.

In addition to Toronto, the cities slated to undergo a green makeover are: Bangkok, Thailand; Berlin; Chicago; Delhi, India; Houston; Johannesburg, South Africa; Karachi, Pakistan; London, England; Melbourne, Australia; Mexico City; New York City; Rome; Sao Paolo, Brazil; Seoul, South Korea; and Tokyo.

On Tuesday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a keynote address at the summit that city governments must do their part in the fight against climate change.

He said cities consume an estimated 75 per cent of the world's energy and produce an estimated 80 per cent of its greenhouse gases.

"While global warming clearly requires action at the national and international levels, those of us in city government can and must also take a leading role," he said.

"And that's only natural, because mayors are always on the front lines of solving problems that affect people's everyday lives. Whether it's fighting crime, or improving the schools, or cleaning the streets, mayors are responsible for coming up with solutions — and implementing them effectively," he added.

"Doing that requires us to embrace innovative ideas, bring people together to support them and hold ourselves accountable for getting real results. Global warming is no different and that's why cities across the globe are leading the charge."

Bloomberg said London, Stockholm and Singapore, for example, have begun to experiment with what he called congestion pricing of auto traffic, while Paris, Shanghai and Delhi have begun to improve their mass transit systems.
'Hopeful truth'

Chicago, for its part, is planting thousands of trees, while Berlin is greening the roofs of its city buildings.

"In fact, there's a counter-intuitive but hopeful truth about the relationship that our great cities have to global warming. And that is that even though we contribute so heavily to climate change, we also tend to be among the most environmentally friendly, sustainable places on Earth."

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, spokesperson for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told the summit on Tuesday that cities can cut their output of greenhouse gases by making changes in their building, transportation and waste management sectors.

Buildings could be greener through the use of more efficient lighting, electrical appliances and heating and cooling devices, and refrigeration fluids and better insulation, he said.

Transportation could limit its footprint through the use of more fuel-efficient vehicles, hybrid vehicles, cleaner diesel vehicles, biofuels and promotion of walking and cycling instead of motorized transport, he added.

Also on Tuesday, Miller launched the Zerofootprint Toronto project, an initiative to help residents fight global climate change. It combines aspects of social networking websites such as Facebook with an environmental footprint calculator.

Through a tool on a website, users chart the ecological impact made by different aspects of their lives such as transportation, eating habits, household and office activities and waste habits. They can compare and contrast their scores with friends who have also completed the assessment.

The collective data would eventually be used by cities to develop environmental policies and programs.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/05/16/clinton-cities.html?ref=rss

while replacing heating, cooling and lighting systems are a great way to reduce energy consumption simple things like painting roofs white, sealing windows to prevent leaks and setting up sensors/timers to make lighting and air conditioning/heating more efficient are much cheaper ways to help the situation.

Last edited by inphurno on Tue Jun 12, 2007 6:18 pm; edited 2 times in total