Resources
In a presentation to the Environment Committee during the 2012 Draft Budget consultations, Ecology Ottawa recommended the City undertake the following three clean energy and energy efficiency initiatives in 2012:
1. Municipal Financing of Energy Retrofits.
We are asking that the City fund a feasibility study of a municipal financing program for building and home retrofits in which energy savings are greater than annual payments (pay-as-you-save), and in which the benefits and costs can be transferred to new owners.
All costs of operating the program by the City would be covered by user loan repayments making it revenue neutral to the City.
2. Community Owned Solar Power Systems on City Facilities.
We recommend that the city develop a program that would allow renewable energy cooperatives or other community organizations to investment in solar power projects on city facilities, and assist these organizations to develop solar projects.
3. Energy Efficiency Assistance Strategy for Low Income Families.
We recommend that the City develop a new long term strategy with the EnviroCentre, Enbridge Gas, Hydro Ottawa, social agencies, the Province, and low income communities themselves to provide home and electricity audits, financing options, and technical assistance to Ottawa’s low income families who do not live in social housing units. The City of Ottawa has worked closely with these partners in the past.
Download the following resources:
- The full Ecology Ottawa presentation to the Environment Commitee (Nov. 15, 2011)
- A slide presentation on Municipal Financing of Energy Retrofits (Jan. 19, 2012)
- A short report describing how a Municipal Financing Program would work in Ottawa (Jan. 19, 2012)
- Audio file of Roger Peters at the Environment Committee (Nov. 15, 2011)
In a submission to Mayor Jim Watson’s Online Pre-budget Public Consultation, Ecology Ottawa requests that Budget 2012 be used to transition Ottawa to clean energy and energy efficient buildings, among other priorities.
An Ecology Ottawa policy paper outlining a great opportunity for the City of Ottawa to implement a city wide program to assist low-income families. Providing assistance to low-income households for energy retrofits would help families better cope with increasing energy costs and time-of-use electricity rates, while at the same time helping the Province eliminate polluting power sources such as coal.
This briefing paper outlines Ecology Ottawa’s proposal that Ottawa’s new Mayor and Council exercise leadership in Ottawa by promoting and implementing Pay As You Save (PAYS) financing for residential and small business property owners who wish to make major energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements.
This report, produced for Ecology Ottawa by University of Ottawa professor Matthew Paterson, calls for a halt to the steady growth of the city’s road network. The report was part of Ecology Ottawa’s policy platform for the 2010 municipal elections.
PRESS RELEASE
Proposed official plan changes would inch toward sustainability while sprinting toward sprawl
Group recommends prudent changes to plan to ensure Ottawa becomes national leader in responsible urban development
March 31, 2009 (Ottawa) — Ecology Ottawa is warning residents that changes to the city’s official plan that have been proposed by municipal staff would lock Ottawa into sprawling, unsustainable development patterns. The group will present their position Tuesday to the city’s planning and rural affairs committees, who are meeting to review the proposed amendments. The plan goes to city council for approval in Jay.
“To say that this plan is one step forward and two steps back would be an understatement,” says Trevor Haché, steering committee member of Ecology Ottawa. “What city planners have proposed—and councillors seem set to endorse—is the second largest expansion of Ottawa’s urban boundary in the last two decades. The climate crisis demands swift movement in the opposite direction.”
In its presentation today, scheduled for 12:25 p.m. in Council Chambers at a joint meeting of the Planning and Environment and the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committees, Ecology Ottawa will urge councillors to reject any expansion of the urban boundary and to adopt much more ambitious targets for urban density. It will present recommendations for ensuring compact and walkable neighbourhoods, a concentration of residential development around transit corridors, and the preservation of green spaces and rural areas.
“The ever-expanding, car-dependent suburbs of the 20th Century have no place in a carbon constrained future,” says Matthew Paterson, a University of Ottawa professor and volunteer for Ecology Ottawa. “Political leadership is required to ensure our city makes a clean break away from the failed planning of the past, which saw the leapfrogging of the Greenbelt and increasing vehicle-related smog and greenhouse gas emissions.”
Ecology Ottawa will also be mobilizing residents across the city to write and telephone city councillors and the mayor to help ensure the city takes a more responsible path.
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For more information, contact:
Trevor Haché, Ecology Ottawa steering committee member, 613-866-9912 or trevor@ecologyottawa.ca
To read Ecology Ottawa’s submission to the City of Ottawa, click on the link below:
This report outlines a three-part strategy for the city to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and waste from Ottawa’s buildings by encouraging greener building practices for new construction. This report was also part of Ecology Ottawa’s policy platform for the 2010 municipal elections.
We propose that the city stem the tide of urban sprawl by revising its official plan and zoning by-laws to bring Ottawa’s urban density levels in line with the standards of other Canadian cities that are leading the way with smart growth strategies. This document is part of a series of “Greenprints: Policy proposals for a sustainable Ottawa.”
Download the full document in pdf format below: