Reducing Greenhouse Gases from Middle-Class Homes January 01,
2008 In 1998 the Canadian federal government signed on to the
Kyoto Protocol with a stated goal of reducing national
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by 2012.
This is a difficult level to achieve, and every sector,
including housing, was given targets and some incentives.
Support for housing came in the form of rebates on energy-saving
retrofits, which were available through the EnerGuide for Houses
program, and consumer information programs. One such program,
the One-Tonne (metric ton) Challenge, asked Canadian homeowners
to reduce their annual GHG emissions from an average of 5 metric
tons to an average of 4 metric tons—a 20% reduction—and
suggested ways to achieve this reduction. Jane Thompson, an
architect who lives in one of Canada’s earliest planned
communities, on the outskirts of Ottawa, Ontario, decided to
explore just how challenging it would be for her neighbors to
meet this One-Tonne Challenge. In 2004 she received