Tag Archives: environmental benefits By Michael Buzzelli –
rabble.ca Canadians know that our built environment — homes,
offices, factories, roads and infrastructure — holds the key to
an environmentally sustainable and healthy future. The energy
and environmental demands of the built environment will undergo
substantial changes in the years ahead. Several pressures exist:
looming carbon cap and trade legislation, shrinking energy
resources and, perhaps most importantly, evolving attitudes
toward our consumption and production patterns. One-third of
Canada’s energy use goes to running our homes, offices and other
buildings. The federal government’s Office of Energy Efficiency
reports that a corresponding one-third of our current greenhouse
gas emissions come from the built environment. This is a large
proportion that can be addressed in both the short and long term
by modifying how we build and how we use our homes and offices.
Green building and development (GBD) faces a classic policy
paradox: we collectivel