Mississauga continues to demonstrate its ecoEnergy commitment. During this year’s Earth Hour, we achieved a further reduction in power consumption. In 2010 there was a drop of 6.9 percent and in 2011 that increased to 8 percent. According to George Carlson, who is a Mississauga city councilor and chairs the Environmental Advisory Committee, this is further proof that we are “Living Green”. In contrast, Toronto’s energy use only dropped to 5 percent, just half of its 2010 reduction of 10 percent.
It is worthwhile to make note of this not just because of the Earth Hour event, but also because there will be debates during the federal election campaign about the Government of Canada’s commitment to the ecoEnergy program. When the current funding dried up, the government allowed the program to lapse. This was addressed during the new budget when funding was restored. Unlike an electrical switch, this cannot continue as an on and off again program.
The Toronto Star published a story on Friday march 25, 2011 that questions the benefit produced by this program. While they wonder about the actual dollar impact and who is really benefitting from the high efficiency renovations, the article appears to be unbalanced. They reference the C.D. Howe Institute’s Benjamin Davis who is opposed to the program, yet the same institute called the program the “the biggest impact, by far, is the energy retrofit of homes” when it comes to Green energy savings.
I can assure you that I have never had a customer complain that their renovated home was less energy efficient or that they were not satisfied with the high efficiency of their replacement windows and doors. Let the debate begin,here!
Tags: Earth Hour, ecoEnergy, energy efficiency, green renovations, high performance windows, Mississauga, window replacement
