Climate Comfort: Transforming Homes for a Sustainable Future
Creating greener, healthier, and more comfortable living spaces.
Thanks for another incredible evening, Climate North community! The energy in the room was palpable as our esteemed panel of experts - Bettina Hoar, Paul Sehr, and Abraham Wairisal - shared their invaluable insights about a portfolio of energy and climate-efficient projects you and your home deserves. A BIG shout out to our location sponsor TAS without whom this wouldn’t have been possible.
🏙️HEALTHY HOMES
Want to Live in a Healthier Home? It Starts with How Your Building is Designed!
Main Idea: Your home can significantly impact your health and well-being.
Did you know? We spend 90% of our time indoors.
The buildings we live/work in can influence our physical and mental health through air quality, access to natural light, and design features.
Traditionally, building codes primarily focus on safety. But what about our health and happiness within those walls?
Why Should We Care?
Healthier You: Buildings designed with well-being in mind can improve air quality, reduce stress, and even boost creativity.
Sustainable Future: Healthy buildings often use sustainable materials and practices, reducing our environmental impact.
Big Picture: Healthy buildings are part of a larger movement toward sustainable living. We need to look beyond safety (the minimum) and start designing for well-being.
Bottom Line: There's good news! According to Bettina Hoar, CEO Sustainability Facilitator at Sage Living, we can influence the design of healthy buildings.
Several rating systems, like WELL and Fitwel, provide guidelines for creating healthy spaces.
By learning more and asking questions, you can encourage developers and builders to prioritise your health through building design. TAKING ACTION
⚡ELECTRIFIED HOMES
Ready to ditch fossil fuels and embrace a greener future?
Home electrification might be the answer!
Imagine a home that's comfortable year-round, reduces your environmental impact, and potentially lowers your energy bills.
Key Steps:
Applying for the Greener Homes Grant.
Insulation: Upgrading insulation in the basement, attic, and walls.
Air sealing: Sealing air leaks around windows, doors, and other openings.
Replacing old gas furnace and hot water tank with electric heat pump and hot water heater.
Upgrading electrical panel to accommodate the increased electrical load.
Why does it matter? Our homes are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in Toronto. Electrification combats climate change while potentially saving you money.
Toronto aims to be a net-zero emissions city by 2040. Every home electrification helps achieve that goal.
Rebates and grants from government programs can offset upfront costs, making it an attractive option.
Big Picture: Electrification goes beyond individual homes. It contributes to a cleaner grid as Toronto transitions to renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
Next Step: If you’re determined to embark on the journey, we recommend you reach out to Paul Sehr and the good folks at Jouleia to simplify the complex process of planning and completing modern home upgrades for you.
🏠HELP TO
Toronto's Push for Net-Zero Homes: Your Role in a Greener City
Overview: The City of Toronto has set an ambitious target: net-zero emissions by 2040. One strategy is to transform all of its 400,000+ low-rise residential buildings.
Key points:
Toronto's Net-Zero Journey: The city has existing programs like Home Energy Loan Program (HELP) and SolarTO to support homeowners in making their residences more energy-efficient.
Benefits of Home Retrofitting: It's not just about the environment! Retrofitting offers a range of benefits including improved health, economic growth, and increased social equity.
Why does it matter? Every Torontonian can play a part in creating a sustainable future. Retrofitting your low-rise home can significantly reduce emissions and contribute to a healthier city for all.
Learn more about the City’s Net Zero strategy or reach out to Abraham Wairisal, Senior Energy Consultant at City of Toronto with your questions.
🏢 ABOUT TAS
Thank you TAS for being our location sponsor for our last event!
TAS is a Certified B Corporation and industry leader in real estate impact investing and development, pursuing opportunities that create value while generating positive and measurable social and environmental impact.
TAS’s Circular Living Lab is Toronto’s first classroom and exhibition space dedicated to furthering material reuse, circular economy, and decarbonization research in the built environment.
🗓️ UPCOMING EVENT
Keep an eye out!
Our next event (date TBD) will be held in March and the focus of the night will be: Renewable Runway: Unveiling Tomorrow's Sustainable Trends with Style.
Stay tuned for more details and an invite to follow.
🤝ASKS
Climate North is small but mighty and we’re always open to any volunteer support. We are currently in need of support with:
Event photography (additional support - event rotation)
Speaker scouting
Logo and Website development
In-kind contributions
Location sponsorship
If you’re interested, please write to us at hello@climatenorth.com expressing which you would be interested in supporting us with.
Spread the word: Everytime you share this newsletter with your network or bring along a plus one to our events, you exercise your power of influence in making our world more sustainable. Thank you for putting your force behind us.
We’re built for our community, by our community.. Any help is appreciated :)
Thanks always for your participation and support! We’ll see you at the next event!
Rebeka (Becky) Romanovsky, Fab Barrillot, Chloe D'Agostini
Written by Tejas Shah
Pictures by Varun Dhanwantri and Tejas Shah