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Benchmarking Active Transportation in Canadian Cities: Report Highlights
September 23, 2011
Highlights from a TCAT report released in 2010 comparing the performance of active transportation in Toronto against other cities in Canada, the United States and Europe using key indicators as benchmarks. This paper will be presented at the Walk 21 Conference in Vancouver, BC on October 4, 2011 and published in their proceedings.
Climate Change Adaptation and Health Equity Workshop Report
July 13, 2011
On May 24, 2011, Clean Air Partnership (CAP) and Toronto Public Health (TPH) jointly organized and hosted a Climate Change Adaptation and Health Equity workshop in order to initiate a broader discussion and subsequent action toward climate change adaptation and health equity. The workshop results will be of use to municipalities, NGO’s and other sectors who work with vulnerable populations.
Climate Change Adaptation and Health Equity Background Report
June 2, 2011

The Climate Change Adaptation and Health Equity Background Report explores information on climate change adaptation and health equity to ensure that Toronto’s adaptation efforts do not further widen the health inequality gap. This report focuses primarily on research that is relevant to a first-world, urban city.

Prepared For: Healthy Public Policy Team, Toronto Public Health

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Audited Financial Statements

Skills for Efficient Energy Construction

April 6, 2009

April 6, 2007, ReNew Canada

Skills for Efficient Energy Construction

The Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) has released their report on trades training for energy efficient buildings in the greater Toronto area, called Skills for Energy Efficient Construction. After some introductory comments from Ontario Power Authority’s Chief Energy Conservation Officer Peter Love, Clean Air Partnership’s Jennifer Penney and CUI’s Brent Gilmour presented the report’s conclusions and recommendations. Gilmour said better building codes and tougher regulations will drive market transformation. A key driver for new training are new products and systems – and the stricter Ontario’s building codes become, the more of those new technologies will be developed.

The report found that the base skills for energy-efficient construction and maintenance are the same as for traditional methods – what’s needed is short-term training for specialty products and systems. Gilmour used Green Roofs for Healthy Cities’ green roofs program in Toronto as an example and Penney mentioned Seneca’s training program for building operators.

The report includes a diagram showing how the skilled trades are interacting with new energy-efficient systems. It looks like the key trades for energy-efficient buildings are carpenters and dry-wallers, and electricians and HVAC mechanics. These are the professionals who need more access to training programs, but Penney said, while many courses exist, it’s very difficult to track them down. One of the report’s recommendations is the creation of a clearinghouse website where workers can go to find available training.

Following the presentation, a panel discussion was opened up to hear what industry professionals though of its findings. John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, said the report’s findings match what he’s seen over the last two decades. “Unless there’s market demand, contractors will not take the time to learn about energy-efficiency.” Shane McCarthy with local 787 said maintenance is an area that’s not been addressed very well by the trades. “It’s one thing to build new, efficient systems,” said McCarthy, “it’s another thing to keep them efficient.” John Godden with Alpha-Tec Consulting and Construction said the report is “a great start at identifying the need for integration in training. The big challenge is execution.” Godden sits on the board of the Canada Green Building Council and suggested that it might make sense to offer LEED points to projects using LEED-certified professionals.

A copy of the report can be downloaded from CUI’s website. Visit canurb.com and follow the links to papers