It was almost seven years ago, on August 14, 2003, when a series of power surges caused a cascade of shutdowns at more than 100 generating plants throughout the northeastern U.S. and Ontario. The result was the biggest blackout in North American history with 61,800 megawatts of power lost to over 50 million people. A lot of reliability measures have been implemented and business contingency plans instituted since then but, the demands on our aging grid continues to grow.

Just this past July 5, 2010, at 4:45 p.m. on an extreme heat alert day in Toronto, a rush hour blackout caused traffic chaos. Before the power was restored, the blackout, triggered by a fire at a transformer station, left 250,000 Toronto Hydro customers in the dark.

There is no confirmation yet about the cause and some news outlets (both the CBC and BBC) are indicating that power usage was not the source of the blackout. However, while we await confirmation of the cause, one thing is for sure, we have become air conditioner addicts.

According to Stan Cox, author of Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World, we air condition everything from golf carts to storage rooms and recently, Dubai was looking at air conditioning a popular beach.

Obsession with Air Conditioning

Our obsession with air conditioning is a relatively recent phenomenon. The amount of energy consumed by running residential air conditioners in Canada almost tripled between 1990 and 2007. And to make matters worse, we are entering a cycle of increasing temperatures resulting in ever higher demands on air conditioners which in turn will contribute to our warming climate.

There are however, some important tips for using air conditioners that will result in more efficient energy use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• Set your thermostat at 25°C or higher. Each half-degree setting below 26°C increases your energy consumption by approximately 8%.
• Consider cost-effective conservation measures, such as shading windows from direct sunlight.
• When possible, delay heat-generating activities, such as dish washing or cooking until the evening on hot days.
• Be sure your air conditioner is not blocked.
• Over most of the cooling season (which does not have to start as soon as the snow melts), keep the house closed tight during the day. Don’t let in unwanted heat and humidity.
• Ventilate your rooms at night naturally as weather permits by opening windows to create cross ventilation
• Consider supplementing the air conditioner with fans which will allow you to set the thermostat a few degrees higher.
• If purchasing a new air conditioner consider an ENERGY STAR® model, which use at least 10% less energy.

Looking for more energy saving tips? GLOBE, a leader in bringing energy efficiency to the housing sector, will be launching its Sustainability Toolbox in the coming weeks. For more information on GLOBE, visit www.globeservices.ca

We are all aware that Ontario’s tax structure has changed and that the HST (Harmonised Sales Tax) came into effect July 01, 2010.  There has been a lot of media coverage on how the HST will affect our goods and services, but not on how it will affect owners, operators and managers of real property.  The Toronto law firm Blaney McMurtry LLP, has published an article that speaks to this very timely topic.  The article focuses on the purchase and sale of commercial real property, leases and licences of commercial real property, the purchase and sale of newly constructed residential property and the resale of residential property.

Read the Article >>

Last month I attended the 2010 ENERGY STAR® Participants Gala in Ottawa, hosted by Natural Resources Canada.

I was there with SHSC CEO Lindsey Reed and Board Chair Roger Maloney to accept the ENERGY STAR® Collaborative Initiative of the Year Award. This award honours those who, through partnerships, help businesses and consumers save money and contribute to Canada’s climate change objectives.

SHSC captured the award for its light bulb replacement and appliance bulk buy programs. Over these past three years, SHSC in collaboration with its subsidiary GLOBE, Toronto Hydro, housing providers and residents installed over 136,000 ENERGY STAR® compact fluorescent bulbs in 30,000 housing units and reduced more than 6.5 MegaWatts in electricity demand from the grid.

In 2009, SHSC launched its Appliance Bulk Buy program, offering ENERGY STAR® qualified appliances, as well as the environmental decommissioning of old appliances. This collaboration of not-for-profit housing corporations, municipalities, appliance manufacturers and government agencies has resulted in the sale of 3,000 ENERGY STAR^® qualified refrigerators.

According to the ENERGY STAR® Saving Calculator, the direct environmental benefit of these two programs is equivalent to taking over 320 cars off the road or planting 160,000 trees. Roger accepted the award on behalf of SHSC. He shared the stage with other award recipients from different categories, including:

• Whirlpool Canada
• Sears Canada
• Hydro-Québec
• Veridian Connections
• Manitoba Hydro
• Toshiba Canada
• Climate Change Central
• All Weather Windows
• JELD-WEN Canada

But SHSC isn’t resting on this recent accolade. In 2010, both programs are being expanded – with the launch of a new Toronto Hydro ‘Deep Measures Retrofit’ program and a province-wide ENERGY STAR®-certified Windows Bulk Buy program (more about the latter below).

Introducing New Windows and Sliding Glass Door Program
Following the success of these initiatives, SHSC will be launching a new ENERGY STAR® Windows and Sliding Glass Door program soon. Similar to previous bulk buy offering, SHSC acts as the administrator to ensure integrity to the process – we have established product standards, managed a public request for proposals and negotiated competitive prices with a volume rebate based on the participation of housing providers. Look out for the official launch of this brand new ENERGY STAR® initiative.