The Future of Sustainability
By Lucas on Jul 02, 2015
Green features, sustainability, building performance, ENERGY STAR, LEED Certified - these are all words that have been used frequently in the news and other forms of media with regards to the new home building industry in the GTA and throughout Ontario and the country. Why? Protecting the environment and our health has become a hot topic in every industry, so it’s only natural that our homes be subject to the global shift of building sustainable cities and communities.
We have focused on sustainability in past blog series and there are many builders and developers that have received numerous awards of recognition for being leaders and pioneers in this approach to designing homes. The idea of including green features in the construction and function of a home hasn’t been around long, but we’ve come pretty far (maybe not as far as some European countries, but we’re still catching up). The Green Home Builder of the Year Award for both the low-rise and high-rise categories presented by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) has only existed since 2007. Before then, the practice of including environmentally-friendly and energy efficient features wasn’t really recognized widely across the industry.
How long will it be before we are actually building towers like this one?
Today, we have builders and developers like City Core Developments who are using geothermal technology in their new condos (a geothermal system harnesses heat from the earth to create energy). Most of the big name developers, like Tridel and Minto, seek high levels of LEED Certification for their new developments, and ENERGY STAR appliances are popping up in more and more new homes. ENERGY STAR qualified homes and communities are technically 20% more efficient than the Ontario Building Code requires, so it’s clear that members of the new home industry are beginning to take matters into their own hands and push the envelope.
That’s why we’re going to spend this month examining the future of sustainability. We’re going to be researching what other countries are doing to push the limits of their sustainable practices and see if there are any ideas our GTA builders and developers can use as inspiration. We’ll also be looking into sustainable concepts that we might see come to life in the not-so-distant future.
If you have any tips or if you work in the sustainability business, get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter, we’d love to hear from you!
Stay tuned for many new features that explore the future of sustainability!
