Voting should be fun. It’s a serious responsibility but I think we take it too seriously.
Ernie DaykinCraig Speirs
For example, Ernie Daykin and Craig Speirs are running for Mayor of Maple Ridge. They would both be good, but I feel a certain pressure to endorse one or the other. I could let this dilemma stress me out, or I could celebrate the fact that we have two strong choices for Mayor. It’s a good problem to have.
Of course, even while we’re being positive, we should not ignore the temptation to vote negatively–I mean against someone. I could vote for Ernie or Craig based on who I think more likely to defeat someone else I don’t support. It’s no fun, and it discourages people from voting, but it’s a reality in our current first-past-the-post system. (That’s my plug for voting for Proportional Representation in the referendum this fall. Check out Fair Vote Canada for more info.)
Maple Ridge City Council -vote for up to 6 Councillors
Now, let’s get back to the positivity. On City Council this time we have a lot of turnover (Kiersten Duncan is running again which is good) so we can elect a lot of new faces. Yay! Let’s choose some good new people.
Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows School Board -vote for up to 5 Trustees
Our School Board choices are similar. It would be good to keep some experienced trustees, but there’s only one remaining, Mike Murray! Fortunately, he is also a good trustee, so that’s an easy vote. Otherwise, I’m voting for Elaine Yamamoto but I don’t know who else, yet. That’s three more people I need to choose. Wheee!
Take the pressure off.
You’ve heard that, out of the three levels of Canadian government, Civic Elections have the most impact on your life. It strikes me that they can also feel the most overwhelming. Too many names and no parties to help us categorize them!
Does it feel like you can’t make an informed choice? Many people do and, as a result, many don’t vote. In 2014, only 31.26% of eligible voters turned out. Most of those people probably take the time to research the candidates, but I suspect a lot of them turn out over one particular issue–a concern or fear–and vote for people promising action on that file. It’s not a good way to pick well-rounded and collaborative decision-makers.
To put it simply, in 2014 only about 10% of the people on the voters’ list (about 5600 people) were needed to elect our Mayor. What I worry about is that if one of the candidates this time around manages to convince 5600 people that we had better build a wall around the city, they could win. Scary thought.
I don’t think the antidote to this is to make people feel guilty about not voting. I think we need to lighten the load. Let’s see if we can make choosing fun.
Oo! I know! How about Real change?! Real change is super fun! But not that Real Change that the same old people keep promising, but real real change delivered by really different people with different backgrounds. Let’s see what some really different councils could look like. How about this one:
The “Diversity is our Strength” Council
This is the council for anyone who wants to see some colour at City Hall. The fact is, current and past councils have been awfully…er…white. We know that the best way for any organization to address concerns of a diverse community is for that diversity to be represented in its leadership. With that in mind, vote for these fine people:
Tam, Peter
Johar, Bhupinder
Dozie, Onyeka
Priebe, Kevin
That’s Peter Tam, Onyeka Dozie, Bhupinder Johar and Kevin Priebe. (I’m including Kevin because, even though he is rather pale in colour, he uses a wheelchair to get around). What a great set of perspectives! Simplistic approach? Yes! But what an easy way to choose people who’s life experience is very likely to include compromise and overcoming obstacles!
The “Diversity is Our Strength” School Board
Let’s look at the trustee candidates. Oh, dang, everybody looks pretty white except:
Trudeau, Colette
Yamamoto, Elaine
That’s Colette Trudeau (Metis) and Elaine Yamamoto (her grandparents were Japanese pioneers in this area). I guess we need to encourage more visible minorities to run for stuff!
Does voting on the basis of appearance seem weird to you? Think of it this way. It’s been shown that employers tend to hire people who are similar to themselves. As voters, we are essentially on a big hiring committee. Let’s consciously hire for diversity to broaden the quality of discussions at the table.
The “Smash the Patriarchy” Council
This is the council for those who recognize that 50% of us are female and that ratio has never been expressed in our local government. We’re learning more and more about the obstacles women face and how much harder and more cooperatively they have to work to get anywhere. Can we make an all-female council? Why not? There are a bunch of more-than-qualified women running:
Does Donald Trump’s victory mean the end of Climate Action in the United States?
Does it mean the end of the Paris Accord?
Does it really mean that half of the American people think that Climate Change is a hoax?
I don’t know about the first two, but I can’t believe people who voted for Trump don’t understand that Climate Change is a thing that we have to do something about.
Some of them, maybe…
I suspect they are mostly sick of having it pushed in their faces as if its their individual problem to solve.
Leanne and I can relate.
At this stage in our renovation and retrofit we’re just trying to finish enough of the house so that the building inspector will let us occupy it and we can get homeowner’s insurance again.
We’d like to spend Christmas in our house for a change instead of next door.
I haven’t been writing the blog because I simply don’t have energy at the end of the day. Weekdays I wake up early to make lunches for the kids, teach a class til noon, pick the kids up from school, and then work on the house til dinner time. Leanne works full-time and keeps up the electrical work with our electrician and her Dad. On weekends its all house all the time.
If this is what it takes for average folks to fight climate change, its no wonder we’re the exception, not the rule. My Eco-Warrior Badge is heavy.
Trump often railed against “the Mainstream Media”. Apparently, it struck a chord. Maybe when you are struggling to eek out a living and the media reports that climate change is the single greatest threat we face, it’s a little hard to swallow.
The truth is that the media have been under-reporting climate change. There is no confusion among scientists, researchers, NASA, the UN and everyone else who has looked at it for ten minutes but nobody seems to have any solutions besides buy more eco-friendly stuff.
One problem is that most mainstream news is delivered in a context of commercialism. Every story is steeped in commercials for stuff we don’t need and the solution for climate change is presented in products. Buy a more expensive car to reduce emissions. Replace lightbulbs, shop local, buy organic. The market has consumed environmentalism as an opportunity to sell more stuff and that has made everybody cynical.
CBC radio had a story on today about some people who say that Canada should reconsider its commitment to introduce a carbon tax.
Wrong! A carbon tax is precisely the kind of tool we need!
The BC example has been good for the economy while reducing greenhouse gases. It provides incentives for communities to take climate action which takes the pressure off the individual consumer who is already wracked with guilt for buying a new…anything.
What will happen if the US stops taking action on climate change? Will Canada’s economy suffer?
Can I answer that question with a question? Can we stop thinking about the profits of large corporations as if their well-being is more important than anything else for a second?
The Natural Resources minister under Stephen Harper, Joe Oliver was on the radio programme I was listening to. He was so full of misinformation I was yelling at the radio.
One thing he said was that the best way to fight climate change is to push forward in science and technology so that cheaper and better ways to solve the problem come into the market.
Sound reasonable? It’s hogwash. What makes me angry is that he is in a position to know better. All the best information was at his fingertips, but he continues to soothe the shopping public with the message that we can keep doing what we’re doing until technology fixes everything.
One of the biggest lessons we have learned as we work to make our home as energy-efficient as possible is that technology is not the issue.
The technology and techniques have been around a long time and they are so simple that most people can understand easily:
Insulate your house
Insulate your house some more
Insulate your house to the point where people look at what you’re doing and say, “holy crap that’s a lot of insulation”
seal your house (doors, windows, chimneys, vents…)
ventilate your house (you need fresh air now that you sealed it so well) with a Heat-Recovery Ventilator
Now that you have done all that you should not need very much heat in the winter nor cooling in the summer. Now you can decide how you want to provide that little bit of heating and cooling. (Hint: try not to use fossil fuels, including Natural Gas)
Here are a few fun options for heating your house without emitting GHGs: an air-source heat pump, a ground-source heat pump or a sun-pump.
SPOILER ALERT: Leanne and I have decided to deliver heat in the house with water pipes under the floors (and radiators on the top floor) and heat that water with electricity. We’re eschewing a heat pump for the time being but we may be able to partially heat the water with solar panels.
Yes, there are best-practices and some gadgets which help with all this, but the technology is available.
The problem is that not enough people are doing it.
Why are solar panels expensive?
Not enough people are buying them.
Why is it so hard to find a contractor who knows how to retrofit a house?
Not enough people are doing it.
Why does it take so long to retrofit a house?
Not enough people are doing it.
Does this cycle right back to blaming the public for not taking action? No. How can we expect the 99% of people who are not rich to spend a year and a lot of money retrofitting their house when the return on investment will be at least a decade away?
So, let’s not blame the media for ringing the climate bell without offering solutions. The solutions have to come from the people we elected to manage our future. Unfortunately, I don’t think Donald Trump has any solutions and I pray that Canada stays strong and doesn’t get sucked into the past.
I made this one on Thursday afternoon working in the basement. It’s important because I can finally show you what is going into those walls.
In this first video you can see me struggle to get the top-plate in above the 2X4 stud wall I built and then start insulating behind it.
I framed the interior wall on May 10th.
That was the first wall I’d ever built. Our Rescue Contractor (He Who Fixed The Structural Issues Left Us By Another Contractor) taught me to build the wall flat on the floor, then lift it into place and attach it to another 2X4 attached to the ceiling (called the top-plate). I did that three months ago and then got distracted by more urgent tasks.
In the meantime, the electrical team (Leanne, her Dad and Golden Ears Electric) went ahead and roughed-in the wiring. That made it more difficult to get the top-plate up there.
Notice the stripes of sealing foam I had already added around the edges of the exterior sheathing. That was a tip from Walter.
Here is a play-by-play:
-James slides top-plate into position and balances it on a board so he can screw it up unassisted (he is screwing stuff up unassisted a lot lately)
-James notices that a wire is on the wrong side so he pulls out the top-plate and tries again.
-James notices that another wire is on the wrong side so he pulls out the top-plate and tries again.
-James puts two screws through the top-plate into every ceiling joist, careful to avoid the wires running through the joists.
-James uses a flashlight to confirm that yes, he put a screw right through one of the wires running through a joist.
-James curses, marks the damaged wire, and considers how to apologize to Leanne who is going to have to replace that wire.
-James uses a hammer to bash the top and bottom of the stud wall into place under the top-plate because he didn’t leave that 1/4 inch space that contractors always say you should leave.
-James grabs some Roxul batts from the huge pile that was taken out of the attic and has been cluttering up the basement for months and starts fitting it into the spaces in the exterior 2X6 stud wall.
-the battery dies.
We’re finding it very helpful to have short-term goals to work toward. A big one lately is the spray foam. That’s the kind where the people in space-suits show up with a van and hoses. We’re planning to fill the rafters under the roof with about 5 inches of 2-pound spray-foam insulation and there are a number of things we have to do before that can happen.
In the basement, the spray foam is going only into the rim joists–sometimes called box joists–which are the spaces at the top of the basement walls between the ceiling joists. It’s very difficult to seal and insulate those spaces, so spray foam is a good idea in there.
The walls, however, are easy to insulate so you can save money on that expensive (and not so environmentally-friendly) spray foam.
Shout-out to Monte Paulsen again because I am finally following through with his advice for an inexpensive super-insulated wall.
The building code requires new construction to have 2X6 stud walls instead of 2X4s. That means a thicker wall that can be insulated better. Roxul batts that fit 2X6 walls have an insulation value of 22 (R22).
However, the building code is only a minimum standard. Once you have your 2X6 wall and the structural engineer has signed-off, you can make your walls thicker. It’s easy!
More than simply adding insulation, you can interrupt the heat transferred through the wood studs in your wall. This is called thermal bridging and I am obsessed with eliminating it.
With Monte’s idea of adding a 2-inch thick sheet of styrofoam between and then building another wall inside it, the heat can’t use the studs as a bridge. On the inside of the interior wall, a sheet of plastic keeps the moisture in the warm interior air from getting into your walls. Over that goes your gypsum drywall.
Since the Rescue Contractor and engineer have already made sure the house is structurally sound, I’m free to fumble around learning how to build walls without worry. (I like to think the Rescue Contractor is very busy and has faith in me and those are the reasons he didn’t return my texts when I wrote to ask if I can publish his company’s name.)
And space? Yes, we will lose about 6 inches of space around the exterior walls, but after a week we won’t notice anymore.
In the second time-lapse, taken after I plugged my phone in, the sun goes down as I gleefully insulate.
There are two parts to this wall: the concrete and above the concrete (AKA the pony wall).
The concrete has almost no insulation value (and, if you remember, I didn’t consult with Monte in time to know we could put Terrafoam rigid insulation under the footings–a nagging regret.) On the outside, under the ground level, is 2 inches of EPS styrofoam with an R-value of 8. Above the ground the concrete is bare until the shingles start.
The basement wall below the ground will be insulated like this:
In the wall space above the concrete foundation–the pony wall–there are three types of insulation. There are Roxul batts in the 2X6 stud wall, Roxul boards and styrofoam. Roxul board is the product I told you about which fits perfectly in this unexpected inch-and-a-half space between the 2X6s and the styrofoam. The white EPS styrofoam is much, much cheaper than the higher density blue or pink rigid foam insulation you have seen around. It has a lower R-value, but is less carbon-intensive to produce. Finally, the interior stud wall will be insulated with more Roxul batts.
Looking at insulation value above ground we get this:
Roxul batt insulation in the 2X6 wall (R22)
Roxul board (R6)
Standard EPS white styrofoam (R8)
More Roxul batts (R14)
That makes for a total insulation value of R50 when the wall is finished. The shingles outside might even add a little more.
Incidentally, you can buy all these insulation types at your local building supply
Inside Plastifab’s local facility.
store, but I went straight to Plastifab for the EPS styrofoam. I bought a lot of that stuff!
Ask the Rescue Contractor how much I have been looking forward to insulating those walls. Every time he added another 2X6 to a wall to make it stronger, I would whine about thermal bridging.
That’s why I pushed through dinner and, at 9pm, Leanne showed up with some sushi leftover from her dinner meeting.
I don’t know if you can tell in the video, but she forgave me for damaging her wire.
Afterthought: watching me cut up that styrofoam into little pieces to fit it between the studs, I think you can see how much more sense it would make to insulate the pony wall and add the styrofoam in big sheets before building the interior wall. The building inspector is going to let us do that with the rest of the walls instead of insisting all the electrical work is done before inspection. Thank heavens for flexible officials!
Back in December, we made a couple of new political contacts.
John Horgan, James, Leanne, and George Heyman in The Little Yellow House
They were John Horgan, MLA for Juan de Fuca, Leader of the Provincial NDP and Leader of the Opposition in Victoria as well as George Heyman, the MLA for Vancouver-Fairview and the Opposition Spokesperson for the Environment, Green Economy and Technology.
Mr. Horgan’s office contacted me in November about visiting Hammond Forever House and talking about energy efficiency retrofits. They battled traffic from Vancouver and made it out just after sunset. The house was in darkness and still hovering above the ground on 6 Nickel Bros. legs with a skirt of newly poured foundation wall around it, so we couldn’t go inside.
The house as it was when the NDP came to visit.
We stood in the street in front of the house and talked for a while and then went next door to the Little Yellow House to warm up.
Now, I don’t know what your political views are, but I welcome any public official who wants to learn more about our project. I have met both the MLAs from Maple Ridge now. I met our former MP and our new MP, Dan Ruimy.
Chatting in the Little Yellow Kitchen
Mr. Horgan and Mr. Heyman were, by far, the visitors best informed about climate change and the challenge of getting off fossil fuels. Like you, I was curious about their political agenda (there is always a political aspect to these things) and it soon became apparent.
Have you heard about the $8.8 Billion Site C Dam project? I posted about it a while back. It’s the hydro-electric dam project that BC Hydro and the current Liberal BC government is pushing for. If it is built, it will generate a lot of electricity.
The NDP is opposed to the Site C Dam project and in December, when they visited, they were working on an energy strategy. It makes sense that if you’re going to oppose something, you should have something to propose as an alternative. It was a great conversation and I was able to list a number of barriers to regular folk retrofitting their homes.
I don’t like to take a strong position on something like the Site C Dam project that I haven’t had time to research properly. If only we had people whose job it was to research this stuff.
But wait, we do!
It was mere weeks ago that 250 of scientists and academics–those professional truth-seekers–wrote a letter of concern about Site C. Here is a link to the story in The Globe and Mail. And here is a link to the letter itself on the Royal Society of Canada’s website.
You know the Royal Society doesn’t normally weigh in on this political stuff, so it’s either they are crazy and/or on the payroll of the tiny clean energy lobby, or the issue is important enough that they felt a duty to speak up. Given how much academics like to stay out of the spotlight, I tend to believe the latter.
Personally, I would like us to first reduce our energy needs drastically. Contrary to a gut reaction most of us have–doing that doesn’t require going back to the Bronze Age. Secondly, I think we should spread more of our power generation out with solar and wind generation closer to where people actually live.
Scientists and academics are recommending this stuff, but we’re not really listening, are we?
I have heard critics of the project say that this push to build Site C is really about generating a massive amount of power for the Liquified Natural Gas industry. Is that true? I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m pretty sure that forcing more fossil fuels out of the ground by Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking) is a terrible justification for such a project.
So thank you very much John and George for taking the time to come out to Maple Ridge and learn about what we’re doing at Hammond Forever House. Now, can you help to regulate the home renovation industry so that homeowners never get put in the position we are in with our former contractor?
So I went in to chat with our new Member of Parliament last month. March 3rd.
I won’t lie, it was because it was Federal budget time and I wanted to put retrofitting homes for energy efficiency in the back of his head. It’s one of those things, like funding the arts, that people say we can’t afford but which are actually a great return for the investment.
As you may know, we elected a new government last year. Justin Trudeau is our Prime Minister now and, surprise of surprises, our local Liberal candidate, Dan Ruimy, is part of Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal majority government in the House of Commons.
Is this photo upside down? Then you’re on a mobile device.
Is this photo upside down? Then you are NOT on a mobile device. Weird.
I say it was a surprise because Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows (and formerly including Mission) has been a polarized Reform/Conservative vs. the NDP riding for a loooooong time. In 2015 I supported the very strong NDP candidate, Bob D’Eith, because I felt that if we sat back and pondered who to support, Stephen Harper would win.
Dan told me he doesn’t want to waste time. He wants to make a difference.
I made an appointment to see Dan in his brand new office before its official opening. I told him about the Maple Ridge Net Zero Home Energy Retrofit Project now waiting on the shelf for someone to dust it off and set it going.
I told him about Solar Colwood which released its final report last year.
And I told him about the Design Charrette we held in 2013 to move the Retrofit Project to the next step: a project manager and project design.
Unfortunately, I have been too busy with our own retrofit and renovation of Hammond Forever House, which I hope will be the test case for the larger project, to have a clear proposal ready for Dan (and Justin, for that matter).
Among other things, we chatted about Dan’s apartment which he said is so badly insulated that there is no point wasting the energy to leave the heat on when he is not home. What a common problem! Tenants and homeowners alike suffer with high energy bills while the climate changes. Our best information estimates that Climate Change will cost Canada $5 billion per year by 2020 and there is very little being done to address the problem of inefficient existing buildings in a meaningful way.
The new Liberal Government, Dan said, is looking for innovative and unique programs they can support. Heritage, Energy, Climate Change, reducing home-heating costs for families–all these things are easy to support. Neither of us had a clear idea for the next steps in the Maple Ridge Retrofit program but Dan suggested we keep talking about it. Then he pointed to the large conference table in the next room and told me what it was for.
I left our meeting thinking it may be time to renew my conversation about the community project with our excellent City Staff to see if they have some new ideas on the subject. After all, I’m not the only one around here with ideas. (I haven’t had time to make that call, yet.)
It seems that since that first meeting with Dan, he spoke to a few other people because last week Leanne and I both found ourselves in that next room sitting around that big table with a bunch of other like-minded people. Leanne was there representing Ridge Meadows Recycling and I was there representing, well, this blog I suppose. Others from local environmental organizations were there, too.
Dan’s idea was to start some sort of ongoing advisory panel on the environment.
There was a kind of stunned optimism in the room as a result of being invited. Many in the room remarked how much of a change the approach was to the previous government. If you remember, I had some professional criticism for our previous MP.
I also remember appealing to our former Prime Minister to attend a climate meeting while he was in New York in 2014. No luck.
It struck me afterwards that many Canadians may prefer the government to make decisions on their behalf without them having to lift a finger. I can understand that and it would be fine if our MPs were infallible gods and/or if everyone agreed with them. Other people, like myself, believe that building consensus is key and that means citizen engagement.
Dan admits that he doesn’t know everything and is willing to collaborate and learn how he can help.
I think I can safely say that everyone in that room will be there next month with bells on. We have a lot of catching up to do!
We’re entering a new phase in the renovation and retrofit of Hammond Forever House.
If you would like to visit and learn more, send me an e-mail at [email protected] and we’ll try to arrange a time for me to show you around. There is lots of work still to be done and if you are willing to pitch in, we will not say no!
The tent.
This past week was a difficult one. To make it possible to build the addition and upstairs dormer in the middle of winter, our contractor erected a huge plastic tent over the house. Smart, right?
Unfortunately, it leaks. Leanne and I have been mopping up the floor and setting containers under drips so that not too much water gets through. It’s not too much of a problem if water gets through to the new construction which will all dry out, but we have been noticing signs of water damage on the ceiling of the living and dining rooms which makes it hard to sleep on these rainy nights.
This photo might be upside down on mobile devices–sorry!
On Thursday evening, January 27th, Leanne and I contributed to a panel discussion after the screening of a film about environmental activism. The film was called “Disruption” and it was screened in Maple Ridge Council Chambers by Cinema Politica http://www.cinemapolitica.org/ridgemeadows.
Here’s what the movie synopsis says:
Disruption takes an unflinching look at the devastating consequences of our inaction. It lays bare the terrifying science, the shattered political process, the unrelenting industry special interests and the civic stasis that have brought us to this social, moral and ecological crossroads. We are living through an age of tipping points and rapid social and planetary change. We’re the first generation to feel the impacts of climate disruption, and the last generation that can do something about it. The film enlarges the issue beyond climate impacts and makes a compelling call for bold action that is strong enough to tip the balance to build a clean energy future. We still have much to do.
The film echoes my own belief that climate change is a crisis that demands immediate and radical action from all of us. The normal processes for changing the systems in our societies to respond to a threat are too slow and so mass protest is appropriate and reasonable to accelerate government response. It pointed out that many people are looking for a “silver bullet” to “solve” climate change, but that the problem is not so simple.
Just as we look to find a single solution, I think we also search for a single cause–a single group we can blame. However, consumers, governments and industries are all part of the system that needs to change. Our problem is the status quo. Our problem is inertia. One wheel can’t turn the car around, we have to work together.
It’s not going to be easy, but it could be exciting.
I did my best to share what we’re doing with Hammond Forever House but we’re in the middle of perhaps the most challenging part of the whole process, so it was hard for me to say how wonderful it is and how everyone should do it because I don’t know how it’s going to turn out.
Certainly I don’t want to simplify the challenge of reducing home energy use to something like, “homeowners should buy more insulation” because, as I’ve said before, homeowners are stretched in time and money. Only the rich among us can really “afford” to perform deep retrofits on their homes, but they are also able to afford paying high gas bills to heat their large houses, so few retrofits actually happen. People like Leanne and I with limited budgets and inefficient homes could make a big difference, but we don’t have the cash.
Do you see the opportunity there, Mr. Trudeau?
I say we don’t have the cash, which is true, but, as you know, Leanne and I are doing it anyway. This is my personal form of protest. It’s only impossible until we do it, right?
I rambled a bit in the discussion, but that’s understandable. Leanne and I were both exhausted because the night before (Wednesday night) the plastic that was supposed to be covering the rear half of the house pretty much blew off, exposing it to the rain. For two hours we clambered all over the house in the middle of the night trying to secure the rain cover in a rain storm.
It’s hard to describe what happened, but Leanne did take a little video. In it you can see the top floor as it was last Tuesday and then what happened the following Wednesday night in the storm.
The next day we found some more plastic and secured another layer over the top. Now that the dormer and addition have been framed and the roof has its plywood sheathing, the rain cover can sit right on the roof instead of above it like a tent. The wind can’t get under it so easily now and, so far, it looks like the insides are drying out.
Soon we’ll have a new roof put on and then we’ll sleep a little better.
A lot of people are like me and don’t like to discuss their vote.
In 2011 I was blithely convinced by my Facebook feed that everyone agreed with me and there was no way Stephen Harper was going to win. Then, with the support of 24% of eligible voters, he won a majority. Have you seen this video?
I don’t want that to happen again.
So this time I’m not being so shy.
You can vote for whomever you like, but here in Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge, I’m supporting Bob D’Eith and the New Democratic Party.
In a nutshell, I think he has a great balance of advocacy experience, understanding of local Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge issues and 25 years of law. I also have a lot of respect for a man who raises 5 kids. When you meet Bob, you can tell immediately that he is in this for the right reasons. He is going to bring our community to Ottawa and not the other way round.
But don’t take my word for it, listen to what he had to say at the first all candidates event at the Maple Ridge Senior’s Centre on September 27th, 2015 (hosted by the City of Maple Ridge in a really positive initiative–thank you!). It’s about 7 minutes long and includes his introduction, answers to a few questions, and his closing remarks. I apologise I wasn’t able to provide the wording of the questions, but I think he puts his answers into context very well.
A lot of people are concerned about vote-splitting. In 2011, a majority of Canadians voted for someone besides the Conservative Party, but the result was a Conservative majority in Parliament. It’s a real concern with 4 parties and one independent in the race. In fact, if I were passionately supportive of the Green, Liberal or Independent candidate, I would be pretty annoyed that my vote would probably be wasted. Look at the 2011 results for this riding:
If you live in Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows and you want to vote Green, Liberal or Independent, you will most likely be handing Stephen Harper another MP to vote his regressive policies into law with.
The good news is, as I said in my last political post, there is every sign that the Liberals, Greens and NDP are all willing to work together.
The other good news is that Bob D’Eith is a very, very strong candidate and the NDP is a strong, reasonable party.
Now, I recognize that some people have concerns about the NDP which are rooted in the past. The fear of the Red Menace was something I experienced in my own house growing up. However, everything I’ve heard from them has been reasonable and well-thought out. I think the goal of balancing the budget right away may be too ambitious, but I’m looking forward to seeing them try. The economists tell us that, in a recession, it is normal to run a deficit and stimulate the economy, so if they do, it won’t kill anybody.
Strategic Voting
If you feel that voting for Bob would be a strategic vote and you just can’t put your heart into it, may I suggest teaming up with another voter in another riding? There are ridings in Canada where the party with the best chance of beating the Harper candidate is Liberal or Green. What if an NDP supporter in one of those ridings agreed to vote for your party in return for you voting for Bob here? You wouldn’t have to “hold your nose when you vote”!
One of the organizations that can help you do this is Vote Together. It works by e-mail. You pledge to vote on someone else’s behalf in return for your vote doing the most good somewhere else. Simple idea, right? It worked well for Elizabeth May in 2011. If you wanted to vote Green, you could send your vote to her riding and get her elected!
On the other hand, you can go the easy route and vote for Bob D’Eith. He and Tom Mulcair are easy to support.
If you have read any of our story, you will know that I’m all about investing now to save in the future. Don’t waste all the energy and materials of an existing home by knocking it down and building a new one–retrofit it! The NDP address this point in their “Building Affordable and Efficient Housing” plan. In part, it says:
The NDP recognizes that access to affordable housing – and the ability to afford to heat and maintain your home – is essential for all Canadians. Our plan will invest in green and affordable housing by:
Introducing a green home energy program to help retrofit at least 50,000 homes and apartment buildings.
Through an initial investment of $200 million over four years, this initiative will help make homes and apartment buildings more efficient, which will lower energy bills, create thousands of jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This is music to my ears, of course, but it’s only common sense. Similar ideas are expressed by the Liberal Party (albeit a little vaguely) and the Green Party who get more specific:
We will create additional sustainable jobs by re-introducing and expanding the home renovation tax credit, to create incentives for individuals and companies to make their homes and businesses more efficient and accessible by installing high-efficiency insulation, solar heating and electricity, energy-efficient appliances, and accessibility upgrades. And we will unleash an army of carpenters, electricians and contractors to take outdated and leaky public buildings – schools, universities and hospitals – and plug the leaks that increase greenhouse gases and costs. These changes alone will reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent nationwide.
Can’t afford it? It seems to me this is called working together for the long-term prosperity of our country and if taxes have to rise on large corporations and the wealthiest Canadians and we have to stop subsidizing the fossil fuel industry, that is a price that these groups should be willing to pay for a healthy, resilient economy. (There is little evidence to support, for example, the idea that low corporate taxes create jobs.)
Stephen Harper seems to have a carrot and stick approach to winning votes which has something to do with bribing us with minor tax cuts and scaring us with xenophobic fear-mongering. We all know that my $10 doesn’t buy very much, but if I get 100 of my friends together we’ve got $1000. That’s the whole point of taxes! As for the other thing, I thought Canada was a free country, wear whatever the heck you want!
And another thing–the NDP are proposing a national childcare strategy. Great idea! Our kids are in school now, but before they were 5 years old, we had to find childcare in order to work. It made more sense for one of us to stay home with the kids because the cost of childcare was so high. It was nerve-wracking finding a good local childcare centre. Costs varied and so did quality. I’m still working part-time which means I can pick the kids up from school at 2:20 every day. I’m okay with that, but I also feel I don’t have enough good options. The NDP plan will allow parents to get back to work much more easily.
I could go on, but you can read the whole platform here. And if you don’t like certain elements of it, remember that the key in government is collaboration. An experienced, positive MP like Bob D’Eith will be able to bring your concerns to the table and help to build a consensus among the whole of Parliament. For example, don’t reject him just because the NDP promised to balance the budget and you think that is unrealistic.
Finally, I have one more video for you from the all-candidates event. This time it includes all five candidates in Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge. The public were invited to submit questions via facebook beforehand and mine was chosen (yay me!). In this clip you can hear each candidate’s 1-minute answer. My question was, “In your opinion, how important is science and research in government? Will you work to restore access of the media and the Canadian public to government-funded research?”
The candidates are, from left to right: Dan Ruimy, Liberal Party, Peter Tam, Green Party, Bob D’Eith, New Democratic Party, Mike Murray, Conservative Party, Steve Ranta, Independent.
What really struck me, watching this, was how closed off Mike Murray, the Conservative candidate was to the problem, and how prepared he was with a very Harper-esque dismissal. The curtailing of government scientists’ access to the public began in 2006 but it was Bill C-38 in 2013 that had scientists in lab coats marching in Ottawa (scientists don’t typically march in protest). The intervening time has allowed Harper’s candidates to roll their eyes and act as if the problem were so yesterday or, in this case, “a tired old narrative.”
Murray then says, essentially, that since the scientists are still creating a whole lot of reports and stuff and the government is spending a lot of money on science that means that all of those marching scientists and journalists don’t know what they are talking about.
Following Murray, as if it was planned, was Steve Ranta, who is not constrained by a national platform or party to represent and simply tells his truth. It’s a beautiful moment. Muzzle that, Harper!
Tom Mulcair in Maple Ridge!
New Democratic Party leader Tom Mulcair visited Bob’s campaign office on Monday, October 12, 2015. There was no vetting; I walked right in and found a place on one side. As the room filled up, they had to make more room. I found a good spot but ended up holding the camera above my head for 20 minutes, which was a little painful (that’s why there are a couple of breaks in the video). In this video you can see the room fill up, Bob introduce Tom, Tom give his stump speech and then take questions in English and French from National media. Warning, it’s 17 minutes long!
Please Vote
So there it is, folks! If I made it a little easier to vote in this election, please let me know. This is a very important election and if you need help getting to the polls or more information, please let me know that, too.
Most importantly, of course, please vote! I did the first chance I got.
I was one of the first at the polling place on Friday
Hammond Community Centre–vote here til Monday!
If you are not registered or haven’t received a voter card, go to the Elections Canada website and check. Remember that you can vote by simply turning up at the polling place with the right identification, but it is easier if you are registered. I’ve heard that if you live on a First Nation Reserve, the Elections Canada website may not recognize your postal code. I hope that just deepens your resolve to vote!
I don’t want to spoil it for you but it’s about how smart people are sexy and how NASA can do amazing things with math like land people on Mars and get them off again.
Wait, it’s just a movie. They can’t do that stuff, yet.
Well,they can land a robot on Mars. We know because, you know, they did that.
Everybody loves that NASA and that amazing stuff they do. “Yay NASA! Someday I hope my kid will be an astronaut and yadda yadda…”
So why is it that when NASA says that the earth’s average temperature is increasing because we have been burning so much fossil fuel and this is causing major changes in the climate, some of us, including my own government, seem to think there is some wiggle room there.
“The science isn’t in yet.”
Someone on a political Facebook group I’m a part of wrote, “if the evidence were overwhelming I would accept it.” Of course, I took that as a challenge.
Before I share the conversation, please know that I’m not meaning to ridicule this point of view. This person is not stupid. This is the power of a firmly held belief. It takes more than facts and science to change someone’s heart, but where else can we start? Unfortunately, most of us vote from our hearts, or guts, but not from our heads.
Maybe telling a story of the retrofit of a 1923 house will help. Yeah, maybe.
The exchange went like this (I didn’t change a word, I promise, even though I think I could improve on my comments):
If the evidence were overwhelming I would accept it.
“If the evidence were overwhelming I would accept it” John Bobson [not a real name] August 13, 2015. No offence John, but I want to hold you to that because the evidence is overwhelming and we’re only missing the acceptance part.
Show me!
Showing you all the overwhelming evidence would be, well, overwhelming. But let’s start with, say, the UN. You could go to the Pope if you like or any climate scientist…how much do you want? Just don’t come back with a blog or an oil industry funded publication, okay? http://www.un.org/climatechange/
How about the U.S. Environmental Protection agency? Quote: “Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities. In 2013, CO2 accounted for about 82% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Carbon dioxide is naturally present in the atmosphere as part of the Earth’s carbon cycle (the natural circulation of carbon among the atmosphere, oceans, soil, plants, and animals). Human activities are altering the carbon cycle—both by adding more CO2 to the atmosphere and by influencing the ability of natural sinks, like forests, to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. While CO2 emissions come from a variety of natural sources, human-related emissions are responsible for the increase that has occurred in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution. [1]” http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/co2.html
Meanwhile, here’s another for you and John. How about NASA, John? NASA’s Climate site is pretty overwhelming. Here is a page called “facts”. Please accept the science. It is not theory, it is consensus. I would like my government to quit wasting time and money managing its scientists and instead listen to them.http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
James Rowley the UN Pope and NASA are not any more unbiased than oil producers, who funds matters but the science matters more. Also I like Lawrence Solomon on climate change a famed “denier” but ardent ecologist.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/…/global-cooling_b_4413833…
And many others.
From time immemorial humans have sort ways to control the climate for our benefit this latest attempt is not different it more belief system than empirical. Yes of course human activity affects climate but are not the great driving force behind whatever changes are happening. Of course we should mitigate our activities to minimize deleterious affects, but not the the point of giving up the enormous advances we have made over the past few centuries. The climate had huge swings in the Middle Ages not caused by industrial activity most believe the sun was the cause why could that not be true now, we simply don’t know. I’m not a catastrophist. Actually I don’t believe when it comes to the crunch people will actually give up stuff for climate threats, and governments will be thwarted by common sense. But that’s me ever the optimist.
I. I got nothin…
Alright, so showing you the overwhelming evidence didn’t work (and I don’t believe you actually spent any time at the NASA Climate Change site, the Environmental Protection Agency site, or the UN Climate Change site). Will deconstructing Lawrence Solomon? Global cooling? 14 of the 15 warmest years have occurred since 2000. And it’s 2015. What is remarkable is that thousands of scientists working with the UN Panel on Climate Change do not sway you but one “ardent ecologist” has you completely in his spell. You are not alone in this, unfortunately, which is why Wikipedia notes that there is no debate among scientists, but there is in the popular media. That just means that many people haven’t accepted the science, not that the science is wrong.
I expect my government to accept the science and get on with building a consensus on what to do about it.
No debate amongst scientists really James Rowley that is what they do. No debate no science my point.
At some point we accept that the earth is not flat.
James Rowley I don’t dispute the facts, it’s the unsupported catastrophic forecasts based on theories that don’t come close to predicting what is happening that concern me since we may be barking up the wrong tree. Human contributions importance is unclear to say the least. The Greeks knew the earth is round so flat earth is not a good analogy. What about the universe was created in 6 days?
Where are you getting your information? Is this the passage you’re missing? “Most scientists agree that humans are contributing to observed climate change.[79][215] A meta study of academic papers concerning global warming, published between 1991 and 2011 and accessible from Web of Knowledge, found that among those whose abstracts expressed a position on the cause of global warming, 97.2% supported the consensus view that it is man made.[216] In an October 2011 paper published in the International Journal of Public Opinion Research, researchers from George Mason University analyzed the results of a survey of 489 American scientists working in academia, government, and industry. Of those surveyed, 97% agreed that that global temperatures have risen over the past century and 84% agreed that “human-induced greenhouse warming” is now occurring, only 5% disagreeing that human activity is a significant cause of global warming.[217][218] National science academies have called on world leaders for policies to cut global emissions. [219]” From Wikipedia on Climate Change.
The bit that killed me was that, according to this person, there is no difference in bias between the UN, the Pope, and NASA on the one hand and oil producers on the other. Which of these groups stands to lose billions of dollars if the true costs of climate change are figured into national budgets and their subsidies are reduced or ended? Now, which of these groups seeks out the opinions of thousands of independent climate scientists from all over the world before forming recommendations? Which of these groups hire individual researchers specifically to do studies that muddy the waters? We’ve already been through this with tabacco companies denying that cigarettes are bad for you.
I think there is a credibility gap there.
Currently, we have a Federal Government who doesn’t want to hear from all these researchers either. Aside from cutting funding to science that might find things they don’t want found and ending the National Roundtable on the Environment and The Economy and muzzling the government scientists they do still employ, Stephen Harper closed the Office of the National Science Adviser (ONSA) in 2008 after first moving it from the Privy Council Office to Industry Canada in 2006.
I know that the repetition of these criticisms may strike some supporters of Harper’s government as tiresome because they happened years ago, but the lack of reliable information available to our government is frightening. How can you govern like that?
To use another movie analogy, Canada is in that moment near the beginning of The Matrix.
If we take the Blue Pill and vote Stephen Harper in for another 4 years, we are committing ourselves to living in a warped version of reality where scientific data is questionable and decisions are based on Conservative Party ideology and polling, not facts.
If we take the Red Pill and elect ANY other party, even as a minority government, we can slowly begin reversing the damage and restore robust information gathering and sharing.
Let’s take the Red Pill because, although it may be bitter, it’s better to face the truth head on.
[UPDATE MARCH 2016: since this post was written, Leanne and I have entered into a contract dispute with Ridgewater Homes. For more details, click here.]
We can’t do this alone.
There has to be people who know how to take an existing home and make it energy efficient without tearing it down and wasting all that energy and resources. It’s not rocket science.
“Frankly, we need an army of carpenters, electricians and contractors going out to plug leaky buildings,” federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May said during the August 6 leaders debate. “Thirty per cent of carbon pollution comes from the energy we waste and the money we waste heating the outdoors in the winter and cooling it in the summer.”
and she is 100% right except that we needed it 30 years ago.
However, if you take a few years to work up to your renovation and you connect with people like Lorraine Gauthier of the Now House Project and Monte Paulsen of City Green Energy Solutions, you start to not only meet people who know how to do this, but a few who are willing to help you do it.
Lorraine
James
Monte
I told you about our relationship with the BCIT Building Sciences Centre of Excellence who put sensors in the house for a year to analyze the indoor air quality. One student wrote a report using three months of the data which you can read in a series of Hammond Forever House posts here.
I also told you about the design charrette we held in Maple Ridge to hash out a plan for a community home energy retrofit project (hey, if our government won’t do it, I guess we have to). With insufficient support, the project has been shelved pending the completion of our own retrofit which I hope will set an example.
With UBC involved, BCIT has agreed to help with the post-retrofit air quality analysis so that students will be able to study the practical effect of the water and energy saving measures we are able to implement. I love this idea because, although the techniques are not new, we need more people out there who know them and we need to get the word out about what is possible for ordinary homes.
Here is the synopsis that Light House put together. They are taking the lead.
Project Concept:
Retrofit a 1923 Part 9 residential building, Hammond Forever House, with heritage designation in Maple Ridge, BC to near net zero or carbon neutral. Conduct pre and post-retrofit analysis, which will include on-site testing & insulation installation:
• Energy consumption
• Water consumption
• Airtightness
• Temperature
• Humidity
• CO2 concentrations
Compile a case study describing Hammond Forever House’s pre and post-retrofit conditions, regulatory, financial and logistical barriers to carbon neutral retrofits, successful project outcomes and resources for other homeowners wishing to retrofit their homes. Case study appendices should include construction photographs and copies of all reports and associated analysis. The final case study will be provided to the homeowner, published on the Light House website and distributed via a webinar and at conferences, as opportunities arise.
Project Background:
In BC, residential buildings represent 40% of total greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs); in Vancouver, the figure is 55%1. In response to climate impacts, federal and provincial governments have identified GHG emission reduction targets for BC building stock, including the following:
• Energy Efficiency Act: 17% reduction in GHGs below 2005 levels by 2020.
• BC Climate Action Plan: 33% GHG reduction below 2007 levels by 202 and 80% by 2050.
• BC Energy Efficient Building Strategy: Average 20% energy demand reduction per home by 2020.
• BC Climate Action Charter: Carbon neutral corporate operations by 2012.
In August 2015 Light House released the results of a multi-year, multi-stakeholder engagement process with industry, government and utilities titled: Towards Carbon Neutral & Near Net Zero Energy Residential Buildings, a Roadmap for British Columbia. Our Roadmap identifies major actions which can move existing residential buildings towards retrofits which result in carbon neutrality. We recognize the significant impact of carbon neutral pilot projects across a wide range of home sizes, ages and regions, and are therefore pleased to partner with this homeowner to deliver a carbon neutral pilot project in Maple Ridge, BC.
One of the key things that interests me is the inclusion of “regulatory, financial and logistical barriers to carbon neutral retrofits” in the study. This speaks to the fact that we have the technology and expertise necessary to drastically reduce the carbon footprint of our existing buildings, we just have to work together and do it. It was Now House who helped me understand that it is not a technical problem, it is a social engineering problem. [For more details on their involvement in Maple Ridge, check out the news page on the Now House website.]
It is my hope that by telling our story, warts and all, we can be part of the shift of our economy from doomed to renewable by getting the word out.
And that’s why I’m very happy with the snazzy new sign outside celebrating our key partners.
It turns out that our contractor, Ridgewater Homes, is very talented at making signs. As part of our heritage agreement, we are required to post a sign explaining that this is a Heritage Site and the fine for any vandalism, etc. Ridgewater was able to add the logos of some of our supporters and even leave room for a few more, if any suppliers would like to sponsor the project and attach their name to it.
[UPDATE MARCH 2016: since this post was written, Leanne and I have entered into a contract dispute with Ridgewater Homes. For more details, click here.]
I only want to name people if I can say something nice about them.
I have a few nice things to say about Kingswood Builders Group but we’ll never know how good a company they really are because I can’t get them on the phone.
Let me clarify that they are not the contractor that we hired this year (but they could have been). We hired Ridgewater Homes after some careful research this year and I’ll tell you about that next week.
I can only guess Kingswood were sick and tired of giving me quotes and didn’t believe our project would ever actually happen. Fair enough, we did get two quotes and three meetings out of them over the course of three years without going ahead. They were the only company to do that for us and we appreciated it. It’s just too bad they went off the radar when we finally got our ducks in a row this year.
Anyway, here is their quote from January 2014, insulated concrete form (“quadlock walls”), insulation, interior finishing and all:
KINGSWOOD BUILDERS GROUP LTD
2655 KINGSWAY AVE PORT COQUITLAM BC V3E1P8
TEL. 604 941-4849 FAX. 604 941-0241
ESTIMATE
NAME JAMES ROWLEY
THE UNDERSIGNED PROPOSES TO FURNISH ALL MATERIALS AND PERFORM ALL LABOR NECESSARY TO COMPLETE ALL THE DESCRIBED WORK
REQUIREMENTS
THE SCOPE OF WORK IS AS FOLLOWS.
TO LIFT THE EXISTING HOUSE AND REMOVE ALL THE EXISTING FOUNDATION
TO DIG DOWN APPROX 1’9” PLUS FOOTING AND SAND AND DISPOSE
TO SUPPLY AND INSTALL QUADLOCK WALLS OVER FOOTING AS PER PLAN
TO FRAME ADDITION AND NEW ROOF LINE AS PER PLAN
ALL SIDING AND TRIM AS PER PLAN
ALL HOUSE SERVICES FROM CITY HOOK UPS TO HOUSE
R/I PLUMBING & ELECTRIC
INSULATION & DRYWALL PLUS PAINT
ALLOWANCE ON VANITIES $3000.00
ALLOWANCE ON BUILT-IN DRAWS ETC $2500.00
ALLOWANCE ON LIGHTING $2500.00
ALLOWANCE ON CERAMIC TILE $1600.00
ALLOWANCE ON PLUMBING FIXTURES $4200.00
ALLOWANCE ON FLOORING $800.00
THIS HOUSE HAS BEEN PRICED WITH OUT THE SPECIAL ITEMS THAT THE OWNER WOULD LIKE TO HAVE IE: HEAT RECOVER ITEMS ETC,AT THIS TIME
TOTAL PRICE $314,789.00 PLUS GST
ALL PRODUCT TO BE CONFIRMED BETWEEN BUILDER AND HOME OWNER IN WRITING
HOPING THIS IS THE INFORMATION THAT YOU REQUIRE AND PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL.
YOURS TRULY
PETER
________________________________________________________________ ALL OF THE ABOVE WORK TO BE COMPLETED IN A GOOD AND WORKMANLIKE MANNER
ANY CHANGES IN THE WORK AND THE PRICE SHALL BE MADE IN WRITING.
THIS PROPOSAL IS MADE ON THE CURRENT MATERIAL AND LABOUR COSTS
A DELAY IN ACCEPTANCE OF MORE THAN DAYS WILL REQUIRE A
REVIEW OF THE PROPOSAL AND RE-DATING BEFORE THE AGREEMENT
BECOMES BINDING.
As I mentioned before, setting a goal of obtaining 5 or 6 quotes is all very well, but finding 5 or 6 contractors who are interested enough in meeting us, let alone submitting a quote on the project, is another matter entirely.
I can understand that contractors are hesitant to provide quotes. It’s not that they are unscrupulous or trying to cheat you. Putting together an estimate that is at all accurate takes time. How many times have they worked for a week on an estimate for a customer only to never hear back from them? I imagine after a few experiences like that you might start getting a lot more vague with your numbers.
That’s why I really appreciated Peter of Kingswood Builders Group coming out and giving us some solid numbers for us to get our heads around. The first estimate was for a simple bathroom and kitchen remodel but after we engaged Annabel the Architect, Kingswood gave us a second quote based on her design.
Did we hem in our design because we were worried about how much it would cost? A little (but not much!). We imagined the existing basement would stay the same even though the ceiling is too low and it leaks air and heat. “We’re not made of money” we said to ourselves.
We’ve had several reality-check moments in our journey and this was one of them.
It’s there in black and white: TOTAL PRICE $314,789.00 PLUS GST
If you’re thinking that you could buy a whole house for that, you’re right (but, ehem, not in Vancouver). We bought the whole property–a double lot with two houses–from Leanne’s Mom for $425000.
What’s the rule again? Don’t spend more than half the value of the house on renovations?
We were proposing to spend over 3/4.
Monte Paulsen, our energy designer, first pointed this out on his first visit. It has been the elephant in the room ever since. “This is a wonderful plan, but how can we afford it?”
I question everything and I questioned that rule. Why shouldn’t you spend $300K on a $400K house? Is this about re-sale value? It’s true we would feel pretty stupid if we sell the property after sinking so much into it, but what if we never sell? It’s been kept in the family this long, why not another generation or two?
Where do we get this idea that we should limit our investment in an existing home? Is this the calculation that lenders (banks, credit unions) and real estate agents will tell you–that you should plan based on the assumption you may have to move in 5 years? This is good for them because it gets you thinking about “upgrading” to a bigger or nicer house, instead of making the one you’re in suit you over the long term. Every time you change houses, they make money.
I would add that the longer you stay in a home, the better for the planet. Your recycling system gets efficient, you learn the tricks of saving energy, water and money that apply to that particular house, and when you make yourself comfortable, you increase the likelihood that the house will not be torn down.
However, my willingness to spend too much on our home renovation in order to do everything at once hasn’t altered one inconvenient fact: Leanne and I don’t have $300K nor can we borrow $300K. Is that going to stop us? No!
Well, maybe, but we’re going to try anyway. If you haven’t noticed, I’m a stubborn person on certain things.
Yes, I want to make our house more comfortable to live in (including adding the bathroom upstairs for the kids) and that may be seen as selfish, but it also means we will be happy to live here longer and that is good for the planet. Every time a property changes hands there is a risk it will be torn down. In this way a more comprehensive renovation is better for the environment than the piece-meal approach most of us are forced to take because we don’t have the up-front cash to go bigger.
Again, making your home more comfortable for you and your family is good for the planet!
Now, if most of us can’t afford to renovate more than one room at a time, we certainly can’t afford to add energy and water saving measures at the same time even if those measures will save us money in 10-20 years. We just don’t have the cash. The result is upgrades like countertops, remodelled bathrooms, new decks, but very little comprehensive insulation or sealing of whole houses.
We can’t expect homeowners to lead the charge and retrofit their own homes when it means borrowing heavily to do it. What would help is if the costs were lowered and I know of at least three ways to do that.
1. Do more of the work oneself. Listed in the Kingswood estimate are things like vanities and tiles. We took those things out of the contract we ended up with (with Ridgewater Homes). We also took out insulation, wiring and other things we can do ourselves. (We’ll see how long it takes us to be truly finished).
Another way is by means of grants and rebates. As I mentioned, these do exist for energy efficiency in BC from BC Hydro and Fortis BC. However, there are large gaps that only a government program, like the cancelled LiveSmart BC grants, could fill. The Federal Government inexplicably ended the popular EcoEnergy Grants in 2012 (but let’s talk more about that later).
Another way that I stumbled upon when I heard Lorraine of Now House speak is economies of scale. Buying in bulk. When Now House retrofit 100 homes in Windsor Ontario, they brought the costs down from about $66K to $11K per house, just by doing the same work on 95 very similar homes. Wow.
So how do we organize something similar in Maple Ridge among individual homeowners with quite different houses? Well, I have concluded (partly out of impatience to get our house done) that a first step might be to share an example to get people talking.
And that’s what Hammond Forever House is. Watch as we challenge ourselves to reduce our energy and water use while retaining the character defining elements of this beautiful old house. Hopefully some of you will start to imagine how your own home could be retrofit. Then we’ll talk.
At this stage in our renovation and retrofit we’re just trying to finish enough of the house so that the building inspector will let us occupy it and we can get homeowner’s insurance again.
Dan’s idea was to start some sort of ongoing advisory panel on the environment.
Dan admits that he doesn’t know everything and is willing to collaborate and learn how he can help.
