Blog Posts – Page 13

16 May 202316 May 2023

Centre for Community Energy Transformation Announces New Executive Director

The Board of the Centre for Community Energy Transformation (CCET), is pleased to announce that Tony Iacobelli is assuming the position of Executive Director, effective June 5th.

The Centre for Community Energy Transformation is a community-based, not-for-profit organisation supported by Peel and its municipal partners to lead energy transformation in the Region and help the transition to a low-carbon future.

Initially referred to as the Institute for Sustainable Brampton, the creation of the CCET was called for as part of Brampton’s 2040 vision project.

It is designed to be an organization that will advocate for energy investments, secure both private and public funding opportunities and be a hub for municipal energy excellence. It will assist residents, businesses and commercial property owners with improving energy efficiency and lowering carbon emissions.

Tony Iacobelli is an ecologist, award-winning planner, and green building advocate. While at City of Markham, he secured Council endorsement for a pathway to net zero energy buildings by 2030. He also launched the City’s first comprehensive natural assets study. Previously, at City of Vaughan, Tony developed and implemented, Sustainability Performance Metrics, an innovative, award-winning program for reviewing development applications that was created collaboratively with Brampton and Richmond Hill.

“We are delighted to welcome Tony as our first full-time Executive Director”, says Peter Love, CCET Board Chair. “His combination of experience, background and enthusiasm is exactly what we need to ensure that our new organization realizes its full potential of impacting the energy transformation in Peel Region.”

Tony says, “I am thrilled to be joining the Centre for Community Energy Transformation as its founding Executive Director”. “Working together with our Board, the communities of Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon, and our partners, we will scale up climate action in Peel Region with the goal of dramatically reducing carbon emissions and shifting to a sustainable energy future. I am excited to be a part of this momentum for change and honoured to be leading this important initiative.”

Stay tuned for more exciting news, soon to come from the Centre for Community Energy Transformation.

8 May 202324 May 2023

Planting trees at Peelton Hills

I admit that I didn’t know where Peelton Hills Park was when I started out this past Saturday morning for the Sierra Club/CVC tree-planting event. It’s not a park I’ve frequented before. It was a beautiful spring day and Google Maps said it would take me less than 40 minutes to travel the 11.5km by bike.

1 May 20232 May 2023

Dorchester Park Gets a Spring Cleanup from its Friends & Stewards

The Friends & Stewards of Dorchester Park launched their 2023 season this past Saturday April 29^th, with a park stewardship startup event. This involved clearing out invasive species, making it easier for native, “pollinator friendly” plants to flourish. Funds from the Graceful Aging Through Connecting with Nature project, (GATCWN), helped the group purchase a tent to help promote the event and protect participants from the wet .

28 April 202328 April 2023

Great turnout at the 2023 Earth Day Festival despite the Wet!

It was like déja vu all over again! Earth Day, Saturday April 22, 2023 dawned almost identically to the same day last year, cold, rain and, wind. Perhaps not quite as cold, but almost. As one of the exhibitors expressed, “It’s the Earth crying about all the horrible things we’ve done to her in the last year.”

4 April 20234 April 2023

It’s April 2023, How Should You Recognize Earth Month, Day, Hour

Ah April! With longer days, the cloak of winter darkness rests lighter on our shoulders. The warmer sun thaws our blood and makes our spirits rise. April is a month of rebirth and awakening; a time to give thanks for the joy of seasons, the laughter of children playing outside, the birds singing and the plants greening, April is also Earth Month, a time to celebrate nature’s bounty and to give thanks for the ecosystem services provided to us by the plants, animals, water and air that surrounds us and supports us. Earth Day on April 22nd, is a time to honour the achievements of the environmental movement and raise awareness of the need to protect the Earth’s natural resources for future generations.

Some would argue the environmental movement merely slows down progress and adds costs to development projects. History shows, however, that unbridled progress often leads to unintended environmental consequences and the potential for human catastrophe. Let me offer a few examples.

21 March 202323 March 2023

Coles Notes on the Greenbelt

Streaker draws the wrong kind of attention at recent Juno awards

[Updated version March 22, 2023 correcting statements made regarding historical landowner compensation]

The topless streaker at Sunday March 12th’s Juno awards ceremonies garnered more news attention for the potty-mouthed reaction from music award presenter Avril Lavigne than it did to the messages the streaker displayed on her body, “Land-back” and “Save the Greenbelt”. That’s unfortunate. We need more adult conversations about how we are using the precious land resources contained within our borders, including and maybe especially the, (as yet), undeveloped land that surrounds our major Canadian cities.

14 March 202323 March 2023

Graceful Aging Through Connecting With Nature

The Brampton Environmental Alliance is pleased to announce that it has received grant funding from Employment and Social Development Canada to implement a “New Horizons for Seniors” project called, “Graceful Aging Through Connecting With Nature”.

7 March 20237 March 2023

Coyotes! It’s time, (once again), to set the record straight

Brampton has been all over the news in the last two days because a family of coyotes have chosen a school yard as a place to hang out. Recent sightings on the property of Our Lady of Peace Separate School prompted staff to keep students inside during recess over the past few days. Concerned parents are asking the City to remove the coyotes by trapping or culling as they fear the coyotes present a threat to their children’s safety. While somewhat understandable, this reaction is unfortunate and the action called for would likely be ineffective.

28 February 202317 October 2023

Heat Pump Chronicles Vol2

This is the second in a series of posts on our journey to navigate government grants and loans available for home energy retrofits and to replace our natural gas furnace with a cold-climate heat pump. Click here to see all articles in the series.

A New Beginning

In the previous post I reported the 16-year-old natural gas furnace in Dayle’s and my home started acting up just before Christmas. We’d invested in a furnace maintenance call in the fall that resulted in a part being replaced, a reassurance that our furnace was in good shape, and a $200 bill. So, when the Christmas Eve repairman, left us without finding the problem, only another charge approaching $200, I was not amused. The weather turned really cold on Boxing Day. Our ailing furnace struggled to get the inside temperature above 18°C. I felt like Bob Cratchit, forced to wear double sweaters, tuque and mittens with the fingers cut out. But I was resolved not to replace our current furnace with another natural gas unit. I wanted a heat pump that would be fossil-fuel free.

20 February 202317 October 2023

Heat Pump Chronicles Vol 1

This is the first in a series of posts on our journey to navigate government grants and loans available for home energy retrofits and to replace our natural gas furnace with a cold-climate heat pump. Click here to see all articles in the series.

The Break Up

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the dormitory,
Nothing was stirring, not even the reverberatory,
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes the furnace repair guy soon would be there.

Dayle and I had been thinking of getting a heat pump for quite a while. We’d done all the usual things to make our house more energy efficient. We’d upgraded windows, sealed baseboards and electrical outlets, installed weather stripping on all our doors, and blew more insulation into our attic, bringing it to a lofty R62. Replacing the natural gas furnace perhaps was the next logical step to reduce our carbon emissions. We just weren’t expecting we’d have to start the process over the holiday season.

A New Beginning

The Break Up

Be informed on environmental issues affecting Brampton