By Marianne White, Canwest News Service January 2, 2010
QUEBEC — Canada’s latest green community development – Cite verte – has drawn inspiration from leading national and international eco-friendly neighbourhoods and is further proof there’s more interest in energy-efficient residential projects, supporters say.
“There is a trend towards the greening of development, and green neighbourhoods are going to be the way of the future if we want to reduce substantially our environmental footprint,” said Mark Hutchinson, director of the Green Buildings Programs for the Canada Green Building Council.
The Quebec government is footing $28 million of the $300-million bill for Cite verte – 800 environmentally friendly housing units, located close to Quebec City’s downtown.
The homes are designed to use 30 per cent less energy than standard residences.
The community will feature narrow streets to diminish the use of cars and promote self-service bikes. In addition, a basin will capture and recycle stormwater to irrigate green spaces and there will be green roofs, solar panels and LED street lamps.
The starting price for houses in Cite verte is expected to be around $350,000, slightly higher than the market price for standard homes in the area.
“We want green projects to become our trademark,” said Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume at the recent launch of the Cite verte – funded mostly by private investors.
The mayor wants to build two other green neighbourhoods in the next 20 years.
Quebec’s plan is being billed as one of the most innovative residential projects east of the Rockies. That’s because across the country at Victoria’s Inner Harbour is Canada’s first green community development – the Dockside Green project.
Dockside, a mixed-use residential and commercial real-estate development, has won praise across North America for its sustainability initiatives.
Dockside most notably creates power from a wood-based biomass gasification system and the recovery of waste heat from municipal sewage. The development is greenhouse-gas neutral and its “micro energy utility” could eventually sell any extra power produced on-site.
The community describes itself as a “model for holistic, closed-loop design” that promotes healthy living.
“We are doing something similar to Dockside Green,” says Jean Morency, head of the real-estate arm of the SSQ insurance company and a promoter of the Quebec City project.
The SSQ, which has been working on the Quebec project since 2002, said it was also inspired by green developments in Europe.
The Quebec developers travelled to Sweden to see the restoration of Hammarby Sjostad, a thriving green waterfront residential community in Stockholm.
“That was a turning point,” said Labeaume.
Hammarby Sjostad, a community of 15,000, is connected to the downtown core by streetcar, a free ferry and roads made of a type of asphalt that collects stormwater.
One feature of the Swedish project will be imported to Quebec: garbage bins and trucks are replaced by a series of colour-coded, vacuum-operated waste chutes. The material is sucked into a network of tunnels and transferred into the appropriate waste, recycling or compost depot.
The thermal heating system for the Quebec project – picked up in Austria – will consist of a biomass plant to convert wood waste into clean power to produce heat and hot water.
Hutchinson, of the Canada Green Building Council, said buildings account for 35 per cent of industrialized countries’ greenhouse gas emissions.
The council has launched a pilot project to create a LEED certification – the gold standard in green building – for neighbourhood developments. Some 24 projects in Quebec, British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta have been studied and will be rated by a third party for their sustainability in order to receive the certification.
Victoria’s Dockside Green is among them, and Quebec City’s Cite verte will also apply for the certification, once the first phase of the project is completed.
It also seems Canadians are willing to pay a premium to live under a green roof.
Hutchinson pointed to a survey conducted for his organization last February that suggested that 85 per cent of Canadians claim that certification, like LEED, would play an important role in their home purchase decisions.
Eighty-two per cent of respondents said they would be willing to invest more money in a home purchase if it was certified green.
“Canadians are definitely interested in how green their house is and to pay more for that house being green if it can be certified,” he said.
Hutchinson said that green housing continues to frequently be more expensive than standard homes, but stressed prices will eventually go down as demand grows.
“It is entirely possible to build a green home at the market rate, depending on how green you want to be. If you want to achieve the highest level of certification, there will no doubt be a premium,” he said.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
http://www.canada.com/business/Green+house+takes+whole+meaning+friendly+projects/2400287/story.html
May 15th, 2010 at 4:05 am
yes. It’s really good post.
May 18th, 2010 at 3:29 am
Now go in the state of affairs and also accomplish your goal.
May 23rd, 2010 at 10:24 am
Hi,this is Venus Mcpheron,just found your web-site on google and i must say this blog is great.may I share some of the Post found in the web site to my local people?i am not sure and what you think?in any case,Thx!
May 28th, 2010 at 7:08 am
This is my first time i visit here. I found so many interesting stuff in your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the good work.
May 29th, 2010 at 1:27 am
Merely want to say your article is brilliant. The clearness in your post is simply spectacular and i can take for granted you are an expert on this field. Well with your permission allow me to grab your rss feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the sound work.
May 29th, 2010 at 11:47 am
thanks !! very helpful post!
May 30th, 2010 at 10:03 am
Hey very nice blog!!
May 30th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again – taking you feeds also, Thanks.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
agree with the author, had done everything correctly.
May 31st, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Hello there! Sorry for my awful British. When i have happened with your current websites along with My spouse and i truly love the design and style. Can you will explain to me where may acquire a template such as this particular? be grateful for
May 31st, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Great articles & Nice a site….
May 31st, 2010 at 7:43 pm
a little more and I will join you
June 1st, 2010 at 12:07 am
excellent post as usual!
June 1st, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Thank you for such a good blog. This is what I looked for.
June 1st, 2010 at 5:35 pm
I usually don’t post in Blogs but your blog forced me to, amazing work.. beautiful …
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:29 am
Hello,just observed your Post when i google something and wonder what hosting do you use for your blog,the speed is more faster than my web site, i really need it.will back to check it out,thank you!
June 3rd, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Thank you for the information, going to bookmark the site!
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Usefull post , THX !
June 5th, 2010 at 12:18 am
You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog.
June 6th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Real nice ! Many thanks !
June 7th, 2010 at 5:56 am
Hi, thanks for the post? Is your site a free theme or paid? I am interested by your blog. Is it possible to include this post on one of my blogs?, i will of course link to this page. regards
June 8th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
I have to say, I absolutely love your blog. Maybe you could tell me how I can go about keeping up to date with it? I feel I should let you know I stumbled upon your blog through Bing.
June 9th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
you are professional.
June 11th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
I find your website very amusing. I love coming back to it each day to read additional content. Your site has been one of my favorite ones for the last few weeks and I would love to become a full time subscriber. I hope your content keeps going the way it is, and I will participate in many discussions if given the opportunity.
June 13th, 2010 at 6:30 am
This entry was a great read! I couldn’t have explained the topic better myself.
June 15th, 2010 at 8:52 am
Great blog post.Really looking forward to read more.
June 16th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Yes. It’s good.
June 16th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
I’m currently studying business and internet marketing here in montral, quebec and i am hoping to finish pretty soon. Your site has given me some insightful information into a project which i am working on right now. Thank you for offering this to the public. Great work.
June 24th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Excellent stuff – Many thanks for posting that advice, I think that it essentially answers my question.
June 27th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
I usually don’t post in Blogs but your blog forced me to, amazing work.. beautiful …
June 28th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Your blog is so informative … keep up the good work!!!!
June 30th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Useful post , I also found another related post in other blog about living expenses in different world countries – Which is the worlds most expensive city costs of living compared and visualised
June 30th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again – taking you feeds also, Thanks.
June 30th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Keep working ,great job!
July 6th, 2010 at 9:48 am
interesting site I’m so glad I wandered onto it through my friend’s blog gonna definitely need to add another one to the blogroll.
July 7th, 2010 at 9:19 am
This is truly epic Thankyou for posting this
July 8th, 2010 at 2:47 am
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
July 8th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Of course, what a great site and informative posts, I will add backlink – bookmark this site? Regards, Reader.
July 12th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
can u give me more detailes please? Thanks
July 14th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Was an interesting article, thank you..
August 4th, 2010 at 8:39 am
Thanks for such a good blog! Recommend friends.