Ottawa- EnviroCentre would like to introduce its new interim General Manager, Paul McDonald, to Ottawa residents, and thank outgoing General Manager, Dr. Dana Silk for his 13 years of service to the organization.

EnviroCentre is fortunate to have McDonald as the interim GM. McDonald was involved in the creation of EnviroCentre in 1999 and served on the board for eight years. McDonald brings with him a wealth of ideas and knowledge from his many years in the public and private environmental sectors. We look forward to capitalizing on his experience to further develop the organization’s

“I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the public to visit our EnviroBoutique and learn about wide variety of services and products we offer to help families save money on their utility bills by conserving energy” said McDonald. “In this time of transition, it is important to assure residents that it is business as usual and that you will continue to receive the same great service from us as always”.

Over the past 13 years under the leadership of Dr. Silk, EnviroCentre has grown from an organization of one employee to a full time staff of 11. To accommodate a growing staff, in 2010 EnviroCentre purchased and retrofitted a century home at 366 Rideau Street. This building serves as the EnviroBoutique and currently houses half of EnviroCentre’s office space. Plans are underway for all staff to reside at 366 Rideau over the coming months.

“While we are thankful to have had the opportunity to offer walk-in services to residents at the City Hall location, I’m confident we can continue this and our many other services at 366 Rideau” said Elyse McCann, Assistant General Manager. “I know that staff are really looking forward to being housed under one roof again”.

As a local environmental non-profit, EnviroCentre strives to reduce climate changing gas emissions by delivering energy efficiency programs and services. EnviroCentre had conducted almost 25,000 energy audits, has provided free insulation and weatherization services to thousands of low-income families in the region and has distributed tens of thousands of energy saving products since 1999. EnviroCentre also delivers sustainable transportation outreach campaigns to encourage residents to try cycling, walking, carpooling or transit by leaving their car at home.

In 2011 alone, our home weatherization program has saved over 700,000 cubic metres of natural gas in 611 homes, which translates to an average yearly savings of $470 per home.

Dear Editor,

Environment Canada’s senior climatologist is more than excited by the “incredible” even “phenomenal” record breaking temperatures this fall, notably November being 5 degrees warmer than normal. Environment Canada’s minister is leaving soon for the UN Conference on Climate Change. Any chance these two stories might be linked?

Yours truly,

Dana Silk

Click here to view the CBC video.

An Ottawa organization is looking for drafty homes to insulate — for free.

Savings are a gas if you’re with Enbridge.

Have you heard of the EnviroCentre? Jessica Sheridan, an administrative assistant with the non-profit organization, is trying to make sure that you do before it’s too late.  

While the EnviroCentre provides retailing residential services and weatherization services, the organization also lends a hand to low-income families.

EnviroCentre facilitates requirements put in place by the Ontario Energy Board that Enbridge Inc. provide assistance for its low-income customers as a “sign of good faith,” according to Sheridan.

The program’s funding comes out of Enbridge’s pocket entirely and there are many different ways for people to qualify for the weatherization program, which can produce serious annual savings.

The program is available to homeowners and renters, according to Sheridan, however “renters will require approval from the landlord.”

“The main requirement (aside from income) is that they are paying their own natural gas bill.”

The upgrades come at no cost to the family or individuals who qualify for the program, according to Sheridan.

“We start with a phone screening, then hand the information from that to an advisor,” she said.

“If a phone screening identifies a true candidate, clients can generally expect an audit within two weeks.”

If the audit is approved, the EnviroCentre proceeds with insulating the home as soon as it’s ready.

“Insulation takes about three hours to install and is worth between $2,000 to $5,000,” Sheridan explained.

“Once retrofitted, homes become much more comfortable and far less drafty, they’re warmer in winters and cooler in summers.”

At the end of the day, Sheridan said that families who receive assistance from Enbridge and EnviroCentre can save between 24 to 45 per cent of their gas bill – up to $750 annually.

The program is in its fifth year but will conclude at the end of 2011, which is why Sheridan said it’s important for low-income families to act while they can.

There are fast and easy methods to verify whether or not one’s home qualifies for an EnviroCentre upgrade – but first consider these:

- Is the exterior of your pre-1970s wood/aluminium/vinyl sided? Is it stucco or brick veneer or double-brick?

- Do you know if the walls have any insulation at all?

- Does your household benefit from Ontario Works, Ontario Disability Support Program, Allowance for Survivors, Guaranteed Income Supplement, Allowance for Seniors or the National Child Benefit Supplement?

For more information on the EnviroCentre, its programs and if they could benefit you, visit www.envirocentre.ca or call 613-580-2582, ext. 4.

tmuma@theemc.ca

Traffic jams stressing you out?  Gas prices keeping you down? Tomorrow maybe you should leave your car in the garage and try out one of the many sustainable transportation options available to Ottawa-Gatineau residents!  Whether you choose to bike, bus, or carpool – you’ll experience a fast, fun, cheap, and healthy alternative to driving alone.  Check out a summary of the week of events organized by EnviroCentre and the City of Ottawa, in collaboration with Vivre en Ville at www.infostw.org

Join the Online Contest

You could win an annual OC Transpo bus pass, VIA RAIL tickets to Toronto, a new bike and more – simply by giving sustainable transportation alternatives a try.

Not To Be Missed Events!

• Bike-Bus-Car Challenge & Launch (Friday, Sept 16^th) – Join us at the finish line at the Museum of Civilization to witness 3 celebrities competing against each other “to get to work” – one on bike, one on bus, and the other in a car. This friendly competition will be followed by a free breakfast with Mayor Jim Watson to kick off the week of events.
• International Park(ing) Day (Friday, Sept 16^th) – A worldwide event that gives community groups the opportunity to transform designated metered parking spaces for fun and innovative public activities.
• Car-Free Day (Thursday, Sept 22^nd) – Encourage your co-workers and managers to lead by example during Car-Free Day!  Leave your car in the garage and try out one of the many sustainable transportation options available to us all.  Join us at Ottawa City Hall for a special temporary Bike Museum.  See the evolution of the bike and its impact on society, culture and transportation.

EnviroCentre is launching a summer blitz of rural neighbourhoods in Ottawa and smaller communities throughout Eastern Ontario looking for poorly insulated houses whose owners or tenants might qualify for free weatherization that could save them up to $500 a year in natural gas bills.

Because most low-income families in urban areas live in smaller houses or apartments, EnviroCentre is now focusing on rural communities, trying to find low-income owners or tenants who pay natural gas bills of over $1,500 a year.

“We have already helped over 600 households inside the greenbelt”, says EnviroCentre General Manager Dana Silk, “so we’re now focusing on finding older houses outside the greenbelt that need better insulation”.

The program is designed for single-family and detached houses whose owners or tenants receive certain government benefits as well as larger households with modest incomes. Local organizers can contact EnviroCentre to find out when its weatherization van will be coming to their community.

Based in Ottawa since 1999, EnviroCentre is Eastern Ontario’s most experienced non-profit agency for delivering energy-efficiency goods and services.

Energy subsidies not fair to future generations

Dear Editor

When it comes to businesses trying to get rich in the energy field, the solar and wind ones pale in comparison to the gas, oil and nuclear industries, which have received massive subsidies for decades.  An idea of the extent of energy subsidies is indicated in a recent report that concluded it could cost upwards of $72 billion a year by 2020 to get climate change under control in Canada.

Then there is the $60 billion that is being tossed around to pay for more nuclear power plants in Ontario, despite the fact that we still haven’t paid off the $20 billion debt run up by the old ones. That doesn’t include any of the costs now being borne by the Japanese when things go horribly wrong.

The so-called solar subsidy of $7 billion is actually the amount Samsung has agreed to invest in Ontario, so it is not a subsidy at all. Those who argue rightly for competitive bids should focus their efforts on governments making big purchases, like fighter jets or subways, as opposed to investment deals.

Unfortunately, one of the best parts of Ontario’s Green Energy Act, energy-efficiency labels of homes at time of sale, was not implemented primarily because real estate agents used a misleading, fear mongering campaign to delay one of the most progressive consumer protection programs in recent years. Imagine letting a group of people with no professional qualifications influence provincial energy policies because they wrongly fear for their own jobs, or in this case, commissions.

Comparing Ontario’s growth in green energy employment with that in Europe while conveniently ignoring that electricity prices there are up to four times higher, is misleading. Pretending not to know that real estate agents are still thriving in France, where the energy-efficiency of all houses and apartments for sale or lease must be shown at time of listing, is even worse.

The fact is that electricity prices in Ontario are among the lowest in OECD countries primarily because they have been heavily subsidized for years and the infrastructure was neglected to the point that caused unprecedented blackouts. Higher prices are inevitable unless you think your children should spend the rest of their lives paying for your electricity debts and wondering why you left them with dirty, energy-intensive industries that moved their jobs to countries with lower health and environmental standards.

Dana Silk, General Manager, EnviroCentre

Page: I6

Section: Homes

Byline: Daniel Drolet

Source: Citizen Special

I plugged the gizmo in and turned on the table lamp in my living room.

Within seconds, the number 55 appeared on the digital display. I turned the lamp off, unscrewed the regular 60-watt incandescent light bulb and replaced it with a compact fluorescent. When I turned the lamp on again, the number on the display was only 13.

The gizmo in question was a power meter that measures electricity consumption. I had borrowed it from the Ottawa Public Library.

Knowing energy consumption matters more than ever as Hydro Ottawa transitions to time-of-use billing. When the phase-in is completed -all Ontario homes and businesses are expected to be on time-of-use billing by the end of this year, according to the Hydro Ottawa website -consumers will pay different rates for electricity at different times of day. And if you have a home appliance that’s an energy hog, chances are it’s going to cost you.

“There is a fair amount of energy illiteracy out there,” says Dana Silk, general manager of Ottawa’s EnviroCentre, a non-profit organization focused on energy-efficient goods and services.

Silk says there’s a lot people can do to reduce energy consumption and ultimately save themselves money.

While lighting gets a lot of attention because it’s easy to change a 60-watt incandescent bulb for a compact fluorescent one that uses a lot less power, lighting generally accounts for only a small percentage of power use in a home, says Silk -about five per cent.

The big energy users are the furnace and the air conditioner, the water heater, the washer and dryer, and the big kitchen appliances -stove, fridge, dishwasher. “New appliances are much more efficient than old ones,” says Silk, so if you have old appliances you can save money on electricity by updating.

How you use an appliance will also matter. Silk says a fridge placed in a sunny corner of the kitchen will use more power than one in a darker part of the room, simply because it will cycle on more often. And a fridge that is opened less often will be cheaper to run than a fridge in a family of people who like to open the door and stand there contemplating the food inside.

The bottom line is that people who are concerned about energy consumption can do something to cut their use by modifying habits (washing clothes with cold water, for example, instead of hot), switching to more energy-efficient appliances and products and, once time-of-use billing takes effect, timing their use of electricity.

It helps if you know how much power you are consuming. Power meters are a quick and easy way of measuring that -at least for devices that are plugged in with regular plugs. You can buy a power meter at a hardware store -the Blue Planet meter is listed at $24.99 on the Canadian Tire website -or you can borrow one from the library through its “Kill-a-Watt” program. Line Gravelle, manager of the Ottawa Public Library’s main library, says the library began lending the meters in  2005 in partnership with EnviroCentre and Hydro Ottawa, which provided free meters.

“The Kill-a-Watt meters are treated as any other library material,” says Gravelle, explaining that customers can place holds on them and borrow them for up to seven days at a time. “There is no charge or deposit to borrow them and they are available at all 33 of our branches plus the bookmobile. We currently have 168 units available for circulation.”

You can also book a home energy audit through EnviroCentre. The audits usually cost about $300, but Silk says homeowners can get a $150 rebate from the province. The audit takes about two hours and gives homeowners a report on the home’s energy consumption, along with suggestions for saving money and making the home more comfortable by changing ventilation and heat distribution.

EnviroCentre has a retail store at 366 Rideau St. EnviroBoutique sells a variety of energy efficiency products and, in co-operation with Montreal’s CO Gallery, products and objets d’art made from recycled goods such as pillows made from recycled car seatbelts or doggie beds made of recycled plastic.

Silk says it’s important everyone be as knowledgeable as possible about energy use.

I certainly had a better idea after a few days with the power meter.

I discovered my clock-radio used only one watt to run, and when I charged up my iPod the number was two. The number shot up to 240 when I ran my food processor, but then that was only for short bursts. My chest freezer, when the motor was running, was sucking up about 95 watts.

The freezer is probably my oldest appliance -and I bet I’d save money if I updated.

In the meantime, the incandescent light bulbs in the living room lamps are gone.

TIME TO PAY

When time-of-use billing comes into effect, electricity users will be billed according to three different rates. The highest rate will be charged during peak hours -the middle of the day on weekdays in summer, when air conditioners are most likely to run, and morning and early evening on weekdays in the winter, when heating and lighting demands are greatest. Time-of-use billing is possible because of the recent installation of smart meters in homes. See hydroottawa.com and follow the links for more information on time-of-use rates and billing. For information on EnviroCentre and the programs it offers, see envirocentre.ca.

Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen