* media centre
EnviroCentre and Enbridge Gas Distribution weatherize 150 Ottawa Community Housing homes
December 3, 2008
Over 150 Enbridge customers living in Ottawa Community Housing will benefit from cost-effective basement and attic weatherization upgrades to their homes. Based on current rates, they could save about $500 a year in reduced natural gas bills. This is being made possible through the Enbridge Gas Distribution Home Weatherization Retrofit Program and thanks to the cooperation of Ottawa Community Housing officials and tenants.
Based on before and after home energy evaluations conducted so far, savings of about 1,000 cubic metres (m3) of natural gas per year per home are being projected thanks to an average investment of about $2,000 by Enbridge Gas Distribution. Total reductions of carbon dioxide emissions from all 150 homes are projected to reach 300 tonnes per year.
Presentation at National Energy and Utility Affordability Conference
EnviroCentre's General Manager, Dana Silk, was invited to give a presentation at the largest gathering of low-income energy-efficiency advocates in North America, which took place June 16-18, 2008 in Denver, Colorado. He joined over 700 other delegates from the United States and 10 people from Canada at the National Energy and Utility Affordability Conference, which showcased many innovative programs across the United States funded primarily by the US federal government. EnviroCentre's presentation was one of the few to focus on actual results thanks to online monitoring of before and after utility bills.
[view pdf of presentation slides]
Document: EnviroCentre’s experience with the Ontario Power Authority’s Energy Efficiency Assistance Program for Houses in eastern Ontario
February 7, 2008
By retailing services to homeowners and companies, and working with government agencies, utilities, and charitable foundations, EnviroCentre has been able to provide free energy-efficiency goods and services to hundreds of low-income households since 1999.
EnviroCentre surpassed its OPA quotas by installing an average of $1,784 worth of cost-effective Basic Measures (BMs) and Extended Measures (EMs) in 200 privately-owned, single-family, low income homes with electric heat in Eastern Ontario between November 2006 and May 2007 and 44 homes between November and December 2007.1 This average investment masks significant differences as the top 20 clients got cost-effective, EM investments of $3,640 per home, twice the average. This can be compared to the average TRC+ investment of $2,402 in the 83 homes that received EMs under a similar program funded by Hydro One Networks Inc, which reached a total of 139 other homes for a grand total of 383 homes serviced under both the OPA and HONI contracts.
[read full report on Ontario Power Authority's website]
Hour of reckoning: Why some say Earth Hour is little more than a PR campaign that does the environmental movement more harm than good
Katie Daubs, The Ottawa Citizen - March 29, 2008
As symbolic gestures go, Earth Hour is grand.
Beginning when the clock strikes 8 p.m. in Christchurch, New Zealand, and following that hour's progress around the globe, iconic buildings such as the Sydney Opera House, the Peace Tower, and Alcatraz prison will plunge into darkness. Businesses, governments, and you are invited to follow suit.
The event is organized by the World Wildlife Fund. The goal is to "make a statement about climate change," and the statement is being heard. Very few social movements can boast Prince Charles, Mayor Larry O'Brien and caretakers of famous old jails as supporters.
Yet in the quest to achieve saturation coverage, Earth Hour has alienated some of the planet's most diligent defenders -- people like Ottawa's Dana Silk. [more...]
Document: EnviroCentre’s experience with the Ontario Power Authority’s Energy Efficiency Assistance Program for Houses in eastern Ontario
February 7, 2008
By retailing services to homeowners and companies, and working with government agencies, utilities,
and charitable foundations, EnviroCentre has been able to provide free energy-efficiency goods and
services to hundreds of low-income households since 1999.
EnviroCentre surpassed its OPA quotas by installing an average of $1,784 worth of cost-effective
Basic Measures (BMs) and Extended Measures (EMs) in 200 privately-owned, single-family, lowincome
homes with electric heat in Eastern Ontario between November 2006 and May 2007 and 44
homes between November and December 2007.1 This average investment masks significant
differences as the top 20 clients got cost-effective, EM investments of $3,640 per home, twice the
average. This can be compared to the average TRC+ investment of $2,402 in the 83 homes that
received EMs under a similar program funded by Hydro One Networks Inc, which reached a total of
139 other homes for a grand total of 383 homes serviced under both the OPA and HONI contracts.
[read full report on Ontario Power Authority's website
Energy Efficiency Assistance Program: Interview with Dana Silk, EnviroCentre General Manager - CBC Ottawa Morning
March 11, 2008
Energy Savings - CTV Ottawa News @ Six
March 9, 2008
Energy boost for low-income families: Pilot project
By Kathryn Young, The Ottawa Citizen, February 03, 2007
Laura Rowe saw immediate results on her electricity bill after receiving a free energy audit and energy-efficient improvements under a provincial pilot project run by Ottawa's EnviroCentre.
"It was a wakeup call for sure," Ms. Rowe says about the audit on her '70s- era condominium townhome, which included a blower-door test for air leakage and a measure of how much electricity each of her appliances was using. "You go day to day not thinking about these things." [more...]
EnviroCentre: Sense and Sustainability in the National Capital
Anne Makhoul, Caledon Institute of Social Policy, March 2004
The Mayor of Ottawa, Bob Chiarelli, recently reopened EnviroCentre, an attractive glass-fronted boutique on the main floor of City Hall, directly across from the City’s information desk. The centre offers an array of programs and information which invite individuals and businesses to improve their bottom lines while making a positive impact on the environment.
“EnviroCentre is an enviro-business which combines the goals of greenhouse gas reduction with a nonprofit, self-sustaining business model,” says centre General Manager Dana Silk. “The centre is actually the resource and marketing tool for programs which are delivered in partnership with the private sector.”