Innovation and Care in Condo Construction Pays Dividends in Milton



Today a group of Halton Regional representatives had an opportunity to tour a new residential condo development in downtown Milton that is just 3 weeks away from occupancy. The development is by Del Ridge Homes and the tour was lead by  Dave De Sylva and George Le Donne, the driving forces behind this new style of condo development.

Pictured above is the tour group on the roof of the Green Life Condo where the racking structure that will support the photo voltaic panels is being installed. This is the most obvious difference between this and the average condo. However it is but one of many features that make this building completely different from anything else on the market.

It is ironic that CBC radio has been airing a series on the glass towers of downtown Toronto. These towers are being referred to as "throw away buildings". The contrast is quite remarkable. The Toronto towers feature window walls that offer next to zero insulation and require elaborate engineering to overcome their deficiencies. The window walls are predicted to fail within 20 years.

Contrast that to the Green Life Condo. It has super insulated walls right down to the second basement level. The basement/parking levels (pictured above) require no heating as the area stays above freezing all winter relying only on mother nature for its warmth. The thick walls, having been bulked up with insulation, create attractive wide window ledges framing the triple glazed windows. Geothermal heating and cooling is complemented by a heat recovery system.

The walls achieve R 44 and the roof is at R 70.

The net result is a building that will not need to be supported by nuclear plants or coal fired plants or even gas pipelines. The residents will have next to zero condo fees and their energy bills will be unbelievably low - forever.

This is the kind of building that people will deed to their children and the kids will fight about who gets to move in. 

Contrast the impact on society between the 2 building philosophies. In one case, the glass is beginning to fall off the side of the buildings and will cause untold financial hardship on the buyers. The energy requirements to heat and cool the buildings will continue for the life of the building. All of this has an impact on green house gases and the cost of infrastructure to support its energy needs.

In the other case, the building is solid and care has been taken to reduce its net carbon footprint to zero. 

The thing is that apart from the solar panels, none of it is rocket science. Insulation is old technology. And everyone knows that glass is a conductor of energy not an insulator. Heat exchangers are simple things. 

What I cannot understand is why the Green Life style of building is not mandatory. Why do we have a building code that allows anything less? 

As a municipal politician it is my job to push developers in our town to build at a higher standard. I am proud to say that in Halton Hills we do have a Green Checklist that developers must satisfy before we allow them to build. But there is more to be done to make housing more efficient and more durable. 

Congratulations to Dave De Sylva and George Le Donne for proving that attention to energy efficiency does not mean the building is unaffordable, unattractive or lacking a market. Green Life sold out in a flash and new projects are taking shape in Oakville and Markham. Someday I hope to see them in Halton Hills.  

7 Billion and Growing

Today our planet reached a human population of 7 billion people. That number is beyond comprehension, but the more remarkable part is the rate at which we got to 7 billion. However, my subject is not our numbers but rather, the pressing need to adapt.

Can we adapt fast enough to sustain this growth in human population?
Adaptation is essential and the concept is likely well accepted. However, on most fronts adaptation  is sluggish and lacking in  focus and urgency.

If I was to form an action plan based on my  view  from my window, I wouldn't change a thing. From my personal perspective  it is hard to imagine a more benign environment on the entire planet than the one I see here in Georgetown, Ontario, Canada. It is only when I look at the scientific data and the long term trends that the urgency becomes apparent.

For me it is a real joy to meet people who believe in adaptation and are willing to invest in it and  talk about it with enthusiasm and optimism. Yesterday I had the opportunity to hear such a person who isn't just talking about it, he is doing it. That person is Dave de Sylva, partner in Del Ridge Homes along with George Le Donne.

They have made business choices based on principles of sustainability. They are shunning old building practices and adopting new ones that make more sense on every level including economic.

They are set to build the Green Life Business Centre, Canada's first Net Positive Condo Office Building in Milton, Ontario. Net positive means that this office building will create more energy than it uses. It won't be a drain; it will be a faucet, pouring energy into the grid instead of sucking it out, burning it up and spewing waste into the atmosphere.

This is not their first project to be at or near "Net Positive". They have built residential condos that have condo fees so low people wonder what the catch is. There is no catch. These buildings are built in a different way to firstly, reduce energy waste and secondly, use the renewable energy that is in the ground  below and in the sky above.

Dave de Sylva and George Le Donne understand that we have a very big problem to solve and so they have set out to do what they can to solve it. They get absolutely no help from any level of government to do this and yet they are steadfast in their personal pursuit of responsible action.

The things that Del Ridge Homes is doing should be incorporated into our building code so that all of our new buildings, whether they are residential, commercial, industrial or institutional are built to reduce energy wastage and make optimal use of sustainable energy sources.

In my opinion this is a wonderfully optimistic story of determination and positive action to adapt to important threats that are all to easy to ignore if one is looking out the window in Georgetown Ontario Canada.

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