Erin group calls for carbon reducing measures as part of new home builds

ERIN – An Erin environmental lobbying group is asking the town to consider mandating measures to reduce the carbon footprint of the thousands of new builds expected over the coming decades. 

That means no natural gas lines installed in new subdivisions in Erin, cold-climate heat pumps for every home and all roofs should be solar panel-ready. It’s a tall order but the way Erin Citizens’ Climate Lobby (ECCL) sees it, it’s easier and cheaper to do it as it's built rather than retroactively and lowering the carbon footprint in town is too important to ignore. 

“The world is in a mess and here in Canada we’re way behind and have to do it to nearly half our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030,” said Liz Armstrong, founder of the ECCL which is a local group of a worldwide movement with over 500 chapters. 

The Citizens’ Climate Lobby has its roots in the states but began in Canada in 2010. Different chapters largely focus on advocating for climate policies, including carbon pricing as a tool to encourage moving away from fossil fuels. 

Armstrong started the Erin chapter back in 2012 in response to her view that nothing positive seemed to be happening in the way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and wanting to contribute to a people-led movement. 

“It appealed to me because it was a way in which people could respond to the crisis, individually and collectively,” Armstrong said. “It’ll actually give signals to the economy that we need to stop allowing pollution to be free in the atmosphere.”

The group has spent much time lobbying and meeting with local politicians, in this case Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong and MPP Ted Arnott. 

Armstrong believed their group and the climate lobby in general had a role in getting Chong on board with carbon pricing during his unsuccessful bid for Conservative Party of Canada leader in 2016 — a view he has seemingly shied away from under Pierre Poilievre’s party leadership.

“I think the Conservatives have actually done a really good job with their simple little slogans of ‘axe the tax’ and ‘spike the hike,’” Armstrong said. “Mr. Poilievre is really good at stirring up the troops with those little slogans. He rarely talks about the rebate that people get.”

Looking more locally, Armstrong recently delegated at Erin council asking the town to consider some measures for new builds in town as it creates its green development standards. Green development standards are an evaluation tool used by municipalities to encourage more sustainable development through mandatory metrics and can include energy efficiency.

ECCL recommended cold-climate heat pumps or hybrid heat pumps for each home, no natural gas lines installed in new subdivisions and roofs should be solar panel-ready and have roughed-in capacity for a fallback battery back-up on new builds in town.

The group has a local example of how these measures can reduce one’s carbon footprint through member Ron Moore. 

Moore joined the group early, having worked with a climate lobby group previously in Minnesota, and over the past five years has put in a number of measures to reduce his carbon footprint significantly at his Hillsburgh home. 

“Back in 2018, I saw that the carbon tax was going to come in and it was going to increase so I decided I needed to start moving in the direction of reducing my own carbon footprint,” Moore said. 

He measured his carbon footprint at 7.6 tonnes of CO2 in the fall of 2018 and started by installing solar panels on the roof of his house. 

He later purchased a hybrid car, installed a Tesla power wall to store energy and switched to a heat pump for his air conditioning and home heating which uses gas when necessary. 

“Last year it dropped to 1.2 tonnes of CO2, so quite a significant drop from the 7.6 back in 2018 and I get to keep a lot more of my carbon rebate,” Moore said.

It wasn’t cheap however, as Moore spent about $60,000 not including the car. 

Moore said it can also be more difficult to retrofit an older home for a heat pump or solar panels. 

Therefore, ECCL suggests it would be easier to do so during building. 

“Now’s the time to say ‘put in the infrastructure,’” Armstrong said. 

Moore said it’s important for him personally to lower his carbon footprint because he’s not keen to live in an environment comparable to the planet Venus. 

“The temperature’s going up every year, last year in recorded history the temperatures never been that high,” Moore said.