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Take the We Have the Power Pledge Today!

Durham Region, the power for change is in your hands! We want you to take action and make a stand for the environment. The answer to our climate crises is conservation of our precious resources, and it starts with you. Together we can all take simple steps that will lead to a bright future for Durham Region and beyond.

Durham Sustain Ability wants you to take the We Have the Power pledge! Visit http://www.wehavethepower.ca and pledge to the actions listed in the four categories; waste, water, energy and Transportation.

Don't waste any time! Take the Pledge today and you're automatically entered in the We Have the Power™ draw for your chance to win great prizes, including a front loading ENERGY STAR Washer and Dryer.

We Have the Power™ is a project of Durham Sustain Ability and is delivered with generous support from the Government of Ontario. Such support does not indicate endorsement by the Province of the contents of this material.

Durham Eco-House: A Different Kind Of Conservation Initiative

WHITBY, ON November 28, 2009 - Durham Eco-House held the groundbreaking ceremony for the start of a major renovation and retrofit of the existing home and property.

Mayor Pat Perkins of the Town of Whitby, Mark Holland, MP, Ajax-Pickering, Joe Dickson, MPP, Ajax-Pickering, Mayor Steve Parish, Town of Ajax and Judy Robinson, Vice-President, Academic, Durham College joined Bill Hamm, Executive Director of Durham Eco-House for the well attended event.

And already, the community is responding to the project. Residents have overwhelmingly endorsed our efforts with positive feedback and offers of support. Business has responded in-kind with numerous requests for all sorts of environmental products and services to be showcased in Durham Eco-House. Local newspaper and TV journalists have covered the story, and word of mouth is spreading.

It is rare for older, traditional built properties to be the focus for energy efficient projects, with sustainability more closely linked to new-build schemes. The Durham Eco-House project aims to demonstrate that older properties can be adapted easily to utilize the best in renewable and sustainable energy. The detached three-bedroom family home is being modified to meet its full potential with the addition of the latest technologies in energy conservation and energy efficiency. Work to transform the home into an eco-house incorporating the highest standards of sustainable living is on target for completion by the Spring of 2010.

Visitors to Durham Eco-House will have an opportunity to see first-hand the extensive environmental changes made to the home. Displays around the house will explain how a particular system works and lay out the costs and investment returns to an average consumer. Visitors to the house would leave with a cursory understanding of the options available to them and an example of their success; ready to make changes in their own homes.

Image: Left to Right Front Row
Judy Robinson, Vice-President, Academic, Durham College - Sue Castanier, Senior Business Advisor, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade - Michael Schroeder, Lifestyle Sunrooms Inc. - Keith Carroll, Lifestyle Sunrooms Inc. - Mayor Steve Parish, Town of Ajax - Rusty Jennings, Vice-President Sales and Marketing, Carrier Canada - Doug Lindeblom, Director of Economic Development and Tourism, The Regional Municipality of Durham - Ivan Flood, Owner, Total Home Comfort - Bill Hamm, Executive Director, Durham Eco-House - Mayor Pat Perkins, Town of Whitby

Left to Right Back Row
Mark Holland MP, Ajax-Pickering - Joe Dickson, MPP, Ajax-Pickering - Councillor Lorne Coe, Town of Whitby

Speech given by Bill Hamm at the Groundbreaking Ceremony of Durham Eco-House, November 28, 2009

Durham Eco-House, a not-for-profit organization, will be the Region of Durham's first planned environmentally sustainable demonstration home promoting energy conservation, energy efficiency and the application of green building products and technologies.

We believe that while reducing our carbon footprint is a noble objective, the opportunity exists to have a zero carbon footprint through retrofits of our existing housing stock. Durham Eco-House will be developed as a networked collaborative to this end, we are committed to bringing together government, industry, academia and the community to demonstrate the scale of environmental change that is possible through retrofits to the existing housing stock.
Showing the greater community what can be done to make a home more environmentally sound will be a main goal of Durham Eco-House. We feel that if homeowners were shown definitively the viability and economic sense of home efficiency, they would be more likely to make changes to their own houses.
In particular, this project is about undertaking development in a sustainable manner. Environment Canada has called on the 'participation of citizens, industry and government in activities that achieve results without depleting the future of our resources.' The Durham Eco-House initiative has been designed as a government-industry-community collaborative that looks at the retrofit of our existing working landscape and emphasizes the value of adopting a sustainable approach for existing built form.

Ontario has been a recognized leader in promoting the green economy. The green boom is here. Despite the downturn in the economy, concerns with 'clean, green and renewable' continue to prevail. There is a need for consumers to understand what green really means - that building green can create social benefits and produce economic returns. At the present time, energy efficiencies emphasize new build outs - there is little attention being paid to our existing housing infrastructure and yet, the greatest environmental savings and gains can be expected to come from retrofitting the existing housing stock. Durham Eco-House will capitalize on this need by emphasizing the opportunities that exist for the average homeowner to 'make a difference.'
Durham Region and its respective communities are known in municipal circles for their vision in tackling environmental issues. Promoting energy conservation and environmental health, Durham Region is seen as an innovative leader committed to introducing new technologies and promoting environmental protection.

Council endorsed policies have focused on the importance of smart growth and the value of green places and green spaces. Conformity exercises are underway across Durham Region to bring local Official Plans into conformity with the Provincial Places to Grow legislation. With a long-standing history of environmental protection and a strong foundation of community support for ecological integrity, Durham Region is the perfect location for the Durham Eco-House project. It connects with the work that has been underway through local Environmental Advisory Committees and it reflects the community champions who have advocated for environmental stewardship and protection. At the same time, it draws the important connection between environmental protection, growth and change.

Durham Eco-House will be an inspirational leader and signature site that will sell the concept of environmental stewardship and responsibility to homeowners, the building industry and suppliers. As a demonstration site, Durham Eco-House will emphasize innovation, learning and leading edge environmentally friendly building technologies - all geared to the existing housing market. It will profile new and emerging technologies and in turn will empower landowners, homeowners and interested parties with information to reduce (and ultimately eliminate) their carbon footprint.

There are no initiatives that come close to reflecting the focus or scale of our efforts in Durham Region. Durham Eco-House is innovative, creative and different - nothing like this exists in Durham Region and while there are several examples of eco-facilities, the Durham Eco-House advances the ecological agenda by promoting 'whole site' sustainability'.
Making full use of our strategic location in the Region to both Durham College and The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), we plan to cultivate student-led idea-generation and innovation by having students involved throughout the entire process of design, retrofit and operation of Durham Eco-House. This will give students the opportunity to conduct research and develop innovative sustainable designs, some of which we hope to incorporate into the house. We have an intensely bright outlook on the future of the project and its capacity to draw students looking for practical experience in eco retrofits rooted in a real world application of course material.

Visitors to Durham Eco-House will have an opportunity to see first-hand the extensive environmental changes made to the home. Displays around the house will explain how a particular system works and lay out the costs and investment returns to an average consumer. Visitors to the house would leave with a cursory understanding of the options available to them and an example of their success; ready to make changes in their own homes.

Extensive documentation will follow the retrofit and continuous monitoring of the site will allow those with an interest in sustainable living to observe the tangible benefits and environmental spin-offs that have resulted. It is expected that the Durham Eco-House will act as a catalyst for community change at the grassroots level as citizens become aware of the possibilities of a reduced and potentially zero carbon footprint.

We are currently looking into LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the green building rating system. Certification under the new LEED EB (existing building) would create a unique opportunity for comparative evaluation of building performance and measured results. Such an evaluation would help Durham Eco-House determine how well it is doing in relationship to other facilities. The results of an evaluation program would become a useful education and marketing tool and will certainly be shared. Our Vice-President and director Michael McKenzie is a LEED AP (Accredited Professional) and is spearheading our certification process.

Subscribing to the adage "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle" all high quality discards including light fixtures, trim, appliances, doors, bathroom fixtures, kitchen fixtures, cabinets and other reusable building materials will be donated to the recently opened Habitat for Humanity "Restore" in the Town of Ajax. Once donated, these obsolete building supplies will be restored and sold to help build safe and affordable houses in our community. Low-quality discards will be sent to a recycling facility and we will brainstorm ways to meaningfully reuse the rest. We will research sources for recycled, local and sustainable-produced materials.

As evident from the scope and focus of the project, the benefits of the Durham Eco-House are expected to be far-reaching. With the expected innovation to be generated from the green economy over the next decade the sustainability of the project is clear.

We are just not showing how it can be done - we are showing what will be done.

It is now my pleasure to call on some very prominent members in our region to say a few words:

Mayor Pat Perkins, Town of Whitby

Mark Holland, MP, Ajax-Pickering

Joe Dickson, MPP, Ajax-Pickering

Mayor Steve Parish, Town of Ajax

Judy Robinson, Vice-President Academic, Durham College