Climate change to have a new foe in city hall

Posted: Monday, March 2, 2015 8:48 pm Ron Seymour Kelowna Daily Courier
Fighting climate change is good for employment at Kelowna City Hall. A new position, that of energy saving co-ordinator, will be created in the municipal bureaucracy this year, council heard Monday. The new staffer will provide recommendations on the ways in which greenhouse gas emissions from civic operations can be further reduced as the city moves toward its government-mandated, long-term goal of carbon neutrality. “The energy specialist is going to be very important,” Coun. Ryan Donn said after council received its annual briefing from staff on current and planned activities by the city to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Those initiatives ranged from multi-million dollar transit improvements, including new bus routes and transit shelters, down to installation of high-efficiency lights at arenas and swimming pools. Other transportation measures included creating new cycling paths, building more sidewalks, and offering secure bike-storage lockers. “These all make it easier to get around Kelowna without a car,” said sustainability co-ordinator Tracy Guidi, who delivered the report to council. One particular energy-saving measure mentioned by Guidi includes deploying city sidewalk inspectors, who look for broken or cracked pavement that needs fixing, on bicycles. Standard practice has been for the staffers to be driven to an area, walk around for a while, then get picked up again and file their report. As they ride around on bikes, the inspectors can now use a GPS system to upload the precise location of sidewalks that need attention. “It’s instantaneous information,” Guidi said. Coun. Luke Stack said: “Very cool.” Mayor Colin Basran said the city had not only a legal, but a social responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions wherever possible in the hope of sparking similarly responsible behaviour from private businesses and individuals. “I’m quite proud of the work we’re doing,” Basran said. “If we’re going to talk the talk, we have to walk the walk.”

The city has to provide the province with an annual report on all its GHG-reducing strategies to qualify for a refund of the carbon taxes paid by the municipality. In 2015, the city expects to get back about $234,000 in refunded carbon taxes, some of which will go to pay the salary of the new energy saving co-ordinator. Between 2007 and 2013, GHG emissions from all city-owned sources dropped by three per cent, from 8,017 tonnes of carbon dioxide to 7,781 tonnes. But measured against all GHG emissions produced in Kelowna, the city’s efforts are negligible. Through all its buildings, vehicle fleet and other civic operations, such as the wastewater treatment plant, the City of Kelowna generates just one per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions produced within the municipality. Emissions from private vehicles account for about two-thirds of all greenhouse gas emissions in Kelowna, with most of the rest coming from private homes and buildings. And total GHG emissions from all sources in Kelowna actually rose 5.5 per cent between 2007 and 2010, climbing from 698,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide to 736,000 tonnes.