Bill 15

In the first half of our lecture last week, we where told about a bill that would significantly affect the way we as future architects will design. Bill 15 will make certain green requirements of every building that goes up as to address the climate change. All new building and heavily renovation/expansion building projects will be subjected to this bill (web2.gov.mb.ca). There is however a loop hole that could be exploited. If the minister is satisfied with unique or special circumstances that prevent the structure from being able to follow the bill (web2.gov.mb.ca). In other words, if you create a masterful piece that will serve the public in a great way, then you might be able to get away with your original design.

 Regulations on these buildings will be affected by the building’s size, location, ownership, type and/or use (web2.gov.mb.ca). This will require us to think harder as to create a well thought out building in the middle of town.  Essentialy, you may have to do more revisions on a small project in a popular area then a larger project in a lesser area.

There is one last thing that should be noted: this bill only affects government buildings and buidings funded by the government. There was nothing about privately run architecture firms. This however should not be an excuse to design eco-unfrendly buildingsor as this may be a projection of future bills that will restrict us to such a code as this one. We should always continue to look for better ways to impliment green technology into the structures we will create.

All information on Bill 15 was found from: http://web2.gov.mb.ca/bills/sess/b015e.php

Spread of Sustainability Trend

When we visited EQ3 the topic of sustainability was touched upon, and one of the speakers mentioned that he had noticed an immense shift towards green development over the last few years. This got me thinking about how wide spread the issue of sustainability has become, and why it is gaining strength in the design field.

That evening I watched the Canadian political debates on television and took notice of how attentively they were addressing concerns about environmental issues.

There were many plans and ideas concerning sustainability introduced during the debate:

-       The Green Party has always been extremely environmentally oriented. The leader, Elizabeth May, explained during the debate, “the climate crisis represents the single biggest economic opportunity in the history of humanity. To seize the new technologies makes sense. To start building them here instead of importing them from countries that are ahead of us. To start recognizing that its simply bad economics to assume that dumping pollution into the atmosphere is free, but stopping that pollution from happening has to cost. It’s the other way around. So when we shift, and tax those things that we don’t want, like pollution, and don’t tax the things we do want, like income and jobs, we can move in the direction of Sweden, which has actually seen its economy grow while reducing its green house gases, or Germany, who has created four hundred thousand new jobs in renewable energy “.

The Green Party also wants to cut green house gas emissions to 1990 levels.

-       The Liberals are promoting the “green shift”.  They are looking to introduce taxes on pollution; a similar idea to what places such as London have implemented.

-       Harper commented that he would work hard to protect Canadian conservation areas. He has already worked with the Nature Conservatory of Canada in order to sustain large areas of land.

Seeing these environmental concerns reach the political debates with such strength shows how sustainability has gained a hold of society. The politicians are discussing these issues because society has become more conscious of the reality of our environmental situation. The Green Party has not had this strong of a voice, and this captivated of an audience, in a long time. It makes sense that companies such as EQ3 will be working towards incorporating environmental ideas into their designs more and more, because it is a trend that is only gaining strength. As society as a whole becomes more environmentally aware, the demand for designs that incorporate sustainable elements increases in demand.

you can watch the debate at www.ctv.ca

-M.H.