My best footnote ever: single handedly demolishing the Yukon's GDP!

Below is a screen shot from the little Yukon greenhouse gas emissions analysis report (Yukon Greenhouse Gas Emissions:  the Transportation Sector) Malcolm and I did last year for Climate Change Secretariat.  For those data and economics nerds, this little footnote is cool:  we just knocked  $156 million dollars out of the Yukon's 2011 economy.  BAM!  Take that economic impact Darrell.
 

Why Whitehorse Needs to Allow Bicycles on Sidewalks (with conditions)

With the proposed Bicycle Bylaw re-write, I have been an advocate for allowing riding bicycles on sidewalks.

What? The horror, right! Bike terrorists knocking over little old ladies! No, that is not what I mean, but I do mean a bit of a shift in our 1960’s vintage thinking that Whitehorse residents are trapped in. (I know, we are a bit off the beaten path and get left a bit behind the times).

In fact, the reason we need to allow bicycles to be ridden, with limits, on sidewalks is actually so little old ladies CAN take up cycling as a viable transportation option.

Here’s what I mean, but first, the conditions:  

1. Use of a sidewalk for cycling should only be in a controlled, slow speed manner.
2. the cyclists yield to pedestrians,
3. give audible warning when overtaking pedestrians (must equipped with bell)
4. no riding bikes on Main Street sidewalks (that just makes sense for a pedestrian dominated environment). 

Allowing bicycles on sidewalks is a matter of equity and community inclusiveness. There are two reasons why we need to change our thinking and allow bicycles on sidewalks:

1. Reduce Barriers to Cycling: It opens up opportunities for people to start riding bikes and recognize that cycling, even year-round, is a viable transportation option for them. A majority of Whitehorse residents would likely use cycling as a primarily means of transportation, but are intimidated or concerned about riding on motorways. Whitehorse’s roads are designed for automobiles, and are hostile, intimidating places for cyclists--this is a barrier to cycling. Only the enthused and confident cyclists ride on the road, especially year-round.  However, if Whitehorse’s citizens were allowed to use the sidewalk, when not comfortable or feeling safe on the roadway, then this would act as a “gateway” to cycling and open up cycling to them. Over time as they become more confident and recognize cycling as a viable transportation option.  Then they would likely become more comfortable riding on the roadway. Plus, the roadway is much quicker, so any “commuter” cyclist, moving quickly, will graduate to the roadway. Allowing cycling on sidewalks reduces barriers to cycling for Whitehorse‘s citizens. 
2. Personal Transportation Equity and Accessibility. Not all people in our community have the skills and capacity to operate a bicycle in an automobile environment. This maybe a child, a senior or someone with mobility or other physical impairments. Many of these members of our community may not even have the privilege of operating an automobile. For these folks, it becomes a matter of transportation equality in allowing them a personal transportation option. By permitting riding of bicycles on sidewalks, it allows these members of the community to travel independently in a safer, low speed environment. Again, it just open up transportation independence to a broader cross-section of our community.

And Whitehorse has yet another compelling reason to allow cycling on sidewalks: WINTER. Winter is a reality for us; but it is not a barrier. During the winter, SNOW sometimes accumulates on the shoulders of the road. This forces cyclist to either operate unsafely in the debris, or move further left into the travel lane – which both endangers the cyclist and enrages privileged motorists. Ideally, the City would have super-duper snow clearing and all of the snow would be removed from the entire travel-way shortly after falling. However, our economic reality is we can’t afford to have unlimited snow removal (and I thing that would not be fiscally responsible anyway). I do believe snow clearing of bike routes should be improved, but I also recognize the financial and physical realities of the City. This is why we should give cyclists the ability to use the sidewalk when they do not feel safe or comfortable using a snow/debris obstructed (or icy) roadway.


So, now we agree that kids, seniors, people with disabilities and newbies should be able to operate bicycles on sidewalks as a matter of equity, personal independence, and safety. We also all agree that when the roadway is unsafe during our never-ending winter, that cyclist should be able to use the sidewalk to travel safely (and nobody wants to run-over a cyclist). Oh, and cyclists do need to access the sidewalk at traffic-light controlled intersections to activate the light because there are no bike-triggered loops in the roadways. So, at this point we have a whole bunch of really, really good reasons for bicycle operation, with conditions, on sidewalk. So, why don’t we just take the plunge and do the right thing.

Now, this is not a radical notion. In fact, many, many cities allow use of bicycles on sidewalks. Reportedly this is quite common in European cities. The example I am well familiar with is Portland, Oregon. There, they allow bicycles on sidewalks outside of their urban downtown, and it works very well. In fact, operating bikes on sidewalks is permitted in under the State of Oregon’s Motor Vehicle Act. If we want to incorporate the legal language into our Bicycle Bylaw, here is what they have in Oregon:

Unsafe operation of bicycle on sidewalk; penalty.

(1) A person commits the offense of unsafe operation of a bicycle on a sidewalk if the person does any of the following:

(a) Operates the bicycle so as to suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and move into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard.
(b) Operates a bicycle upon a sidewalk and does not give an audible warning before overtaking and passing a pedestrian and does not yield the right of way to all pedestrians on the sidewalk.
(c) Operates a bicycle on a sidewalk in a careless manner that endangers or would be likely to endanger any person or property.
(d) Operates the bicycle at a speed greater than an ordinary walk when approaching or entering a crosswalk, approaching or crossing a driveway or crossing a curb cut or pedestrian ramp and a motor vehicle is approaching the crosswalk, driveway, curb cut or pedestrian ramp. This paragraph does not require reduced speeds for bicycles at places on sidewalks or other pedestrian ways other than places where the path for pedestrians or bicycle traffic approaches or crosses that for motor vehicle traffic.
(e) Operates an electric assisted bicycle on a sidewalk.

(2) Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, a bicyclist on a sidewalk or in a crosswalk has the same rights and duties as a pedestrian on a sidewalk or in a crosswalk.

That’s pretty easy eh? The key point is we need to change our head space. Recognize that bikes CAN be operated on sidewalks, but that they need to be done so in a manner compatible with pedestrians. This does work. Whitehorse residents are not too stupid to figure this out. We are smart enough, we just need to make the paradigm shift and move beyond of the “happy motoring” age.

Why Whitehorse Sucks Reason #8* - Sprawl

My brother recently moved to the far side of Riverdale.  I was biking over there the other night from my house downtown, and I was thinking "My god, this is a far.  Why did he have to move so far away?"

This got me thinking about the winters we lived down in Portland Oregon, and I didn't think it seemed that far to bike places.  So, I decided to do some checking.  Straight line distance from my place to the far side of Riverdale is 3.2 km.  Below is a 3.2 km radius circle from my house.  You an see how much of Whitehorse is encompassed.

By comparison, the second picture shows the same 3.2km radius circle centered on the house we rented in one of the nice old streetcar neighborhoods in Portland. I was shocked:  3.2 km took us full across the entire downtown core of Portland.  Not only does this circle encompass the downtown core, it includes many of the interesting trendy neighborhoods, several of the charming bungalow neighborhoods and even seven bridges over the river!  A majority of our tourism time in Portland was all contained in this 3.2 km circle. I can't believe how much of the community was in such a compact area - no wonder Portland is such a great bike town. And no wonder that Whitehorse sucks for biking--there are too many blank spaces and low-density sprawl. 

Now, I'm not complaining about the amount of awesome wild land in Whitehorse that I have direct access to in that 3.2km circle, but I definitely see we are wasting the space we are using.  I see we can have both.  If we made better use of the developed land (and the wastelands between), easily doubled up the density, then we would have a much more vibrant, interesting and livable community, and still have the real green space immediately accessible too.


* I haven't settled on the other nine reasons why Whitehorse sucks, but I'm sure I will eventually come up with them!  

Designing Homes for Passive Survivability

Superstorm Sandy me reminded me about the idea of "Passive Survivability" in building design.  And then I noticed an article in www.greenbuildingadvisor.com on building for resilience called "Gas Lines Point to Need for Resilience" - a good read, check it out.

Passive Survivability is the idea that in the case of disaster (power outage, short or long, earthquake, etc.) that your home is inhabitable, protecting and sheltering you in difficult times.

In designing homes for the Yukon, there are a number of very simple strategies that can and should be incorporated to generate "Passive Survivability" in your home:

1. Design and build the home that is likely to physically survive the disaster, such as flood, fire and/or earthquake:

• Flood is obvious - don't build on a floodplain or low down, next to water!  

• Fire, especially wildfire, is pretty well understood by Yukoners and I don't need to cover reducing and managing fire risk at your home as that is well addressed elsewhere.  However, do think about cement board siding (e.g. HardiePlank or equivalent).  Ever seen vinyl siding when it gets "warm" - scary! 

• 

  Homebuilders' Guide to Earthquake-Resistant Design and Construction

  Earthquake resistant design is recommended.  Earthquakes are a threat in southern Yukon, so we should include design and construction elements to our buildings to give them a better chance of surviving "a big one" when we get hit.  The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has an excellent document for home builders called Homebuilders' Guide to Earthquake-Resistant Design and Construction.  It is very practical and has lots of good things that are very easy and inexpensive to do in the design and construction of a home that is going to make it much more likely to survive an earthquake.  Whitehorse is probably in a Seismic Design Class (SDC) of C or D1, which means that earthquake resistance measure really should be incorporated.  We did this in the SuperGreen duplex build in Takhini North, and it was very easy to do - just need to pay attention to the details.

Example of superinsulated wall.  Note wall thickness shown by double-doors

 2. Superinsulated building - so when the power goes out, the building stays warm. Seems obvious--put lots of blankets on your home so you stay warm for a long time.

By superinsulated, we mean EnerGuide 85 - so using half the heating requirements of a conventional new home in Whitehorse.  R60 walls, R100 ceiling, best windows you can get, and a very air-tight building envelope, etc.  We've covered the super insulation thing enough here on this blog, so no need to say more.

3. Wood heat - consider including a wood stove in your home.  Again, when the power goes out, a wood stove is the only off-the-shelf heating system that will easily work without power.

Also, think about using a propane cook stove & oven.  You can light them and cook even when the power is out. 

WARNING - use of a propane cookstove indoors without adequate ventilation presents a health hazard.  So when the power goes out, make sure you provide adequate ventilation by opening windows because you mechanical ventilation (rangehood and HRV) won't be working!

At minimum, have a barbeque and an extra tank of propane.  

Extra-large hot water tank can provide water in emergencies

4. Oversized hotwater tank - If the power and water goes out, you have lots of water stored in that tank.  Make sure the drain is accessible of course.  Another good reason that on-demand hot water heaters don't make sense in the Yukon.  Don't worry about the standby losses from the hot water tank.  You need the heat in the home at least three-quarters of the year, and with a superinsulated envelope, you are not wasting any energy.

In the photo to the right, there is one thing missing though - seismic tie-downs on the tank!  You don't want to loose your precious water in the case of a large earthquake by your tank tipping over.

Windows at each stairway landing for light

5. Windows in all rooms to provide natural light, especially windows in stairways.  If you have windows to provide even some natural light to all rooms in the house, then when the power goes out, you will still be able to move around.  Locating your stairs so you can have windows is an important design consideration so you can get out of the house in the dark.

Infloor heating tubes layed out ready for basement concrete slab

6. Think about installing in-floor heating in the basement floor concrete slab for thermal storage.  If you are pouring an insulated, concrete slab for the basement add in-floor heating tubes to use the basement to not only provide comfortable heating to the basement, but also "thermal storage" in the case of power/heat outage.  The bulk of the cost for this is the concrete floor, which you are pouring anyway, so adding the tubing is a small incremental cost for a "heat-insurance" plan.

With a super-insulated home, a heated up slab can keep the house warm for days even during the coldest weather as the slab radiates the heat stored up in the slab.  We figured this out first hand accidentally.  I inadvertently turned off our heating system one winter (it was -35C at the time) and it was for a couple of days until we realized the heat was off! 

 

Updated Home Heating Energy Graphs

With winter and heating season on us, the good folks over at Yukon Housing Corp have updated the their home heating energy cost graphs. Check them out at:

http://www.housing.yk.ca/energycosts.html

People are always asking "what is the cheapest way to heat my home" - these graphs give the up-to-date answer. It is important to watch these trends, because things are always changing. What we "knew" about home heating 5 years ago no longer holds true - so keep you eye on our energy cost trends! These graphs show the all-in cost of energy, including the efficiency of the appliance that give you the actual heat delivered, allowing you to compare apples-to-apples. Probably the most useful two graphs for Whitehorse homeowners is graph #1 - Home Heating Costs vs. Heating Appliance Efficiency. The other one to check out is graph #13 - Whitehorse Historical Residential Heating Costs at 80% Fuel Use Efficiency . This latter one is important because it show energy cost trends we've actually experienced over the last 10 years.

What are some key observations?

· Pellet prices have been steadily rising. If you have a low efficiency pellet stove, it could actually be more expensive than electricity.

· Oil and propane remain the highest cost option, especially if you have a low- efficiency furnace- even with the increase in electrical rates.

· Propane costs have dropped a lot lately and now are similar in energy cost to both oil and 2nd block electricity (Propane used to be the most expensive option).

· Overall, oil fuel prices have tripled since 2000 and continue to show high price volatility.

· We've moved to the 3-tier electrical pricing and electricity costs have jumped slightly, although still remain the lowest cost energy, especially first block energy. Remember you get the first 1,000 kWh at the low rate, then everything above that is higher. I think most people if using electric heat will definitely go into the second block, but won't be using a lot at the top rate.

· Another interesting thing is to look at the energy costs, particularly electricity and propane, that other customer classes pay (government for example) are vastly different that what we pay as home owners. Look at propane - the government is only paying $0.38 / L where homeowners are paying $0.84 / L - wow, that's a big difference!