Who I'm voting for in 2015 Municipal Election and Why

Historically I always felt voting was a "private" matter.  But this year, I've become more engaged in the Whitehorse municipal election, primary through the Whitehorse Urban Cycling Coalition (wucc.ca).  So I thought I'd share my thoughts on this election.

What I'm looking for primary is candidates that will work towards a sustainable future for Whitehorse.  Something we can afford and creates a high quality of life.  What we do know is that the automobile is a killing us financially, socially and of course, environmentally.  The car is a dead-end.  Yes, I own and operate not just one, but several automobiles.  And yes, we will never be "car-free." But what we need to do is work really hard to build a community where we can minimize the usage automobiles so we can afford the future we want.

We see that when we have people-oriented development, it is a much lovely town, as opposed to car-centric development.  I've traveled and explored communities that are moving away from the car, and they are so much richer places to be.  Unfortunately, in Whitehorse we've inherited a town that has been built for the car.  We need to deal with that sad reality.

The WUCC put together eight questions for the candidates and to date we've gotten an amazing 15 complete written responses from the 25 mayor and councilor candidates running  (you can see the questions and answers on the WUCC website).  If you look at the question, there is a lot more going on there than just "give us more bike lanes".  In fact, what I find is that the candidates responses are are pretty good proxy for how well they share my vision for a sustainable community.

So, based on this, my councilor picks will be (as of today):

• Helen GEISLER - quite cycle supportive and what I thought were some smart measured answers to some questions.
• Betty IRWIN  - She did not benefit from participating in cycling as part of her generation, but seems open minded and supportive of sustainable transportation and has practical experience with council. 
• Roslyn WOODCOCK - downtowner and totally supportive of sustainable transportation.
• Jocelyn CURTEANU - good positive commitment to cycling, but probably needs more information about the importance of good, contiguous cycle infrastructure to open doors for more of the community.  

 Yes, just 4 I guess.  The point was well made that you don't need to vote for all six positions.  If you don't know them (or are only voting based on name recognition), then don't vote for them!  Really, you are stealing votes from yourself for the candidates you DO want in.



Now, who NOT to vote for.  Well, based on the WUCC feedback, there are a few candidates who, in my mind, are clearly "yikes, not friends of bikes:

• George ARCAND
• Dan BOYD

And the zeros (candidates who did not respond to WUCC's queries in any form) are:

• Mike TRAVILL
• Garth BROWN

Remember, voting is sexy!

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Sustainable Design Elements Signs from Open House - 704B Wood Street

Thanks to everyone who came out to our open house at 704B Wood Street last week.  And an even bigger thank you to the hard working team who made it possible.

A number of folks asked if they could have a copy of the sustainable design information signs around the building, so here there are for your perusal:

This heat pump Goes Up to Eleven

EnergyGuide label on the mini-split heat pump installed to heat our new Super GreenHome.  It goes up to eleven!  Note that the efficiency scale bar on the bottom of the tag only goes up to 10.2.

This is a Fujitsu Extra Low-Temperature Heating mini-split air-to-air heat pump.  The manufacture claims it operates down to -26^oC.  We've had it installed for only a month now, but we did have a -25^oC morning.  I went out to check and it was purring away making heat.

More pictures to come...

Come see the Yukon's Second LEED Registered Home

Come see our little SuperGreen laneway home - it's nearly finished!  This is arguably* the most energy efficent home in the Yukon, scoring an EnerGuide rating of 89!  The home is registred as a LEED Canada for Homes project and really is a model of sustainable housing in Whitehorse.

So come for a visit and tour - Friday April 3rd - drop by between noon and 7pm.  Note that this is a laneway house, so access it from the alley between Wood and Jarvis Street, between 7th and 8th.  



* Why do I say "arguably", well so there is one other home in Whitehorse recently rated at 89, but it is a big home and they used a big heat pump to score so well--the current EnerGuide rating system is not kind to small homes.  ALSO, Habitat for Humanity's triplex built out at Champagne & Aishikik First Nation's Takhini River subdivision scored a 90, but again they cheated by putting whopping 14kW photovoltaic array on the building.  It's building envelope isn't as energy efficient as ours, but the big renewable energy generation raises their overall EnerGuide rating.  Either way, these are all great, high performance homes and the debated about who's most efficient really is becoming a fun academic game. 

Heating people, not air

One of my favorite online publications is called "Low-Tech Magazine".  I few weeks ago I thought they'd written an article just for me--it was called: Restoring the Old Way of Warming:  Heating People, not Places

This article, along with the follow-up called How to Keep Warm in a Cool House, cause us to re-think how we currently heat houses.  The focus of these articles is challenging the current practice of heating air to keep people warm.  The authors look at alteratives in "spot heating" or heating the occupants directly. Any wood-burner knows the best place to be is sit around the wood stove in the living room.  More old-tech in action!

It was a particularly timely article because we just installed radiant electric heaters in the garage we are building.  The idea being to heat the occupants and objects instead of the air because when you open the garage door, out goes all the warm air.  They seem to work just fine, but will it translate into any significant energy savings? Tough to tell. 

Wall mounted electric radiant heaters in the garage.

The other interesting application the authors point out is that radiant heating (where you heat objects, not the air) is a good in existing, lower performance leaky houses.  By using radiant or conductive you can keep the house's air temperature lower, but the occupants can stay comfortable.  This will reduce energy losses through leakage of hot air from the house. There are some interesting ways of doing this both old-tech and new ideas (heated office chairs!)

Anyway, a good read if you interested in re-thinking how we stay warm and comfortable in your houses in a time of rising energy costs, especially existing older housing:

Part 1: Restoring the Old Way of Warming:  Heating People, not Places
Part 2: Radiant & Conductive Heating Systems
Part 3: How to Keep Warm in a Cool House