what are we defining here?

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/article/663121

To have a tree canopy means defining space. There is no definition of space here, nothing gentle about the intentions of the trees in this photo. Only used to block the building view and are called ‘nature band-aids’ by Kunstler.

No canopy to protect you from the sun, only shrubs. Distraction for the win. Is there a commuter line connecting you to the front door? No stores for km in any direction. You better like walking a lot. Doesn’t matter, you’ll drive so often you’ll only peer at this park through the window.

Too many people occupying the same space, needing a car to live, mandates 100% energy dependency. Ironic as location has impressive passive solar potential. Add stores along the street level, demolition to shorten the building, and a redone park to make it a marketplace. Y’know, an OPEN place were people want to go, not trundle through or drive around. Something called a destination. Possible, but serious work during Peak Oil.

PostCarbon Rating: D

This morning drivers are upset at $1.03 a litre for gas in Toronto!  Um… this
isn’t bad.  If market forces with higher prices are supposed to help investment in alternative transportation and alternatives to cars on gas then we need higher prices so that we make those transitions.  Ask not for a lower price, ask for alternatives!

With enough people interested in saving money then there is a market for those alternatives even at twice the price.  But unfortunately market forces are not helping with human nature.  People want cheap gas all the time but as we enter the years of Peak Oil we will find precious little of it.   Even worse, our
dawdling now prevents the investments needed to create the alternatives we will need as prices really do rise.  We need time to plan ahead.

What happens when the price is $2 or $5 a litre?  Will people say to themselves that they should seek alternatives or will they just complain?  Sadly I think the latter.  Go Nissan and their all-electric car, go Electrovaya of Brampton making a Prius-equivalent battery into a shoebox.  We have the technology now.  We have the industry now.  What we don’t have is the appreciation of market signals.

Anything and anyone that continues to cloud those signals of change just means we will suffer moreso as gas prices really do rise.  You’re not going to boycott gasoline are you?  Not unless you’re willing to go 100% electric.  Wake up people.  Seek those alternatives.

What alternatives?  Really right now it’s only the compact car hybrid vehicle, Insight or Prius or others.  It’s not the SUV Hybrid which is not a solution.  The less weight the better for the battery to drive the car at low speeds.  This removes the stop-and-go inefficiencies of gas systems and the best bang for your ever increasing costs.

2010 plus will be the real alternatives though.  Nissan will be out with a 100% electric car.  Between 2010 and 2012 Ford/Magna will have it’s own electric car along with cars from China and India using Electrovaya components.  Europe has higher prices, so should be further along the customer demand curve for change as well.

How much of all that we will get here in Toronto it’s hard to say.  But if you want alternatives you’re going to have to shout for them!

Ask yourself at what price can you no longer drive?  If your price point is $3/litre then this is the time now to plan ahead to seek and make comfortable alternatives, not later when everybody is your competition.  Better yet, tell this to your car dealer.  Tell them at such-and-such price point you can no longer drive an all gas powered car and will be seeking alternatives at that point.

Ask for them now and stop complaining.  The industry is waiting for you.  But first you have to burst the price bubble and accept market forces.  It is then your responsibility to ask for alternatives, not cheap gas.

oh faceless joy

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/article/641463

Eight floors is way too much for the energy density available, as five or lower would have saved massive needy energy inputs.  The facade is unwelcoming and there is no definition of stores on the ground.

I see far off to the left some red brick stone front with more character, five floors and a defined ground floor.  The glass condo part will need to be demolished, the rest of the block can be left alone with added rooftop garden with passive solar and geothermal to cover baseload.

This building is saved by having lots of access to sun and land but you can forget the looks. Possible that without the glass tophat the centre will be further demolished for nicer three-story row houses instead.

Post Carbon Rating: D

garage or jail?  housing without the stores = drab

housinghttp://www.yourhome.ca/homes/article/637253

3 stories perfect, but what of this building shows any character or humanity? Why are we celebrating this? They needed the colour windows to make it not look like a rundown garage or jail cell.

The facade for any dweller will get old pretty quickly with them guessing where they live everyday suffering from zero definition of space.   They’ll want to humanize it, but not with the amply provided concrete.  Seriously, how can it look any worse?  Some garden pots would help and a roof garden probably your only options.

How hard is it to put stores on the main floor, & two floors of housing above it?  The opportunity to create a real enjoyable street completely lost.

On the plus side, the 8 unit row has the smallest energy footprint of condos I’ve seen so far, & would directly benefit with geothermal heating & passive solar for a net-zero energy building. Some beautifying renovation only or at least a storefront mainfloor conversion is possible in version two.

Post Carbon Rating A

a part of the community

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/article/633971

A model building: Suitable to site and not overwhelming

Can take full advantage of sunlight southern exposure for passive solar, and its integration into the slope gives maximum geothermal potential. Building already capable of generating more energy than it uses to send it back to the grid (net-metering) as a zero emisson dwelling. Thus residents benefit with progressively lower condo fees.

However a self-contained heated/cooled building might still require fewer residents, with the top floor for vegetable gardening, and that’s already doable here. Over 5 floors a no-no but given the site characteristics it might work out okay.

Pretty close to ideal and otherwise ready to maximize its energy potential right now. A top example and candidate.

Post Carbon Rating: B

The little white fence ain’t gonna make me feel any better

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/article/626549

Missing materials like cheerful brick would have improved the depression-like trance needed to enter this thing every day.

Certainly a building with character, not mindless faceless glass that’s normally built. But what character? No ground floor entry but a ramp to render the front a joke surrounded by nature bandaids.

The colours imply it’s already covered in car soot. Are we casting for a Batman set? Corner red brick and trim with window gardens instead of slate would have improved the look immeasurably, y’know, cheerfully.

While short, still about twice as high as they can be sustained. The energy density unit value of the surrounding and land underneath plus (any?) available sunlight allows for 3-4 stories, thus probably on the lesser due to surrounding buildings of shadow. At 8-9 stories then dependency on external city/prov energy sources is assurred with endless growing condo fees (good luck owners).

However, at least half usable not 1/3 or worse like other buildings, and it’s not so huge as to not benefit from renovation and a quick and painless minor demolition. Post Carbon Rating: D

Here’s a presentation on urban agriculture on until April 30th through association with Ryerson University. Don’t miss it!

Since this follows the flat roof development recommendations that have been popping up lately, I’ll definitely be checking this out.

Read More –> Guelph Mercury: Urban Farming. Toronto exhibit highlights many ways city dwellers can grow their own food

URBAN FARMING EXHIBITION

Carrot City: Designing for Urban Agriculture

On now through April 30 at the Chalmers Design Centre and Teknion Lounge (Design Exchange), 234 Bay St., (Bay and Wellington area) Toronto, call 1-416-363-6121 or visit http://www.dx.org/

On The Net:

Carrot City: www.ryerson.ca/carrotcity or City Farmer: www.cityfarmer.info