Torontonians can track carbon footprint

Toronto Mayor David Miller said the city will reach out to institutions such as Humber to participate in its new initiative to reduce the city’s carbon footprint.

Zerofootprint Toronto is an Internet portal launched locally last week to allow residents, businesses, neighbourhoods and community groups to measure, track and reduce their contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.

“The calculator is designed in a way that institutions can use it as well,” Miller told students and faculty during an appearance at North Campus last week. “It’s intended to build partnerships so the outreach is happening. I’m sure Humber will become a partner in the near future.”

The portal (toronto.zerofootprint.net) is a collaboration between the city and Zerofootprint, a Toronto-based, non-profit organization that provides services to consumers and businesses who wish to reduce their carbon footprint.

The online calculator asks questions about individuals’ travel, food consumption, and household energy use to measure their greenhouse gas emissions. The average Torontonian’s footprint is 8.6 tonnes.

“This tool, because it’s web-based, will allow people to come together in groups of common interest, which could be as simple as carpooling, or it could be – we have two or three groups in Toronto – local neighbourhoods where people got together to buy solar panels,” said Miller.

While Humber has yet to commit to using Zerofootprint as a tool to measure and reduce its carbon emissions, Humber president John Davies said the school has invested in reducing its energy usage.

“The power plant is mostly new over the past four years,” he said. “We’ve spent $6 million or $7 million into changing boilers and chillers.”

He added that the school has also installed light sensors in classrooms to reduce electricity consumption.

So far more than 50 organizations in Toronto have committed to using Zerofootprint, including York University and the Ontario College of Art and Design.

Ron Dembo, founder and CEO of Zerofootprint, said in a press release carbon emissions are at the core of the climate change problem.

“This site gives Torontonians a real, tangible method to tackle climate change,” he said. “We provide not only a free measurement tool - but more importantly, a course of action that they can take to reduce their own carbon footprint.”

Robert Hellier, program coordinator of the new sustainable energy and building design program, said carbon calculators are a useful tool.

“It does allow for awareness for people that have not though about it,” he said. “It makes a connection between someone’s lifestyle and the capacity of the planet to sustain life.”

Miller said the website will further the city’s goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 over 1990 levels.

“It collects data. It allows us to look at the data and make changes in big picture policies,” he said. “That’s where getting institutions like Humber on board will help.”

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