Consumers have a role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the National Energy Board says

How much more are people willing to pay to support green values?

By Gordon Jaremko

April 01, 2009

Fossil fuel concerns catch up with comfort, style and living space as a prime motivation for home renovations. “The Triple E mindset assumes that any opportunity to renovate automatically includes improvements in energy use. This attitude, along with concern for indoor air quality and an added financial incentive, effectively leverages almost every home renovation project into an energy efficiency upgrade.”

In the NEB’s green Canada vision, personal transportation eventually goes through a complete overhaul. “Along with efficiency improvements” of switching to smaller vehicles built to toughened fuel use standards, “Canadian travel behavior changes significantly.”

Less time is spent tooling along in personal vehicles. There is more jostling for seats on buses and trains, walking and cycling. “Initially this change in behavior involves shifting a section of commuters out of single-occupancy vehicles and into using mass transit. Cities embrace the concept of smart growth, which supports higher densities and more options for personal mobility. This would alter the trend of increased urbanized area – urban sprawl – in Canada, which is contributing to growing personal vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT).”

To make a measurable dent in transportation fuel emissions, local governments in Triple E Canada build enough new mass transit to halt traffic growth and lop five per cent off overall vehicle kilometers traveled. One household out of every 10 tunes into the new green era and drops out of commuting to city work from suburban homes. The converts may still have cars but save them for recreational or luxury occasions: “10 per cent of households have a 50 per cent reduction in VKT due to increased density and mixed use, work-live neighborhoods.”

After a quarter-century of practicing Triple E environmental virtues, “heightened awareness of energy issues has led to significant changes in the way Canadians use energy.” This would be no small matter of modifying details of the national lifestyle, the NEB observes.

“These changes influence every part of life. People live in more densely populated communities. They use more efficient modes of transportation. Efficiency of goods and services is a key criterion shaping purchasing decisions.”

Only two years ago when it was first outlined, Bateman recalls, “Triple E was seen as an extreme view.” But minds are changing, the NEB member says after confessing to his desire to tame his own fossil fuel habit.

“You can’t ignore the fact. Canadians are putting priority on the environment and are taking some steps. Whether they’re going to completely transform their lifestyle – that’s a question for the future to unfold an answer.”

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