Courtesy of The Globe and Mail: thanks to a unique charter that permits Vancouver to enact its own building codes, the city has reduced its building-specific carbon footprint by over 20%. According to a 2009 report from the Vancouver Economic Development Commission, buildings account for roughly 30% of total emissions and energy consumption - so this is equivalent to an overall reduction of 6%.
But that's not the real win. From the report:
[In] November 2008, the international real estate think-tank, the Urban Land Institute, declared Vancouver to be the number one urban real estate market across North America, highlighting green as a key risk-mitigation strategy against tough economic tough times.
Vancouver's status as an early adopter of environmentally conscious building bylaws has created a local boom in green construction and architecture, thus opening up more high-value jobs while reducing the strain on public utilities. Other cities struggling with energy-guzzling buildings, aging grid infrastructure, and rising unemployment would do well to follow the example set by forward-thinking West Coast politicians.
One last thought: this is just one more in a long string of case studies that demonstrate the value of efficiency. Contrary to popular belief, less can be more; we saw this in an earlier feature on bike lanes in Toronto.