The little town of Saint Martine just south of Montreal (see map) is offering new home builders a one year property tax rebate if they can earn a Silver, Gold or Platinum level LEED designation for water use. There is no reason why other towns like Westmount or Hampstead couldn’t make the same offer for existing homes. It saves the municipality money in the long (sustainable) run.

Source: Le Devoir

La municipalité montérégienne de Sainte-Martine exemptera de taxes municipales pendant un an toute nouvelle construction qui respectera les exigences de certification LEED pour résidences, que ce soit au niveau argent, or ou platine. Elle devient ainsi la première municipalité au Canada à offrir une telle incitation fiscale.

Research Credit: Mary Soderstrom

God forbid if people want to use a sustainable, local fuel — you know wood — to heat their homes. In Hampstead’s view, it is better to ban wood than to ban driving a car which produces far more air pollution and air contaminants than wood. I wonder if there will be backlash against this when TSHTF economically.

Source: Montreal Gazette

Montreal Island’s top elected official responsible for air quality refused to say yesterday whether he plans to emulate tiny Hampstead’s plan to cut winter smog caused by wood smoke.

A new Hampstead bylaw that bans installation of wood stoves or wood-pellet-burning furnaces “is currently under study” by Montreal, said Alan DeSousa, executive committee member for sustainable development.

“We should be making our views known shortly,” he added.

Hampstead’s bylaw also orders that all stoves or furnaces fed by wood and already installed be permanently extinguished within seven years, by Nov. 3, 2015.

The ban covers wood stoves, furnaces fed by pellets, fireplace inserts or similar devices.

Unanimously approved two weeks ago, the bylaw provides two important exceptions:

• The use of indoor masonry fireplaces not equipped with inserts will remain perfectly legal.
• The ban explicitly does not apply to barbeques.

Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg said council acted to fight air pollution and discourage fireplace use generally – and without knowing how many residents use wood to heat.

In 2007, the Montreal public health department pegged the number of Montreal Island households with fireplaces or wood stoves at 85,241.