By Staff
July 29th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The City of Burlington is working to make the city and living in Burlington more environmentally sustainable and climate resilient through both policy and action.
Better Homes Burlington
After a successful pilot program in 2023, the Better Homes Burlington program is now available to help homeowners find and understand options, available incentives and help with the cost of doing home energy upgrades to improve energy efficiency.
Homeowners can connect with City staff who will assist in finding potential green energy rebates, incentives and grants from businesses and different levels of government. Homeowners can also apply for a limited number of interest-free loans from the City of Burlington for up to $10,000 for the purchase and installation of an air-source heat pump.
To connect with City staff or learn more about funding, visit burlington.ca/betterhomes or email betterhomes@burlington.ca.
Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Added
Four new electric vehicle charging stations are being installed in the city, making it more convenient for EV drivers to get around. They are expected to be complete and ready for use by the end of 2024.
This will bring the total number of publicly available charging stations to 38 and charging ports to 75.
Locations of new EV charging stations
- LOT 5b – 391 Brant St. Level 3 fast charger
- LOT 8 – 523 Locust St. (Locust Street and Caroline Street)
- Beachway Park, 1100 Lakeshore Rd., near BurlingtonGreen Eco Hub
- Brant Hills Community Centre, 2255 Brant St.
Electric vehicle charging in public parking lots is free although standard parking fees apply where applicable.
For a list of all electric vehicle charging stations, visit Burlington.ca/ev.
Corporate Energy and Emissions Management Plan
The City of Burlington has a target for City operations to be net carbon neutral by 2040 to show leadership in addressing its significant energy and environmental impacts. Council has approved the updated Corporate Energy and Emissions Management Plan to provide a pathway to achieve the 2040 target.
Mehdizadehjafari’s artwork, Soar installed in front of the new pavilion at City View Park.
City staff are assessing the feasibility of deep energy retrofits of City facilities. Four studies have been completed and another four are underway. City View Park Pavilion is the City’s first building designed to be a net-carbon neutral building with solar panels. Skyway Community Centre is under construction and will include the first low-carbon arena in the City. A low carbon pathway has also been adopted to transform the Robert Bateman High school into a new climate friendly community centre. And in June, the solar panels at Fire Station 5 in Kilbride were operational (offsetting slightly more than 100 per cent of the building’s electricity usage allowing for future electrification of the heating system).
For more information on the City’s climate action initiatives, visit Burlington.ca/climatechange.
Lynn Robichaud, Manager, Environmental Sustainability
Lynn Robichaud, Manager, Environmental Sustainability put it this way:”The Better Homes Burlington program, EV charging stations, and the Corporate Energy and Emissions Management Plan all support climate action in our community. We’re working to reduce our carbon footprint while preparing ourselves for the warmer, wetter, wilder effects of climate change.”
Links and Resources
www.burlington.ca/climatechange
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I believe climate change is real and EVs are in our future.
However, given the issues and real spending needs before us (not the nice to have Capital Projects such as Bateman rebuild, Civic Centre renewal, Skyway upgrade to NHL standards …… ) I would expect council to ensure whatever spending they are investing in Charging Station, $$ are recoverable over time as any sound business would expect.
It’s crazy they are supporting on one hand, more EVs on the road (where currently no road tax is collected) while postponing infrastructure needs
Lets get water resiliency right first. That is our climate change pain point. Recommended reading for council is Mallow’s Hierarchy of needs where he posited that the most basic needs must be met before people can move “up” to the more advanced needs. The basic needs being physiological (food and clothing), followed by safety. Being able to charge your $80,000 Tesla anyplace is a peak experience and is akin to self-actualization and at the top of the pyramid of needs.
Are the charging stations free?
Editor’s note: You wish.
You have to pay for parking, if applicable, the electricity is free. You can get about 30km of range per hour of charging and there is a 4-hour time limit. How this helps anyone is beyond me. If you drive 120km or less a day and live/work very close to a charging station they might help. Someone visiting Burlington and stopping to charge is going to use a high-speed charger where you can get 120km of range in about 5 minutes.
The electricity is paid for by The Atmospheric Fund, http://www.taf.ca, a provincial organization. Considering the very few people these chargers help and the high cost of installing them this is nothing but green virtue signalling by our Mayor and Council.
Having said all that, I swim at Tansley, plug my car in for free, and get 30km of range thanks to everyone else’s taxes. Life is good.