Canada is now home to 1,000 LEED-certified projects contributing to water savings of over 3.3 billion litres–the equivalent of 1,336 Olympic sized swimming pools, says the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC). The organization announced yesterday that certifications now total 145 Certified, 316 Silver, 447 Gold and 92 Platinum projects across the country in six different ratings systems. The certified buildings range from single family homes to condo and office towers; from schools and arenas to retail outlets and industrial complexes.
Canada has the second largest number of certified buildings in the world, after the United States. Since certifying its first project in 2005, the CaGBC has been collecting data to evaluate the impact that LEED Canada has made on Canadian energy and water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and waste diversion. These are the results:
- Energy savings of 1,600,321 eMWh which is enough to power 54,307 homes in Canada for a full year.
- A 312,006 C02e tonne reduction in greenhouse gas emissions which equates to taking 58,980 cars off the roads for a year.
- Water savings totalling over 3.3 billion litres, the equivalent of 1,336 Olympic sized swimming pools.
- Recycling over two million tonnes of construction/demolition waste which represents 639,642 garbage truck loads.
- Installing 100,239 square metres of green roofs, or an area the size of 66 NHL hockey rinks, to reduce the urban heat island effect and mitigate stormwater flows in urban areas.
Credit: usgbc.org
