News

Leadership is needed to follow the data and deliver widely available climate solutions

11/2024 - Bryan Purcell, VP Policy and Programs, provides his insights on the 2023 Carbon Emissions Inventory for the GTHA.

Carbon emissions in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area increased again despite steep reduction targets

11/2024 - Carbon emissions in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) rose by a million tonnes in 2023, a 2% increase over the previous year, The Atmospheric Fund (TAF) reported today.

Demand for prefabricated overcladding is here, supply is catching up

11/2024 - How can we make building retrofits faster, easier, and less expensive? Keith Burrows, Director, Low-Carbon Buildings, takes us on a journey of insulation that goes on the outside of an existing building.

Net-zero energy, buildings, and infrastructure can drive Toronto’s economic development

10/2024 - With the Toronto's infrastructure, built environment, and electricity grid decades behind modernization, the time is right for the City of Toronto put net-zero at the core of its new economic plan.

Retrofit Services Manager, Kaitlin Carroll discusses an upcoming heat pump installation with Toronto Community Housing residents. Photo by Nhan Ng Productions

Extreme heat bylaws: Perspectives from our retrofit services manager

10/2024 - Our latest retrofit diary from Kaitlin Carroll, Retrofit Services Manager, offers practical considerations and explores how thoughtful planning can ensure extreme heat bylaws benefit both building owners and tenants.

Most ambitious retrofit yet: seniors apartment to meet passive house standards

9/2024 - This edition includes our team’s first geothermal heat pump project (with overcladding to boot!), our perspective on investing in demand-side management, energy policy reversal on gas plants, advancing building performance standards, and a new job opening at TAF.

New electric vehicle study can help EV owners save some money

9/2024 - CITYNEWS - Director of Clean Energy, Aakash Harpalani, explains the grid impacts of EV charging and how EV drivers can get involved in impact study.

Port Lands gas plant emissions seven times too high for new development at mouth of Don River

9/2024 - TORONTO STAR - Bryan Purcell, VP of Policy and Programs, comments on a new report that reveals Port Lands gas plant emissions are too high for new development on Toronto's eastern waterfront: “This shows that the vision for the future of Toronto’s waterfront is fundamentally at odds with the long-term operation of the Port Lands gas plant."

A construction site with a worker in the foreground and machinery in the background.

Retrofit of affordable seniors’ apartments aims for deep decarbonization

9/2024 - TAF and TCHC's most ambitious building retrofit yet, featuring geothermal heat pumps and overcladding, and targetting an 80% reduction in carbon emissions, is underway at a low-rise seniors’ apartment building in Toronto’s Birchmount Park neighbourhood.

How demand-side management investments deliver a reliable, low-carbon grid

9/2024 - With the right public and private investments, demand-side management is one of the best tools we have to minimize the need for gas plants and grid expansion, keep electricity costs down, and build on Ontario’s past record as a leading low-carbon power producer.

Keeping It Cool

9/2024 - NRU - VP of Programs and Policy, Bryan Purcell, discusses TAF's latest policy brief on extreme heat bylaws and emphasizes the importance of a phased-in approach that considers the implications for vulnerable populations, building owners, and municipal climate targets.

Large-scale smart EV charging pilot launched in Toronto-Hamilton area

9/2024 - ELECTRIC AUTONOMY - Aakash Harpalani, Director of Clean Energy, discusses TAF's smart grid pilot assessing the impact of 2,000 EV charging participants in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.