There is so much going on this summer - and we are not just talking about record temperatures and summer transit detours. At the Pocket Change project, we have a new survey for Pocket residents (and a chance to win some great prizes), a few events this week to tell you about including a heat pump webinar tonight, TWO exciting sources for heat pump testimonials, a great EV resource, and more. Check it all out...
In this issue:
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Announcing: The Great Pocket Change Survey for Pocket Residents - tell us about yourself, your home, and your ride!
- Upcoming events: Heat Pump Webinar (July 11) & Portlands Gas Plant Expansion Town Hall (July 12, online or in person)
- Heat Pump Testimonials from Real Homeowners
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NEW on our website: Our Retrofit Coach Shares his own Retrofit Story
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Do You Know About Plug N Drive? Toronto's Electric Vehicle Discovery Centre
Announcing the Great Pocket Change Survey! YOU can green your home (and ride) and at the same time take action to help our climate. By filling out this 2-minute survey, you'll help us to offer you customized, practical information in the future to do just that.
You must live in The Pocket to submit. One submission per person. Plus, your entry gives you a chance to win one of SIX great prizes
- FOUR $25 gift cards from IQ Living
- ONE $50 gift card from The Big Carrot
- ONE $50 grocery gift card from Empire/Scotiabank (can be used at Sobeys, Foodland, FreshCo and others).
Sounds great, right?!
Thank you to our survey sponsors:
Upcoming Events
The Ontario Clean Air Alliance is offering a FREE online heat pump webinar tonight at 7 pm focused on using heat pumps for cooling as well as heating. It will look at various options for keeping your home comfortable with heat pumps with a group of experts on hand to answer questions.
Former Toronto City Councilor Mike Layton will also be part of the event, and talk about his family’s green home retrofit, including heat pump installation.
The Ontario Government and Ontario Power Generation plan to increase the generating capacity of the Portlands gas plant in South Riverdale, which would ramp up the burning of polluting gas in Toronto.
While much of the world phases out fossil fuels, what can the residents of Toronto do to stop this and protect our climate? Find out Wednesday, 7 pm, at this free in-person event from the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, or stream it online. Featuring:
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Peter Tabuns, MPP
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Mike Schreiner, MPP and Green Party of Ontario Leader
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Mary-Margaret McMahon, MPP
Co-hosted by Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA), ClimateFast, The Pocket Change Project, For Our Kids Toronto, Toronto350, Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign, Toronto East End Climate Collective, and Environmental Defence.
When it comes to heat pumps, our friends at the OCAA have you covered. Check out the new Testimonials page on their website, where actual people who have heat pumps have submitted testimonials about their experience for others' benefit. You'll find the type, make & model, cost, and dealer for each heat pump a homeowner had installed; their comments about their experience; and more. Several different types of heat pumps are covered including heat pump water heaters.
Our friends at the Harbord Village Residents Association have also published a list of homeowners who have installed ducted, hybrid, and hydronic heat pumps, and some details about there experience. See the list here.
Finally, the OCAA site offers a handy calculator to estimate your possible savings from a heat pump and a lot of other great information about them.
The Pocket Change Project's Paul Dowsett made the ultimate green move with his own home recently - he got completely off fossil gas for his space and water heating needs by replacing his gas boiler with an air source heat pump and adding air conditioning (via another heat pump) to his second floor. Oh, and did we mention he had three kinds of radiators - and kept them?
GTA residents:
did you know there's a place where you can go to test drive many of the latest models of electric vehicles from different manufacturers? It's called Plug 'N Drive, and it's located in Concord. You can
book a test drive appointment online, and at the Plug 'N Drive centre have all of your questions answered by friendly, knowledgeable staff. You can even rent an EV from Plug 'N Drive if you want to test one out for a longer period, and they can help you navigate rebates and ordering home charging systems too.
Their website is full of helpful tools and info.
Plug 'N Drive is a non-profit organization committed to accelerating the adoption of EVs, which provides a trusted and unbiased source of information about electric cars and charging.
Thanks for reading, and best (and green) wishes to all,
Your friends at the Pocket Change Project
www.PocketChangeProject.ca
Harnessing the power of community to become one of Canada's greenest neighbourhoods.
Would you like to support what we do?
The Pocket Change Project is a committee of the Pocket Community Association. We are able to do what we do thanks to financial support from the PCA, which itself is funded through membership fees from supportive, community-minded people - like you! If you'd like to support our work, we encourage you to become a PCA member today (or a "Friend of the Pocket member" if you don't live in the Pocket). Memberships are just $10 per year. You can purchase your individual/family or Friend of the Pocket membership on the PCA website. Thank you!