December 07, 2011 To: Hon. Kathleen Wynne The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing CC: Hon.

Bob Chiarelli; Phil McNeely P.Eng., MPP; Jack MacLaren P.Eng., MPP; Fraser Smith P.Eng.; Dave Adams P.Eng.

Dear Minister Wynne: The Ottawa Chapter of the Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), held a hugely successful four-hour workshop, Our Environment, Our Future: Climate Change - Wise Use of Resources, on November 15, 2011. There were 125 attendees, participating with four outstanding experts in their respective fields. (For more info on the event: http://www.ottawa.peo.on.ca/Public/pmwiki.php/Main/PastEvents ) The workshops panel discussion resulted in three major recommendations that the Chapter would like to make to the Government of Ontario to enhance the building code, which would be of mutual benefit to residents, tenants, builder/developers, and landlords. The three recommendations are: 1) Solar Orient-Residential/Commercial Building Roof Design to maximize sun exposure. Homes and buildings should be built so that the roof design and building orientation maximizes sun exposure, and optimize energy efficiency. This will give Ontario residents and landlords the best long term option to minimize the need for energy from non-renewable sources. The builders would be motivated to design to minimize the need for external energy sources; otherwise there would be a lower building Energy Star rating and the possibility of putting an environmental levy (or incentive for higher Star) on the building. 2) Provide Natural Gas Cooking Option for Kitchen Stoves. For all new houses being built, where natural gas is used for heating, the builder should be required to provide a gas connection point for the kitchen stove. By having the option of using the abundantly available natural gas, residents would reduce the use of electricity during peak hours in the morning/evening and reduce pollution. This will also minimize the need for coal and nuclear generated electricity used by electric stoves. In addition, a survivability safety future during electric outage. 3) Remove the HST on Gas Stoves: In order to promote cooking with natural gas in Ontario, it is recommended the government eliminate HST on new natural gas stoves. This will lower the cost of the stoves for Ontario residents, landlords, and builders/developers. Same advantages as provided in (2). Based on the input from our members and general public, the PEO-Ottawa Chapter has been very vocal on Sustainability and Wise Use of Resources. This is our second workshop on sustainability. As part of their feedback, the workshop attendees recommended that in the future, an appropriate Minister from the Ontario Government should take part in the Workshop Panel Discussion in order to share the Governments perspective and also have the opportunity to take valuable feedback, which will enhance the governments environmental program. The PEO-Ottawa Chapter did extend an invitation to the Minister of Energy and the Minister of the Environment to participate in this workshop, but the minister declined the invitation due to scheduling conflicts. I look forward to discussing this in more detail with you. Warm regards......................Sucha Sucha S. Mann P.Eng., PMP Chair Sustainability & Green Energy PEO - Ottawa Chapter 613-591-3002 www.ottawa.peo.on.ca