Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 1413

“We can’t address climate change without thinking about buildings.” -Bryn Davidson, Lanefab (Vancouver)

This is a line from a recent TEDx talk by Bryn Davidson, who is one of the founders of Lanefab out of Vancouver . Lanefab is a design and construction firm specializing in sustainable infill / laneway homes. Unlike Toronto , laneway houses are actually allowed in Vancouver.

If you have any interest in climate change, I would encourage you to watch his talk. It’s less than 20 minutes long and he addresses many of the misconceptions that I think people hold about what it means to build “green”. Click here if you can’t see it below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEUShQ7r_tE]

While I think it’s great that the green agenda is much more front and center these days, I agree with Bryn in that we’re not yet on a sustainable path forward. For many people, being green means buying a LEED certified home, having a Tesla in the garage, and having a Nest thermostat on your wall. And certainly those things help.

But they’re not the whole story. Instead of just focusing on green and LEED buildings, Byrn argues that we need to take it a step further and start focusing on “Net Positive” buildings. In other words, ask yourself this: Will there be fewer green house gas emissions on the planet after your project is built?

More specifically, he outlines 3 criteria:

1. How good is your building?

2. Where is it located?

3. What does it replace?

The idea behind this framework is that the building itself (i.e. How good is your building?) is only one piece of the story. What also matters is its location and what it happens to be replacing. Is the building in a walkable area? Is it on a greenfield or infill site? Is it replacing an old energy inefficient building? Is it intensifying land use patterns?

All of these things matter when it comes to assessing our greenhouse gas emissions.

Let’s now apply this framework to three different building typologies: mid and high rise condominiums, and laneway houses. In the context of a Net Positive building, they all do quite well. In Toronto, we could certainly do a lot to improve the way many of our condo buildings are built, but they are usually in the right kinds of areas and they are the right kind of building typology.

Similarly, laneway houses as a whole are an incredibly sustainable building typology. In fact, I would argue that an energy efficient laneway house is easily one of the most sustainable homes you could build. They’re compact. They’re located on under-utilized and previously developed land. They often replace parking. And they increase population densities in established residential areas, which then makes transit more feasible.

But again, here in Toronto we’re not allowed to build them.

So whether you like it or not, if you’re involved in shaping the built environment, you’re also involved in climate change. This is a job for architects and developers, but also policy makers and communities. Laneway housing is a perfect example of that. Lots of people would build them — if only they could.

Image: Lanefab

I was rushing to get to a real estate forum dinner last night and so instead of walking — which is normally what I would have done — I decided to grab an UberX. As some of you might be aware, I like UberX . It’s convenient to use. And the fares are cheaper than regular taxis. So why wouldn’t I use it?

But last night I got an extra treat. A guy named Mike picked me up in his Tesla Model S :

I snagged the @TeslaMotors Easter egg on @Uber_TOR :) #uberx pic.twitter.com/JFrN47hdB4

— Brandon G. Donnelly (@donnelly_b)

December 3, 2014

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According to Mike there are two of these “ Easter eggs “ in the UberX Toronto fleet, which I was also told is now up to hundreds of cars. So it’s not everyday that you’ll get picked up in a Tesla.

If you’ve never been in a Tesla, the first thing you’ll likely notice is the absolutely epic screen that sits in the dash. Most people’s laptops don’t have a screen this big. It’s gorgeous.

But there are a bunch of small details that also standout. For example, the door handles sit flush with the door until they’re needed. Here’s a video of how they work:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxavZ2QxuLY]

But the real question that is probably on your mind is: Why is some guy with a Tesla driving around Toronto offering rides via UberX? That was certainly one of the first questions I asked him after I got in the car.

And the answer is that he does it for fun.

He actually owns a medical clinic in Markham, but comes downtown on the evenings and weekends to drive around and meet new people. In fact, he called it the “best networking tool on the planet.” Because as soon as he picks people up in his Tesla, they immediately take him seriously and want to have a conversation. That has translated into business relationships and even invites to parties. As in, he drives a group to a party and they ask him to come in — which he said he often does.

If he really took it seriously and did it full-time, he figures he could make around $40,000 - 50,000 a year driving for UberX. And I believe that’s close to what a regular taxi driver would make . But again, that’s not why he’s doing it. Isn’t it interesting how things change?

Two weeks ago I gave a brief presentation at The Laneway Project’s inaugural summit here in Toronto. I then wrote about it here on ATC .

At the time, I wasn’t sure if the event was being filmed or not, but it turns out it was. So here is my presentation from the event. It’s just over 7 minutes.  Click here if you can’t see it below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdMNC1BtUz8]

If you’d like to see the other 5 presentations and the Q&A session, click here . 

Following the event, I was also interviewed by a radio show out of Calgary called Space + Place. If you are really into laneways and would like to listen to that as well, go here .

I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: I continue to be amazed by how much interest there is — both here in Toronto and elsewhere — in laneways. They may be overlooked today, but that’s going to change. It’s inevitable.