Toronto artist and architect Paul Raff, principal of Paul Raff Studio, specializes in environmentally friendly residential architecture. His homes and other projects have attracted international attention and include the Biosphere Sustainability Centre in the Thousand Islands region and the multiple award-winning Cascade House in Toronto. Deirdre Kelly spoke with him recently about the greening of Toronto real estate.

Is “green” building a trend that has run its course?

No. Interest in green building has grown rapidly in recent years, and I think this trend is not going away any time soon, and it will have a huge impact on all types of real estate. Already we see condo developments marketed for their green features, institutions like schools and universities building environmentally accredited buildings. Even retailers like Wal-Mart are working to roll-out credible sustainable building strategies.

Why is it so important?

Believe it or not, about 40 per cent of Canada’s energy consumption is attributable to buildings. I was shocked to learn that buildings use more energy than the entire transportation sector. On the other hand, if you look around the city is obviously made up of hundreds of thousands of buildings, and each one is being heated, cooled, and illuminated.

Toronto has a huge stock of houses, as well as other buildings, which use an unnecessary amount of energy. It sounds like a problem, but it is also an opportunity to improve their performance and reduce our carbon footprint.

Houses may seem so small that they are just a drop in the bucket, but given that the majority of Canadians live in houses, their impact is huge.

What’s the most effective green practice for homeowners to embrace?

Passive solar is my favourite green building strategy. It means designing buildings so as to make best use of the sun’s energy. Passive ventilation is great too because it also uses free energy.