Shari Shapiro has a sad but true story on her blog, the stinky case of waterless urinals in Philadelphia, that illustrates the many ways that old codes and turf protection often hamstring sustainable buildings. We have similar issues here. The Green Energy Act allows the province to make regulations to cut through such barriers, but nothing has been done as of yet.
The one exception is that Ontario has finally adopted the regulation that it promised last May, to prevent building codes and 23 other types of rules from blocking geothermal and rooftop solar projects. O.Reg. 15/10 exempts these projects from almost all restrictions under:
1. The Apprenticeship and Certification Act, 1998.
2. The Building Code Act, 1992.
3. The Clean Water Act, 2006.
4. The Conservation Authorities Act.
5. The Crown Forest Sustainability Act, 1994.
6. The Electricity Act, 1998.
7. The Endangered Species Act, 2007.
8. The Environmental Assessment Act.
9. The Environmental Protection Act.
10. The Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997.
11. The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997.
12. The Forest Fires Prevention Act.
13. The Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act.
14. The Occupational Health and Safety Act.
15. The Oil, Gas and Salt Resources Act.
16. The Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998.
17. The Ontario Heritage Act.
18. The Ontario Water Resources Act.
19. The Pesticides Act.
20. The Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006.
21. The Public Lands Act.
22. The Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002.
23. The Technical Standards and Safety Act, 2000.
24. The Trades Qualification and Apprenticeship Act.