Image: Huron County Courthouse
Huron County is making progress for mitigating climate change, based on a progress report that was presented to council this week.
Climate Change and Energy Specialist Derry Wallis informed the council that the impact of the county’s programs and policies have made a positive impact on the environment in measurable ways.
In her report, Wallis says that 13 of the original 63 actions have been achieved since the program was established in April 2019, while another 24 are ongoing, and 5 are ahead of schedule.
The report says that since the implementation of work from home abilities due to the pandemic, the county decided to continue to allow some staff to work remotely, which has offset 686,000 km driven, which helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
With the addition of electric vehicle charging stations in the county, the creation of another 979 kg of greenhouse gasses has been avoided as well.
Other positive impacts include the creation of 2 acres of wildflower habitat along two county forests, which are a part of the Rural Roadside Pilot Project.
The county is also involved with the construction of new high performance buildings, which call for ensuring that county facilities have windows and doors that prevent heat loss and gain, more insulation within the wall structure, and heating within the buildings is done using heat pumps.