Toronto Star

The bleak rows of highrise apartment buildings sprouting from empty lawns in suburban Toronto are often viewed as one of the city's housing problems. Architect Graeme Stewart sees them as part of the solution. With 1,892, by Stewart's reckoning, Toronto is second only to New York on this continent in the number of highrise apartment towers – and most, especially the thousand or so built in the 1950s and '60s, are energy hogs. But the city could promote measures that would "green" the buildings for generations to come, Stewart told the city's executive committee. Highrises built a half-century ago are typically concrete slabs, often with single-pane windows and electric heating. That's a recipe for wasting vast amounts of heat, Stewart said: These buildings generate about 25 per cent more carbon dioxide emissions per square metre than a typical bungalow.