Looking For Green Condos To Make Your Home In Toronto? Here’s Your Guide

Buying a condominium is a huge decision and requires a great deal of thinking. There might be plenty of factors that you might be considering before you decide on one of the Toronto condos. What do you look for? Is it a fancy ambiance? Do you desire a modern kitchen and luxurious space in your condo? Many look for breath-taking views, ample amenities, proximity to their workspace, and other necessities too.

One of the crucial and most trending ones is the environment-friendly approach. These days, people look for Green Toronto condos for sale rather than just settling for a condominium based on its location or amenities. This is the reason builders these days are meeting all the green building standards. This is a fantastic change as it is helping in both ways. One, it helps them with their sales, and two, the environmental impact is reduced.

Are you wondering about which Toronto lofts and condos satisfy the tag of ‘Green buildings’? In this article, you will get to know more about the names of these green condominium developments, what sustainable practices they follow, and the things that you should look for.

What is different in an eco-friendly Toronto condo?

There are a few crucial factors that set the green Toronto condos apart from the other developments in the city. The best way to distinguish them is to check if the building is LEED Certified.

Characteristics of a LEED Certification

All the luxury Toronto condos that are termed as green developments can be categorized under four different levels. This categorization is done on the basis of the number of standards they meet to be termed as ‘LEED Certified’ properties.

Here are the different considerations on the basis of which their category is decided:

• Sustainable development site
• Location and transportation around the condominium
• Energy and atmosphere
• Water efficiency
• The materials and resources in use
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Innovation

What types of materials do the builders use in green Toronto condos for sale?

Here are a few common things that you can find in King West condos, Waterfront condos, or other green condos in the city:

Vertical forests

There are a lot of developments that have extended green spaces today. However, here's an addition to it: implementing vertical forests. The Toronto condos for sale are trying to include a sustainable microclimate in the construction buildings. KING Toronto is amongst the latest developments in the region to showcase this type of environmental-friendly approach. It is an urban farming initiative and even includes greenhouse units.

Another excellent development upcoming in Toronto is Designers Walk by Citizen Group. The project will showcase America's first-ever vertical forest. Everything is as per an amazing plan created by Architect Brian Bisbin of BBB Architects. Vertical forests will get a proper and sustainable microclimate as irrigation, as well as water reclamation, have been kept in consideration.

Mass Timber

Sustainable and green development is all about using the right materials in construction. Usage of mass timber is being observed in plenty of projects catering to Toronto condos for sale. This helps in reducing the CO2 emissions by around 15-20%. Therefore, helping the environment positively.

There are multiple code restrictions also that the builder needs to keep in mind when designing luxury condos Toronto using mass timber.

Benefits of using mass timber in developments

Here are the key advantages of mass timber in green developments:

• Better fire safety.
• Reduction in construction time.
• Better cost savings; lesser condo costs.
• Perks of the forest industry of Ontario.
• Reduced carbon footprint.

Pre-fabricated construction

Google’s Smart City is one of the most popular developments when the talk is about sustainable and green developments. One of the buildings of Google's Smart City is going to be energy efficient and will make use of prefabricated construction techniques. Walls, as well as window panels, show high performance when the preassembling takes place in the factory. At the same time, it results in lesser production costs as well.

The growth of global prefabricated construction is on a significant rise. There was a growth of 6.3% observed in this sector.

Factors to look into before buying any green Toronto condos for sale

Going as per the LEED Certification standards, LEED Platinum is of the highest degree when it comes to following green building practices. These degrees are followed by LEED Gold, LEED Silver, and LEED Certification.

In case the luxury Toronto condos do not fall under LEED Certification, there are a few other green practices that developments can follow.

Canada Green Building Council’s checklist for green condos

Canada Green Building Council lists some measures to check if a particular development falls under the green Toronto condos list or not:

• Condos having individual meters to help in energy conservation.
• Condo developments that include green roofs or gardens to help in cleansing of air and absorbing heat.
• The Toronto condos for sale making use of ENERGY STAR appliances.
• The condo suites are having 40:60 ratio of windows to walls.
• The condominiums are making use of water-efficient plumbing facilities and fixtures.
• Usage of renewable sources of energy (solar, wind, water, geothermal) in the condo developments.
• Condos having non-toxic flooring as well as finishes.

Top green Toronto condos and their developers

Toronto is a big city and a bustling one too. There are several developers trying to build sustainable and eco-friendly condominiums for the residents. There are ample Yorkville condos and King West condos that have LEED Certification. If not, then they follow the best practices to help in green building development in the city.

Best Toronto developers helping with green development

There are two significant developers in the real estate sector when the concern is about Toronto lofts and buildings. Tridel and The Minto Group development firms have shown excellent contribution in terms of building green condominiums in the city.

Tridel has been the winner of the Green Builder of the Year award nine times now. It was awarded this title by the Building Industry Land Development. The firm has been receiving this award since the year 2015 now.

The Minto Group has several Waterfront condos, King West Condos, etc. under its name. This Group also received the Green Builder of the Year award by BILD after showing great efforts and involvement in taking up sustainable and environmental initiatives. The Minto Group also got the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) GREEN Builder of the Year award.

Best green Toronto condos for sale

Here are a few of the developments that follow excellent green building practices:

• THE BERCZY- 55 Front St East
• MINTO 775- 775 King St West | 78 Tecumseth St
• M5V Condos- 375 King St West
• ONE COLE Condos- 1 Cole Street
• CINEMA TOWER- 21 Widmer Street

How can Toronto condo buyers help in sustainable living?

The builders of Toronto condos for sale are doing their bit to help in green development. Doing things as simple as walking or using a bicycle for shorter distances can help with green living. Usage of renewable sources for things as much as possible is also an advisable thing to do.

Being conscious of maintaining an environmental-friendly sector, real estate developments try to incorporate multiple things from their side. To aid them in it, here are a few things that homebuyers of Toronto lofts can do:

Making use of programmable power bars

There are several appliances that residences make use of in their homes. However, one thing to understand here is that not all appliances are in use at all times but are still plugged in. This takes up immense power. To save energy, choose programmable power bars instead. Using these, you can set proper timers as to when you want the device to be plugged in and powered on. This helps in maintaining better energy efficiency.

Running your home on green electricity.

There are a lot of hydro-powered and wind-powered solutions available in today's times. These can help in the reduction of CO2 emissions and, thus, reduce the carbon footprint. It isn't possible to do it in 100% of the things. However, wherever it can be minimized, it can help in a great way.

Making use of LED lighting

Switch to the usage of LED lighting for your Toronto condos. This can help in saving 70-90% of the energy consumption on a regular basis. So, even these smallest of efforts can help make green living possible. The traditional ones, that is, the incandescent bulbs consume a lot of power. Moreover, the LED Lighting equipment lasts for 25 times longer period.

Summing it up

Plenty of developers in Toronto are coming up with sustainable and green buildings to help protect the environment in the best way possible. In the coming years, furthermore, advancement will be observed in this sector. Even if certain condominium developments do not have LEED Certification, these Toronto condos for sale are following green condo practices to make it as eco-friendly as possible.

Even the condo residents can make smarter, green choices when it comes to managing their condo lifestyle. Follow the basic tips and incorporate a greener lifestyle for yourself.