Cap-and-trade schemes for carbon emissions are highly suspect for a host of economic reasons, but now we have the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson, admitting the Waxman-Markey bill will have no effect on carbon use.

Let's hope the bill, which squeaked through the House of Representatives in June, is rejected by the Senate lest Canada has to follow suit - which Environment Minister Jim Prentice has intimated he will do.

Rather than hamstringing corporations and risk jeopardizing the entire economy, why not assist consumers to reduce their consumption of perfectly legal and much-needed carbon products?

The NWT Construction Association, through its affiliation with its national counterpart supports the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC), an agency formed in 2003 that has become a leading resource in the growing demand for more energy-efficient buildings across the country.

The council administers the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system, a comprehensive rating of the environmental performance of buildings.

The federal government's Greenstone Building in Yellowknife was the first, and so far only, LEED-certified building North of 60, but such certification is now required for all new buildings owned by Public Works and Government Services Canada.

Last June, CaGBC introduced Green Up, Canada's Building Performance Program to help all building owners and operators measure, rate and minimize their energy and water consumption. It provides participants with access to building performance audits, workshops and a national database of information on energy and water use for specific building sectors.

Green Up began last year as a pilot project involving more than 330 K-12 schools, 60 commercial properties and 75 government and utilities buildings across Canada to establish energy-efficiency and water-use performance benchmarks for those building sectors. Pilot projects involving university/college campuses, non-food retail and arenas begin this year.

The 64 pilot commercial office buildings totaling over 3 million sq. m. achieved an average overall savings of 3.5 per cent of their total energy use from 2005-2007, 250 schools totalling over 1.5 million sq. m. saved 2.8 per cent, while 80 buildings totaling over 1.4 million sq. m. saved six per cent for their owners, i.e. the Government of Canada, Canada Post, five provinces, 20 cities and four utility companies.

The pilot project also found the best performing buildings were two to three times more energy-efficient than the worst performers, indicating a significant potential for energy savings. By using market-based solutions and providing tools to industry and partners, CaGBC aims to achieve a verified 50 per cent reduction in energy and water use over 2005 baselines in 100,000 buildings and 1 million homes across Canada by 2015.