Despite the federal government exhorting households to take the "One-Tonne Challenge" and help the country meet its greenhouse gas emissions target under the Kyoto Protocol, the city of Ottawa is prohibiting homeowners from installing solar hot-water systems.

The reason? The solar systems don't have approval from Canadian Standards Association.

Ottawa's the only municipality in Ontario that won't permit the systems, Bill Kemp, an author on the topic of green energy told CBC Radio.

"It's an unfortunate effect of the bureaucracy not being able to keep up with the technology and to make the rational decisions," said Kemp. He says other communities will consult on the matter when a local inspector has questions.

For the past two years, the city of Ottawa has denied any permit requests for solar hot-water systems.

In an advertising campaign, the federal government – with the help of comedian Rick Mercer – has for the past few months been challenging Canadians to "take the One-Tonne Challenge," and reduce their households' annual greenhouse gas emissions by one tonne.

"How? Use less energy. Conserve water and resources. Reduce waste," it says on the Government of Canada website.

"We're all in tune with greenhouse emissions and that sort of thing, and anything we can do for alternative energy sources, but ... basically from a code perspective, no, there's no way for us to approve it at this time," said Richard Ashe, Ottawa's manager for permit approvals.

"It's not appropriate for the city to be making those judgments on the viability of these systems," said Ashe, pointing to a lack of national standards for solar panels.

Officials at Natural Resources Canada said the CSA standards would be in place in the next six months, but businesses selling the systems said the standards have been promised for a year.

D.J. MacIntyre, who runs Laboise Alternatives in west Quebec, can't figure out Ottawa's stand.

"Each one of those collectors generally equals about a one-tonne reduction in greenhouse gas for the household. So basically the City of Ottawa is saying, 'Yes, we'd like you to do the One-Tonne Challenge, but no, we won't let you do it the easiest possible way.'"

In the meantime, Kemp said, "guerrilla solar" installations are popping up in Ottawa.

The Canadian Standards Association is a non-profit, membership-based organization that develops safety standards. Among other things, CSA's website says the organization is committed to "helping to preserve the environment."