Markham, partners to build community with geothermal energy system

Markham, partners to build community with geothermal energy system

The City of Markham, in partnership with Mattamy Homes Canada and Enwave Energy Corporation announced a ground-breaking collaboration. Together, they will research and design a pilot neighbourhood of approximately 300 homes, serviced by a community-scale distributed geothermal energy system for heating, cooling, and domestic hot water.

City of Markham

Case study in net zero energy: AGU’s renovated HQ

Is it possible for an urban office building renovation to achieve net zero energy? The American Geophysical Union is proving it is. Its overhauled 62,000-square-foot headquarters in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., is currently producing 3-5 percent more energy on site—without using combustibles—than it is requires.

CP Executive

KRP largest property management firm choosing green energy

Bullfrog Power, Canada’s leading green energy provider, announced KRP Properties (KRP), a Canadian real estate corporation, is now the largest property management organization choosing green energy in Canada with Bullfrog Power. The organization has choosen Bullfrog’s green electricity for the common areas of all properties and green natural gas for the common areas of four properties.

Canada Newswire

Making up our minds, and minding our waste

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about waste. Maybe because we’re approaching Black Friday, a day given to shopping for shopping’s sake. (So named because it’s the day of the year when retailers begin to turn a profit — that is, begin being “in the black.”) Perhaps because we’ve been focusing increasingly on the circular economy.

GreenBiz

Home Depot is coming full circle

Earlier this month, home improvement retail giant Home Depot quietly released its updated annual sustainability report. Like many other major U.S. corporations in the post-Paris Agreement era, the retailer has set ambitious targets for achieving better energy efficiency, more responsible sourcing and managing waste.

GreenBiz

NHL legend on Environmental 360 Solutions team

Danny Ardellini, Almada Inc. and Paul Coffey announced the launch of Environmental 360 Solutions Inc. (E360S), a new environmental waste management company. E360S has acquired Can Pak Environmental Inc., a central Alberta-based family-operated business serving residential, commercial and industrial properties, from Mark Pedersen, its owner and president.

Canada Newswire – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

SFU’s sustainability performance is golden

Simon Fraser University has earned a Gold rating in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). This transparent, self-reporting framework for post-secondary institutions measures sustainability performance across curriculum, operations, engagement, planning and administration. It was SFU’s third submission to STARS.

Simon Fraser University

B.C. destroys a key natural wildfire defence every year

Last year, 12,812 hectares of B.C. forest was sprayed with the herbicide glyphosate. It’s an annual event — a mass extermination of broadleaf trees mandated by the province. The eradication of trees like aspen and birch on regenerating forest stands is meant to make room for more commercially valuable conifer species like pine and Douglas fir. But experts say it also removes one of the best natural defences we have against wildfire.

CBC

Some vehicles sold in B.C. to be zero-emission by 2040

All light-duty cars and trucks sold in British Columbia will be required to be zero-emission vehicles by 2040. The B.C. legislation, to be introduced next spring, will be aimed at removing a major source of air pollution and climate change. The government said the proposed law would set targets of 10 per cent of sales by 2025, 30 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2040.

Globe and Mail – CBC

Cyclists spend 40% more in London’s shops than motorists

New research from Transport for London (TfL) claims that people walking, cycling and using public transport spend more than motorists in local shops. Conducted by Matthew Carmona from University College London’s Bartlett School of Planning, the research reveals that those not in cars spend 40% more each month in neighborhood shops than motorists.

TreeHugger – Forbes

Tales of microgrid ingenuity (and community)

Perhaps it’s my inborn bias towards news about technology companies (in my former journalism life, I covered the high-tech industry), but my mind keeps wandering this week back to the revelation in early November that software company VMware not only plans to build a microgrid at its Palo Alto, California, headquarters, it also is teaming up with its host city to design the installation.

GreenBiz

	Whole-System Sustainability: a CSR paradigm
	Businesses are parts of larger systems, including the whole Earth system. They cannot prosper unless these systems are stable, and preferably thriving. The prevailing mentality is an irrational, reality-ignoring, unintentionally destructive view of business.
	Green Biz, November 19, 2018

 

NYC unveils historic climate pollution bill

A top New York City lawmaker unveiled landmark legislation Tuesday to dramatically decrease emissions from big buildings, the city’s largest source of climate pollution. If passed, the bill would set a new standard for cities around the world and mark the most aggressive climate action yet taken by the nation’s largest and most financially and culturally influential city. 

HuffPost

A guide to Canada’s carbon tax

Climate change is a catastrophe in slow motion, and experts warn the world will likely fail to stop it. Cutting our greenhouse-gas emissions now could soften the blow. That was the Trudeau government’s rationale for a national carbon-pricing plan to encourage Canadians and big business to use less fossil fuels.

Globe and Mail – CBC

CPPIB keeping a close eye on climate change

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is looking to use its long investment horizon and global reach to take advantage of economically disruptive forces, from advancing technology to aging populations, chief executive Mark Machin told a business audience at the Canadian Club in Toronto.

Financial Post

Drop in Ottawa’s emissions chalked up to coal plant closures

Ottawa’s greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 11 per cent between 2012 and 2016, but it appears the drop was mostly due to the closure of the province’s coal-fired power plants. Every four years, the city calculates emissions generated both by the wider community and by its own operations as it aims to hit its targets to combat climate change. The latest report is to be tabled Thursday.

CBC

	At UN talks, U.S. team plans sideshow on coal
	The Trump administration plans to set up a side-event promoting fossil fuels at the annual U.N. climate talks next month, a strategy that infuriated global-warming activists during last year’s talks.
	Reuters, November 22, 2018