Evolv1 earns Canada’s first Zero Carbon Building certification

Evolv1 earns Canada’s first Zero Carbon Building certification

The Cora Group’s evolv1 office building in Waterloo, Ont., is the first to apply for and receive the Canada Green Building Council’s new Zero Carbon Building – Design certification.  Evolv1 is one of 16 projects across Canada to be selected by the CaGBC to participate in a two-year pilot of its new Zero Carbon Building Standard.

Sustainable Biz Canada

ZERO Code: The future has arrived

Today, Architecture 2030 is excited to announce the publication of the ZERO Code for new building construction, which integrates cost-effective energy efficiency standards with on-site and/or off-site renewable energy resulting in Zero-Net-Carbon (ZNC) buildings. More than half of the global population is now concentrated in urban areas, and by 2060 two thirds of the expected population of 10 billion will live in cities.

Architecture2030

Five types of green buildings explained

Homes and buildings in Canada can both consume and produce energy in many ways. In the world of green buildings, a variety of terms are used and some confusion surrounds their definitions.  As governments focus on the imperative of reducing carbon pollution from new and existing buildings, it’s essential to understand the implications of setting energy goals for buildings.

Pembina Institute

‘Meadoway’ hydro corridor from Toronto to Scarborough

A new environmental initiative spearheaded by the city will transform 16 kilometres of hydro corridor in Scarborough into one of Canada’s largest urban linear parks. The project, called the Meadoway, will connect four ravines, 15 parks, 35 neighbourhoods and more than 500 acres of land to allow visitors to travel from the Don River Ravine in downtown Toronto to Rouge National Urban Park in the city’s east end without driving or taking transit.

Globe and Mail – New in Homes

Calgary homeowner upgrades paid for on property tax bill

The Alberta NDP government introduced legislation Thursday to let municipalities set up a program that would allow homes, farms, and businesses to repay the costs of upgrades such as solar panels, high-efficiency windows and efficient heating and cooling systems over time through an additional charge on their property tax bills.

Calgary Herald

Kithouse: Designed for harsh northern climate

Designers and home builders around the world have made varying claims over time about their relative ability to produce airtight, energy-efficient homes. But few, if any have come up with a design for an energy efficient home built to withstand the brutal winters of Northern Manitoba and that are affordable.

Winnipeg Free Press

Lowe’s Canada rolls out its ECO Product Program

Lowe’s Canada, one of Canada’s leading home improvement companies operating or servicing more than 630 corporate and affiliated stores under different banners, is proud to announce the roll out of its ECO product program in all corporate and participating affiliated RONA, Reno-Depot, and Lowe’s stores across the country.

Canada Newswire

	Earth Day, Sunday, April 22, 2018
	Less than 20% of kids engage in outdoor free play during the course of the day, the kind of play that builds resilience, self-confidence, connection and a sense of well-being. In 2017, EarthPLAY supported outdoor free play for 14,000 kids. Our goal for 2018 is 20,000 kids.
	Earth Day Canada, April 18, 2018

 

This Earth Day, take a fresh look at paper

As Earth Day 2018 approaches, many of us take a step back to reflect on the value of the environment that supports us, and how best we can protect it. When it comes to the modern office, many people think going paperless is one way to reduce their environmental impact. On closer examination, though, paperless is not necessarily greener, and a careful approach to paper sourcing can be better for our one and only planet.

GreenBiz

Canadian greenhouse gas emissions start downward trend

Canada’s latest greenhouse gas inventory report to the United Nations shows emissions are starting to trend downward, but not nearly at the rate needed to meet the country’s international commitments under the Paris climate change accord. The report was made public Tuesday, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was at the National Assembly in Paris lauding both Canada and France as international leaders on climate change.

Globe and Mail

Canada ranked 10th for environmental performance in OECD

Canadians care about the state of their environment. Over the past few years, several reports have presented Canada as an environmental laggard, ranking it near the bottom of the list of OECD countries. But we regard the methodologies behind these studies as flawed: they unfairly represent Canada’s environmental performance in some respects and do not always use the most meaningful and relevant performance measures. 

The Fraser Institute

UK to enshrine net zero emissions target into law?

This would mark a significant step up in terms of ambitions. We were impressed back in 2011 when Britain committed to 50% emission cuts by 2025, and 80% by 2050. Indeed, the country has made good progress on that front, bringing power station emissions down to levels not seen since the Victorian era.

TreeHugger.com

	Conflux Canada, May 10, 2018, Ottawa CEC
	Getting the Conflux Canada conference off the ground nerve-wracking wracking. But as founder James McNeil prepares for year two he’s already looking for ways to grow the event, which focuses on sustainability, clean tech, and green buildings.
	Sustainable Biz Canada, March 21, 2018

 

How to push buildings to new levels of efficiency

A new wave of building efficiency that uses data collection and machine learning to make a building’s appliances use power more efficiently, is being led by San Francisco startups Carbon Lighthouse and Redaptive. Unlike other efficiency providers that manufacture and sell appliances or sell electricity, the companies don’t sell anything except their ability to reduce a building’s energy use and power bills.

GreenBiz

A water-gulping Wisconsin plant, a wake-up call for Canada

Canadians should be worried about the ecological impact of an enormous industrial plant planned for Wisconsin. Bob Sandford, the EPCOR Chair for Water and Climate Security at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, warned that while Canada seems to enjoy an abundance of water resources, the supply isn’t limitless and needs to be protected.

CBC

Portland utility proposes ‘green tariff” for large customers

Due to growing demand for renewable energy, Portland General Electric, like other utilities across the US, has proposed a voluntary “green tariff” that would be available to large business and municipal customers, allowing them to purchase renewable power directly from new solar, wind or other renewable energy facilities.

Energy Manager Today

P&G aims for 100% renewable energy by 2030

In a statement this week, Proctor and Gamble announced its goal to use 100% renewable energy at all of its plants by 2030. In addition, the company’s plants will source 5 billion liters of water from circular sources to recognize a 35% increase in water efficiency.

Energy Manager Today

Products, Technology and Design

Why products marked ‘recyclable’ sometimes aren’t

Reduce, Reuse and Rethink is a CBC News series about recycling. We’re looking at why our communities are at a turning point and exploring ways to recycle better. The recycling symbol is something many of us look for when deciding whether or not to toss something in the blue bin.

CBC

Measurabl expands benchmarking software with $7M in Funding

Measurabl, a software platform for sustainability data management, benchmarking, and reporting, will be expanding and improving its offering thanks to the $7 million in Series A funding the company closed on today. Measurabl calls itself the “first ever global platform for benchmarking and reporting the sustainability performance of commercial real estate,” adding that it is used by properties worth more than a combined $1 trillion.

Environmental Leader

Cleantech’s next heat wave could come from Smarter Alloys

When we burn fuel to power vehicles and machinery, drive industrial processes or generate electricity, most of the energy in this fuel is dumped into the atmosphere as heat. In one 2016 study, German researchers estimated that 72 per cent of global primary energy consumption – that is, using coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium as fuel – is lost as waste heat.

Globe and Mail

Green Building Rating Systems

New Green Globe pilot program launched

Green Building Initiative (GBI) is in the final stages to an update of its American National Standard, with the launch of a new Green Globes pilot program. Over the past five years, GBI has certified over 850 Green Globes projects in the United States.

BDC Network

Market trends and research

James Hansen on how to effectively take on climate change

In the 1970s, James Hansen was a NASA scientist working on a mission to study Venus when he became curious about the changing composition of Earth’s atmosphere. By 1981, that curiosity led to some of the first scientific work to show the effect of carbon emissions on climate. For years, his refusal to keep silent on the issue has caused politicians of all stripes to squirm.

Globe and Mail

Commercial real estate

U of T criticized for poor handling of asbestos

The U of T  faculty association has a forceful criticism of how the administration has handled the situation, saying that people are still not being properly informed about asbestos abatement work or what went wrong related to last year’s breaches. These safety concerns aren’t just in the medical building, it says, but at all three campuses.

Globe and Mail

Hotels, resorts line up activities for Earth Day

This Sunday is Earth Day. Members of the hospitality industry will be joining to mark the occasion—properties ranging from 1 Hotels in Manhattan, Brooklyn and South Beach to the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in Jasper, Alberta, to The National Conference Center in Leesburg, Va. All are planning activities.

Green Lodging News

Renewable Energy

Alberta explores ways to soothe landowner over renewables

With a wave of renewable energy development arriving in Alberta, the province is examining ways to strengthen protections for landowners that allow wind and solar development on their property.   The province has had renewable energy projects — such as wind turbines — since the 1990s, but landowner advocates have long complained that some of the rules are insufficient.

CBC

Government Programs and Incentives

Canadian public spending going green and more social

A network of nineteen leading public sector organizations has just released a report on how they used their spending power in 2017 to influence more responsible and sustainable practices in the marketplace. “Sustainability is a shopping priority,” says Victoria Wakefield, UBC’s Manager of Purchasing Services and member of the Municipal Collaboration for Sustainable Procurement (MCSP).

Globe-net.com

Sask. minister downplays cuts to climate-change funding

Saskatchewan’s environment minister says the funding for “Climate Change and Adaptation” was reduced in the 2018-19 budget because in previous years the branch has not spent the dollars it was allocated.  Dustin Duncan told reporters the drop in funding was from $2.4 million to $2 million.

Leader Post

Corporate Sustainability

Here are 10 principles for sustainability that sells

We’ve always suspected that how information about sustainability is visualized doesn’t actually engage most audiences, reducing the effectiveness of communications. While carrying out our new research, “How to design sustainability that sells,” we realized that the problem was worse than expected. We set out to build a broad evidence-based perspective of what does and doesn’t work when it comes to visualizing sustainability strategies and initiatives in messaging and communications. 

GreenBiz

The 10 sustainability trends from forward-thinking organizations

Practicing sustainability has always been important to office design. We know that people spend 90 percent of their time indoors. Progressive design firms and corporations have been leveraging green principles and practices, like LEED and WELL, for years. Recently, we have seen an enormous push to think about sustainability not as just a “good thing to do” but something we must do to stay competitive.

BDC Network

Transit, bikes and transportation

It seems that wherever there is a bike lane, there is a bikelash

Bike lanes are, to mix another transit metaphor, the third rail in politics. There are fights about them everywhere; where I live in Toronto, Canada, hundreds showed up to protest the late crackhead mayor for removing a bike lane and now we are fighting his replacement about another one. And we certainly aren’t alone.

TreeHugger

Waste Management

Bringing ‘purity’ to Toronto’s blue bins

Toby Whitfield is such a blue-bin stickler that his wife says his “favourite piece of literature” is the city of Toronto calendar listing what can and cannot be recycled. The Harbord Village resident fishes out offending items placed by others. But even Whitfield admits to occasional confusion over the long list.

Toronto Star

City approves $135K solar-powered recycling bins, trash compactors

Fifteen solar-powered garbage and recycling compacting bins will be set up in Winnipeg as the city tries to cut down on refuse collection trips, save money on fuel and bring down greenhouse gas emissions. Innovation committee members approved a $135,000 pilot project to use and maintain the units.

CBC

Toronto restaurants join effort to get rid of plastic straws

Sitting in a glass, a straw doesn’t seem like much. For sipping or stirring a drink, it’s not used for long. By the end of a regular night at a bar, though, thousands of single-use, non-recyclable plastic straws are tossed out with the trash. “The amount of straws that we throw away at the end of the night, it really is appalling,” said Rob Picken, owner of the Underground Garage on Toronto’s King Street West.

Globe and Mail

Grocery chain ‘tone deaf’ for shutting lid on zero-waste customers

When Danielle Doucet posted about her embrace of the zero-waste lifestyle by bringing her own containers to the local Provigo deli counter, her efforts went viral on social media. Doucet shared a photo of her plastic containers filled with deli meats in her grocery cart, with the message: “Don’t be embarrassed and say a little hello to the département charcuterie and butcher shop.”

CBC