Bicycle kitchens a luxury feature in apartments buildings

Bicycle kitchens a luxury feature in apartments buildings

Bicycling has become a preferred means of environmentally friendly, fun, and healthy transportation for millions of America’s apartment, condo, and townhouse dwellers. Couple the dramatic increase in cyclists with the fact that U.S. households are renting at higher rates than at any time in the past 50 years, and multifamily developers are left with no choice but to include bicycle storage and maintenance high on their list of amenities.

BDC Network

Toronto’s innovative The Plant wins BILD award

The Plant won’t be completed for more than a year, but the mixed-use development at 41 Dovercourt Rd. in Toronto is off to a great start as BILD’s mid-/high-rise project of the year.  “We’re very pleased to have won the award, especially given the many other projects that are now underway in the Toronto area,” said Alex Speigel, a partner with Windmill Development Group, which is developing The Plant with Toronto-based boutique developer Curated Properties.

Property Biz Canada

The Annex builds in sustainability from inside to rooftop

A building with energy-efficient features, appealing rooftop amenities, and high-grade cooking spaces will headline the debut of veteran builder Minto Communities in Calgary. The Annex is a nine-storey development that will take root in the northwest inner-city neighbourhood of Kensington.

Calgary Herald

Municipalities receive funding for sustainability projects

Investing in innovative municipal infrastructure projects contributes to a clean growth economy and strengthens the middle class by ensuring communities are healthy and sustainable places to live. The Federal government and Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) announced over $12.1 million in funding for 159 new initiatives in communities for the Green Municipal Fund, the Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program and the Municipal Asset Management Program.

Canada Newswire

The challenges of building a smart city

The biggest challenge cities face today also happens to be their biggest asset: people. A recent United Nations report on sustainable urban planning predicts that by 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. With more people comes more traffic, more waste and more crime, prompting city officials to invest in new infrastructure and technology to support the growing population, and setting off a smart city revolution.

Reuters

More intense flash floods hit overdeveloped real estate

VIDEO: A historic town in Maryland, barely a blip on the map, is a blueprint for developing disaster: real estate development in the face of increasingly wet weather. CNBC’s Diana Olick reports.

CNBC

Environmentalists wary of cannabis industry’s water, energy use

With marijuana legalization quickly approaching, academics and legal experts are warning that mass cannabis production could have a negative impact on the environment. Indoor cultivation, the primary method of production for major distributors such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. and Canopy Growth Corp., has been shown to use large amounts of energy as a result of 24-hour lighting rigs, high-intensity air conditioning and dehumidifiers.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

UW sustainability researcher among Canada’s Top 40 Under 40

When it comes to sustainability, people are really good at “tinkering around the edges.” But University of Waterloo researcher Sarah Burch wants to see deep transformative shifts. Burch’s work into fostering sustainability earned her a spot among Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2018, annually recognizing the country’s outstanding young leaders.

The Record

Everyday plastics pollute the air as they degrade

Backyard play sets, car components, windblown shopping bags and giant patches of ocean trash are all silently releasing greenhouse gases into the air, according to a new study of plastics left out in the sun. Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have identified a wide range of plastics that silently leach methane and ethylene gases as they degrade through exposure to the sun.

Global News

Trade decisions, electoral politics crippling green vision

To save his company, Martin Pochtaruk had to split it between Canada and the United States. Eight years after he founded Heliene Inc., a solar-panel manufacturing firm based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., opportunities have all but dried up in Ontario. The province’s Green Energy Act, enacted in 2009 as the economy was coming through a major recession, should have created a windfall for firms such as Heliene.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

TransCanada selling stake in five Quebec wind farms

TransCanada Corp., the Calgary-based energy company, said in its quarterly results that it agreed to sell its 62 per cent stake in five wind farms in Quebec’s Gaspe peninsula to Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. for about $630 million. The Cartier wind power facilities currently have a total generating capacity of 590 megawatts and Innergex says the long-term plan is to generate approximately 1,780 gigawatts — enough to power about 80,900 Quebec households.

Montreal Gazette

	World Green Building Week – Sept. 24-30, 2018
	This year, we want everyone, everywhere to take action and commit to making a change in the homes they build, lease or live in. We can all do something to make our home a greener, healthier and more energy efficient home. Let’s start now.
	World Green Building Council

 

New threats from a fast-tracked Canadian pipeline

Many people were surprised when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in May that his government would take over the construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline from a private company to ensure that additional tar sands crude oil can move from northern Alberta to a port in British Columbia. The pipeline expansion would the route’s capacity from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day.

Yale 360

21st-century grid heralds a new energy future

Electricity powers modern life — our work, our homes, our schools, our healthcare facilities. Buildings are the electricity sector’s number one customer, and the electricity grid is an engineering marvel. But the model for the electrical grid is about 100 years old. Generally, power plants generate electricity in large quantities at only about 30 to 40 per cent efficiency.

REMI Network

Electric vehicle market growing rapidly with supply chain risks

The number of electric and plug-in hybrid cars on the world’s roads exceeded 3 million in 2017, a 54% increase compared with 2016, according to the latest edition of the International Energy Agency’s Global Electric Vehicles Outlook. According to the report, China remained by far the largest electric car market in the world, accounting for half sold last year.

Energy Manager Today

Europe district cooling market: challenges, size, share, forecast

The report is a comprehensive exploration of Europe District Cooling market offering growth rates, size of the industry, competitive landscape information, factors to the contributing growth of the Europe District Cooling market and more. Europe District Cooling market is predicted to reach over USD 40 billion by 2024.

MENAFA

	Passive House Canada conference 2018
	Passive House Canada is collaborating with UN Economic Commission for Europe Committee on Forests, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and Canadian Wood Council, to hold concurrent conferences in Vancouver, November 7 to 8, 2018.
	Passive House Canada Conference

 

Products, Technology and Design

Global lithium market value to grow

According to the data compiled by Mordor Intelligence, the global lithium market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.33% during the forecast period from 2018 to 2023. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to lead the market due to its rapid production of electric vehicles (EV) and consumer electronics. Lithium batteries are widely used due to their high energy density, the ability to recharge and their environmental efficiency.

PR Newswire

Market Trends and Research

Forest fires can take long-term toll on environment

Forest fires like the ones currently burning in Ontario can have long-term impacts on the environment, experts say, noting increasingly warmer and drier weather conditions are making such blazes more common. As of Sunday, there were 127 fires burning in the province, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.

National Post

Earth running out of life-sustaining resources: HSBC

One of the world’s largest banks says the planet is running out of resources and warns that neither governments nor companies are prepared for climate change. The world spent its entire natural resource budget for the year by August 1, a group of analysts at HSBC said in a note that cited research from the Global Footprint Network (GFN).

Business Insider

Will rising summer temperatures raise world’s climate change concern?

Andreas Kadas was fast asleep in his summer home in the Greek holiday resort of Mati when the phone awoke him to warn of the approaching fire. While he survived Greece’s deadliest blaze on record – taking nine minutes from the first ring to when he reached the seaside on foot, smoke billowing around him – 91 people were killed in what he recalls a “huge tragedy” that burned around him.

Christian Science Monitor

World at risk of heading toward irreversible ‘hothouse’ state

The world is at risk of entering “hothouse” conditions where global average temperatures will be 4-5 degrees Celsius higher even if emissions reduction targets under a global climate deal are met, scientists said in a study published on Monday. The report comes amid a heatwave that has pushed temperatures above 40C in Europe this summer, causing drought and wildfires, including blazes in Greece in July that killed 91 people.

Reuters

Green building ratings

How healthy is your office space?

For decades, many developers and architects worked to ensure their buildings were kind to the planet. Now, their focus is on the effect that buildings have on the people who work in them. Studies show that healthy workers tend to be more productive, a concept that is behind a growing trend in real estate to create offices with measurable wellness benefits. One frequently cited Harvard study showed that improving air quality caused mental cognition to soar.

Financial Review

Government Programs and Incentives

How a price on carbon reduces emissions

Pollution isn’t free. There is a real cost to the environment and our health when someone pollutes, leaving the air, water, or land less clean for everyone. By making polluters pay, a price on carbon pollution kickstarts behaviour changes and innovation. A well-designed price on carbon pollution ensures that as the price increases, so do the number of options to lower your footprint.

Pembina Institute

Corporate Sustainability

Companies slog along with sustainability goals: Study

Corporate change is hard, and one study shows that sustainability change is even harder: companies surveyed by Bain & Company indicated that they are achieving or exceeding just 4% of their sustainability goals. Still, the numbers are improving. In 2015, companies said they were meeting or exceeding just 2% of their goals, according to Bain & Company’s new report based on a survey of 297 global companies.

Environmental Leader

Cities and Towns

Windsor moves to expropriate Sandwich land

The city is poised to grab hold of ecologically revered Ojibway Shores by expropriating nine acres of private waterfront land in Sandwich and swapping part of it with the Windsor Port Authority. The exchange will mean Ojibway Shores — the 33-acre environmental “gem” and the only naturalized land left along the Windsor riverfront — will be protected in perpetuity.

Windsor Star

Water Management

Feds investing $4M in freshwater research facility

The federal government is investing $4 million into a freshwater research facility in Kenora, Ont., that nearly ceased operations two years ago due to funding cuts. The latest funding for the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), which is operated by the International Institute of Sustainable Development, a Winnipeg-based non-profit organization, will support a program that monitors long-term trends and ecological changes of fisheries health and productivity in Canadian boreal lakes.

Winnipeg Free Press

Waste Management

Global plastic waste management market to soar

According to a new report by Zion Market Research global plastic waste management market was valued at approximately US$24.0 billion in 2017 and is expected to generate revenue of around US$29.8 billion by the end of 2024, growing at a CAGR of around 3.1% between 2018 and 2024. The plastic industry is growing at the fastest rate due to its usage in various fields such as electronics, automotive, healthcare, construction, and textiles. 

Globe Newswire

Doctor creating a world without waste

Most people cannot imagine a world without waste. However, the concept of zero waste is nothing new to Dr. John Whitney, CEO of Itronics, Inc., a “creative green technology” company headquartered in Reno, Nevada. Not only has Dr. Whitney imagined a world without waste, he’s creating it by taking hazardous toxic waste and creating environmentally-friendly consumer products.

Biz NEVADA