Wood reaches new heights as a building material

Wood reaches new heights as a building material

George Brown College has steadily grown since its establishment in 1967 and now operates out of more than a dozen buildings spread throughout Toronto’s core. One of its future facilities plans is to erect a 12-storey tower framed of wood at its waterfront campus on Lake Ontario that will house its computer technology program and a centre for researching climate-friendly building practices.

Globe and Mail

The quest to create carbon-negative concrete

Some sources of carbon dioxide emissions are set in stone, somewhat literally. Consider that the process of creating concrete accounts for an estimated 5 percent of human-caused carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually, according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy and the International Energy Agency.

Green Biz

Athena Institute fetes 20 years of life cycle assessments

The Athena Sustainable Materials Institute recently marked its 20th anniversary of cutting-edge work examining the environmental life cycle impacts of construction materials and buildings. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the science behind environmental footprinting, and it was new to the construction sector when the Athena Institute was founded.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Solar panels, rooftop gardens will pay for themselves: developer

In what’s being called the first project of its kind in Quebec, a new housing development in Candiac is being equipped with rooftop gardens and solar panels that, the developer says, will generate a profit for residents. The project consists of 148 new townhouses. Half of them will have rooftop solar panels, the other half will get rooftop gardens.

Montreal Gazette

Loblaw, Walmart pre-order Tesla all-electric transport trucks

Loblaw Companies Limited says it is among the first purchasers of Tesla’s new electric truck. Canada’s largest supermarket chain said it had pre-ordered 25 of the vehicles called the Tesla Semi. “It’s part of our commitment to electrify our fleet,” spokeswoman Catherine Thomas said.

Canadian Grocer

Power struggle pits electric car owners against condo boards

Condo residents across the province are locked in power struggles with their management boards over charging rights for electric vehicles, even though incoming regulations are supposed to simplify the process.  It’s a problem that an Ottawa woman is all too familiar with.

CBC

Ontario has ‘zero chance’ of making its 2020 electric vehicle target

Ontario is envisioning a future in which millions of electric vehicles are on the roads, but analysts predict consumer uptake will remain far off the government target for 2020, despite tens of millions of dollars in subsidies. The Liberal government has been encouraging electric vehicle sales by doling out $75 million in rebates to vehicle owners.

Financial Post

	WorldGBC releaases its Annual Report 2016/17
	The World Green Building Council has today set out its achievements and those of its global network of Green Building Councils in its Annual Report 2016/17. The report details the progress that WorldGBC has made over the past year.
	World GBC, December 6, 2017

 

Solar self-sufficiency possible, but not feasible in coastal B.C.

Complete electrical self-sufficiency via solar power is technically feasible in Western Canada, according to a team of B.C. researchers — but economics and geography make it an unlikely proposition. Researchers from the University of Victoria crunched the numbers on what would be required for the average Victoria household to be completely self-sufficient through photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation and storage.

CBC

Canadian energy-storage startups get global traction

Something unexpected is happening in India. Utilities that used to sign 25-year contracts to purchase coal-based electricity are beginning to get nervous. They’re still buying the dirty power. The difference now is that they won’t get locked into a contract longer than 10 years, believing that energy storage combined with inexpensive solar and wind power will soon become more economical than the coal-fired equivalent.

Globe and Mail

‘Greening’ our power grid could boost competitiveness, cut emissions

Darwin Smith is a partner and managing director with the Boston Consulting Group and is a core member of BCG’s energy practice; Thomas Baker is a principal with the Boston Consulting Group and is the firm’s North American lead on clean energy and environment topics. The importance of unlocking a new wave of transformational infrastructure investment in Canada is critical across nearly every facet of our economy.

Globe and Mail

Record cheap electricity is transforming world energy markets

A new world record price for electricity set earlier this month signals a radical disruption in global energy markets — and Canada, whose economy was once powered by some of the world’s cheapest electricity, will not escape the effects.

CBC

	London plans water fountain network
	London’s mayor Sadiq Khan wants to roll out a new network of water fountains and bottle-refill stations across the capital to help reduce the use of single-use packaging, such as plastic water bottles, the Guardian has learned.
	The Guardian, December 4, 2017

 

Latest Quebec-California cap-and-trade auction sells out

Quebec and California’s latest joint cap-and-trade auction has sold out, weeks before Ontario is set to become part of that market. The results of last week’s auction, show the third sellout in a row for current credits as well as the second sellout in a row for 2020 credits. Experts say strong sales of future credits show confidence in the longevity of the market.

Toronto Star – Environmental Leader

Ontario’s last cap-and-trade auction before entering joint market

Ontario’s final cap-and-trade auction before entering a joint market with Quebec and California next year is set for today. The province launched the program aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions this year and has seen three sell-out auctions, bringing in about $1.5 billion for green projects.

CTV News – Pembina Institute

Province to give Toronto $25.6 million for bicycle infrastructure

Toronto’s cycling infrastructure is getting a major boost from the provincial government, which announced Monday it would inject $25.6 million into city bike projects this year. The funding is part of the Ontario Municipal Commuter Cycling Program, through which the Liberal government plans to allocate $93 million to 120 municipalities across the province.

Toronto Star

Vulnerable infrastructure at risk from climate

Europeans need to prepare for an increasingly risky century because of the growing impact of climate change on vulnerable infrastructure, scientists say. The risks they see ahead are not those usually associated directly with rising temperatures.

Globe-net.com

Green Building Rating Systems

WorldGBC appoints first Regional Head for Africa Network

WorldGBC is excited to announce the appointment of our first full-time Regional Head for the Africa Regional Network – Jane Afrane. Jane joins WorldGBC from the East Africa Advisor for the Commonwealth Local Government Forum. She has vast experience in the international development sector managing multi-lateral projects in West Africa and East Africa.

World GBC

Market Trends and Research

Mixed forests may not resist climate change

German researchers have confirmed once again that a good forest is a mixed forest, a natural one, with a diversity of species. The more diverse the forest, the better it becomes at doing what forests do. Forests with a greater number of species grow at a faster rate, store more carbon, and are more resistant to pests and diseases, according to a six-nation study of European woodlands.

Globe-net.com

The great global species shakeup

Climate change is redrawing the boundaries of where plants, animals and other organisms can survive — with costly consequences.  On a relentlessly sunny afternoon last July, two bumblebee researchers met outside the chain-link fence surrounding Pollinator Park, a flower-filled former landfill in Guelph.

Toronto Star

Commercial real estate

These solar canopies supply shade & electricity

A pair of Indian entrepreneurs has developed what they claim is “the most advanced integrated plug and play system” for shade, water, and energy.  The company’s model 1080 not only produces renewable electricity from the sun (and stores it in integrated batteries), but it can also collect and filter rainwater.

TreeHugger

Lake Louise ski resort guilty of cutting down endangered trees

A world-renowned ski resort in Alberta has admitted to cutting down a stand of endangered trees, although it hasn’t been decided yet how large of a fine will have to be paid. The Lake Louise resort in Banff National Park was charged after it came to light in 2013 that employees had cut down some trees along a ski run. The Crown alleges at least 39 endangered whitebark pine were felled.

Globe and Mail

Residential Real Estate

Why are so many modern houses black?

A hundred years ago, almost every building in cities with cold climates was black; that’s because they burned coal for heat and the soot stuck to everything. Houses were often painted black, so they wouldn’t look filthy all the time. Then, starting in the fifties, people started worrying about pollution, and the residential burning of coal declined as people switched to oil and then gas, and people then had options.

TreeHugger

Green building ratings

European GBCs urge Europe not to ignore its renovation potential

GBCs from Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Slovenia have written to their national governments highlighting their expert view that failing to accelerate the rate of renovation puts Europe at risk of falling short of commitments agreed under the Paris Agreement. The call comes as negotiations on a key piece of EU legislation, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) continue.

World GBC

Government Programs and Incentives

Trump disbands group meant to prepare cities for climate shocks

The Trump administration has terminated a cross-agency group created to help local officials protect their residents against extreme weather and natural disasters. The Community Resilience Panel for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems was created by the Obama administration in 2015 within the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. 

Bloomberg

Government energy announcement lacks crucial details, expert says

An expert in energy efficiency said the government’s $234 million announcement for energy projects is a step in the right direction but more transparency is needed. In an announcement, the government committed a total $234 million over five years for energy retrofits and renewable energy upgrades.

CBC

Corporate Sustainability

A&W Canada invests in beef, forage research

A&W has made a substantial investment in the Canadian beef industry with a $5 million (Canadian) donation to the University of Saskatchewan’s Livestock & Forage Centre of Excellence (LFCE). The unique center will foster innovative research, training and outreach to meet the needs of both livestock producers and consumers in Canada while also helping to sustainably produce food for a growing world population.

FeedStuffs

Municipal Policy and Urban Issues

Government action opens doors for microgrids in Massachusetts

The Boston City Council and the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities have separately taken action that opens the door toward more microgrids and energy storage in the state. The city council approved a proposal to send a home rule petition to the state legislature that would clear the way for the next step in building a microgrid at the Raymond L. Flynn marine park.

Microgrid Knowledge

Waste Management

Rethinking food waste: Q&A with Hilton’s Max Verstraete

“We want to be responsible operators and buyers,” says Max Verstraete, VP of corporate responsibility for Hilton. The hospitality company, which has 14 brands covering more than 5,000 properties in 104 countries and territories, buys a lot of products. “Whether it’s furniture or ketchup bottles for room service trays, TVs, electronics — pretty much anything you can think of — we’re probably buying,” he says.

Environmental Leader

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