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Winnipeg builder offers prefab, net-zero energy homes
Winnipeg builder offers prefab, net-zero energy homes
Eric Bjornson wants to be the Ikea of home construction. The Winnipeg-based, environmentally-friendly homebuilder has garnered a reputation in the province for designing and constructing custom, net-zero energy, single-detached homes. Now he has a big — and ambitious — idea that comes in a relatively small package. If it’s successful, he hopes to change how the industry builds.
ZERO Code: The future has arrived
In June, Architecture 2030 announced the publication of the ZERO Code – a standard for new building construction, which integrates cost-effective energy efficiency measures with on-site and/or off-site renewable energy resulting in Zero-Net-Carbon (ZNC) buildings. While there have been worldwide improvements in building sector energy efficiency these have not been nearly enough to offset the increase in emissions from new construction.
CBRE breaks Energy Star record for registered buildings
CBRE registered and benchmarked a record-breaking number of buildings in the Energy Star program last year, according to the company’s new corporate responsibility report. The world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm says that throughout 2017, they added 6,197 buildings representing more than 370.7 million square feet to the program.
Vancouver looks to limit new buildings’ embodied emissions
The City of Vancouver is moving forward with plans to incorporate policies into rezoning applications that would require developers to limit embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their building projects. Embodied emissions are those associated with the production of a building, such as building materials and the transport of building products.
Rabble.ca – Sustainable Biz Canada
Tri-Cities must step it up on energy efficiency
A new wave of building innovation is sweeping through B.C., leaving in its wake healthier and more comfortable homes, and more productive offices as well as jobs, opportunities and legions of workers with freshly upgraded skills. Last year, the province offered Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody — and hundreds of other local governments — a new policy tool called the B.C. Energy Step Code.
TD Bank’s LEED-certified stores in the U.S. expand to 200
TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®, announced today that 200 of its U.S. stores have now been LEED-certified by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), an important environmental milestone. TD started pursuing LEED certification for its U.S. stores in 2011 and received 12 certifications that first year.
WELL building health standard takes the next step
Building health and wellness standards are about to get an upgrade. The International Well Building Institute (IWBI) is rolling out v2 of its WELL Building Standard, a set of enhancements to the “healthy building” protocols used in over 600 buildings in 31 countries. The system has been revamped in order to, “drive equity into the very architecture of the standard,” said IWBI president Rachel Gutter.
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Greystone Village awarded LEED® Neighborhood Development certification |
| The Regional Group’s Greystone Village has been awarded LEED® ND v4 SILVER, the first project in Ontario to achieve this designation. It is a 26-acre mixed-use, master-planned community near Main Street in Old Ottawa East. | |
| Ottawa Citizen, July 11, 2018 |
The ‘9 foundations of a healthy building’ is a great start
The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has published The 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building that are concise and easy to use, responding to complaints like “Your research (TreeHugger) is very interesting, but I can’t take a scientific paper into my meeting on Monday and convince a building owner or manager to do things differently. I need a short summary.”
Half of products and services to be low carbon in 10-years
A new survey has found that 52% of executives expect at least 50% of their products and services to be low carbon by 2028. Of these, nearly 1 in 5 predict close to 100% will be low carbon in that same timeframe. The survey, from YouGov, questioned global corporations that have already set or committed to set science-based targets to cut their greenhouse gas.
Changes promise new options for tall wood buildings
Judging by the outcome of the International Code Council (ICC) Group A Committee Action Hearing, April 15-23, in Columbus, Ohio, it’s likely that we will be seeing more and taller mass timber buildings across the country very soon. At that hearing, 14 code proposals related to new and taller types of mass timber construction were recommended for approval.
Ontario company builds prefab homes from recycled cars
It’s big in here. Stand at the front of the factory – where raw steel is coiled, snakelike and awaiting transformation – and it’s difficult to see the far wall. It’s clean in here, too. Walk anywhere and there’s only the odd bit of shiny detritus to justify the safety boots and, unlike in a woodshop, the big steel-shaping machines aren’t coated with layers of sawdust.
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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 |
Starbucks ditching plastic straws
Starbucks will eliminate plastic straws from all of its locations within two years, citing the environmental threat to oceans. The company becomes the largest food and beverage company to do so as calls to cut waste globally grow louder. Plastic straws have become one of the biggest targets.
Environmentalists want Florida to ban harmful sunscreens
A new Care2 petition is calling on the Florida legislature to act quickly to protect the state’s coral reefs by banning sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate. The petition has gathered over 7,000 signatures so far. It was launched after Hawaii became the first state to ban sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate.
Is China’s ‘city of the future’ a replicable model?
When its blueprint was unveiled just over a year ago, Xiong’an New Area was billed as a showcase for President Xi Jinping’s vision of high-quality urbanisation, a project that would be “crucial for the millennium to come”. Green, innovative and state-of-the-art, Xiong’an has been heralded as a remedy to the “urban diseases” that plague China’s major cities: air pollution, water scarcity, and urban sprawl.
Is the global era of massive infrastructure projects ending?
We are living in the most explosive era of infrastructure expansion in human history. To meet the United Nations’ development goals, we would need to invest tens of trillions of dollars in new roads, railways, energy ventures, ports, and other projects by 2030. But this great wave of infrastructure development is suddenly looking shaky.
Products, Technology and Design
Canadian energy storage system saves on energy costs
EnerNOC, Ltd., a subsidiary of Enel X, has signed an agreement with Amhil North America, a privately held packaging company for the food services industry, to deploy a 2.34 MW/4.7 MWh lithium-ion energy storage system. The new system will be installed at Amhil’s facility in Mississauga, Ontario.
New fuel from CO2 can slow climate change
North American scientists may be one step nearer the dream solution to low-carbon energy, new fuel from CO2, if they can suck it straight from the air and convert it directly into gasoline, diesel or jet fuel. They could do what nature has done without the time and expense of deep burial for a hundred million years or so.
Molson Coors steps up climate change efforts
Molson Coors is stepping up efforts to fight global warming even though recent hot weather in Europe during the World Cup has lifted beer sales for one of the world’s biggest brewers, chief executive Mark Hunter said. The firm cut carbon emissions from its direct operations by 15 per cent in 2017, he told Reuters.
Renewable Energy
Smarter renewables open up new markets
It’s bad news for Old King Coal, Big Oil and their mates, but smarter renewables are helping to break new ground. The offshore wind industry and concentrated solar power have so far been tried only on a large scale, and in a few pioneer countries. But that is changing fast.
Residential Green Buildings
Nova Scotia gets funding under Canada’s Low Carbon Fund
Canada and Nova Scotia are helping homeowners make energy efficiency upgrades, save energy and money, and take action against climate change. Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, joined the Honourable Derek Mombourquette, Minister of Energy and Mines for Nova Scotia, to announce the expansion of the Home Energy Assessment, Green Heat, and Efficient Products Installation programs for homeowners who use non-electric sources of heat.
Green building ratings
BREEAM new construction standard to launch in USA
HOK and BRE today announced plans to Americanize the BREEAM New Construction standard for the U.S. marketplace. BRE expects to release BREEAM USA New Construction for public consultation in January 2019. HOK is providing BRE with input and advice on the adaptation of the BREEAM New Construction standard for the American market.
Government Programs and Incentives
Grid grist and microgrid musings
Let’s just agree that it’s impossible to keep up with all of the affronts that the current U.S. administration is perpetuating on every environmental front — whether it’s advocating an industry-led framework for regulating toxic chemicals, turning off the faucet on clean water policies or pulling the plug on support for clean power research and incentives. This list could go on, but even cyberspace has limits.
Corporate Sustainability
3 challenges in reporting climate resilience
Many organizations routinely disclose the impacts of their activities on the environment to answer questions about the company’s impact on the environment. For example, 6,500 companies routinely do so in CDP’s annual disclosure cycle. The right question to ask, however, is “How are climate risks impacting your company?”
Why public opinion on climate change matters to business
The business community is sharply divided about whether to take action on climate change. There are those for which taking steps to prevent climate change is beneficial. Industries such as renewable energy and battery storage stand to profit from a shift to a low-carbon economy, whereas others such as travel, real estate and agriculture are threatened if climate change continues unabated.
Transit, bikes and transportation
The real benefits of real-time transit data
It’s been a little more than a decade since Google and TriMet, the transit authority for Portland, Oregon, partnered to create a standardized format for scheduled transit data called GTFS. That breakthrough, and the subsequent rise of vehicle location data, has made real-time transit information an essential part of urban life.
Water Management
Cape Town has a new apartheid
A person can survive only about three to five days without access to water. What about a city? This is not a hypothetical question: The thirsty city threatens to be the most dire social crisis of the 21st century. Cape Town, where I was born, is the first major city to face a water crisis of epic proportions.
Water data comes to life with new tools, approaches
Understanding and deriving value from environmental data is an ongoing challenge for watershed managers and regulators. In an era where the demand for community engagement in environmental decision-making is on the rise, finding tools to effectively decipher data is increasingly important. In response to these demands, the market of innovative data visualization and sharing tools is growing rapidly.
Waste Management
Crushed porcelain from old toilets a valuable resource
Upgrades to plumbing fixtures in 500 large New York City Department of Education buildings is producing a significant amount of old porcelain. Rather than trashing all of that, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) reprocesses the porcelain into a valuable material for ecological restoration and infrastructure projects.
Getting grip on a growing global e-waste problem
E-waste is an informal name for what is also called waste electrical and electronic equipment, or WEEE for short. It encompasses any household or office item at the end of its useful life that has circuitry inside, or electrical components drawing on a battery or power supply.
Industry Events
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Greenbuild 2024: Built to Scale
Nov 12 2024
to Nov 15 2024
Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA
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Sustainable Finance Forum 2024
Nov 28 2024
to Nov 29 2024
Shaw Centre, Ottawa
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