B.C. industrial building holds record for most airtight

B.C. industrial building holds record for most airtight

The Wood Innovation Research Lab in Prince George, B.C., appears to be nothing more than a modern cedar and black-metal building, but look past the cladding and you’ll find an engineering feat that has earned it the recognition as the most airtight industrial building on the continent. The University of Northern British Columbia building has received Passive House certification, making it the first of its type in North America.

Globe and Mail

B.C. child care centre the first CRE Passive House in Canada

There are only nine structures in Canada that received a prestigious Canadian Green Building Award this year. One of those winners is a building in the Okanagan. The structure is the first commercial building in Canada to receive Passive House certification, which is an international construction standard for energy-efficient buildings, developed in Germany.

Global News

Lessons from designing Canada’s first ‘Living Building’

The Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre is the first project in Canada to be recognized by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) as Living Building Challenge certified; billed as the most rigorous sustainability standard in the world. Designed by DIALOG for the Regional Municipality of York, the centre is LEED Platinum and ILFI Certified.

Canadian Architect

Manitoba Race to Reduce targets building energy usage

Throughout the last century, technological advancements have revolutionized the way we live. From transportation systems to the expedition of communication, these contributions have created a level of convenience and economic prosperity unknown to previous generations.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Hexagonal Toronto tower designed for energy efficiency

Designs for a 263-unit hexagonal residential tower in Toronto call for a façade that provides passive solar cooling and heating. The unusual design comes from architectural firm Studio Gang for real estate investment firm Slate Asset Management’s property. The building, known as One Delisle, will be located at an important transit node and anchor a full-block development, according to Studio Gang.

Energy Manager Today

Inside the Beijing ‘office’ inhabited by human guinea pigs

To outsiders, the workers in this under-construction office on the northern outskirts of Beijing will look like a normal group of employees – but the workplace will be like no other in China. Every movement of the volunteers, students and interns working there will be monitored, measured, analyzed and assessed with wearable technology to monitor their physical, mental and emotional responses to the environment or building design.

The Guardian

Framework tall wood tower in Portland gets the chop

This is a huge setback for tall wood. The Framework Tower in Portland, one of the most interesting tall wood projects on the boards, has been cancelled due to “financial considerations.” Lever Architecture’s 12 storey building was one of two winners of a competition to support study into tall wood buildings.

TreeHugger

	WeWork pulls meat from the office menu
	WeWork, a firm which runs co-working spaces for start-ups around the world, has announced it is going meat-free in a bid to slash greenhouse gas emissions. The company confirmed it will not serve or pay for any red meat, poultry or pork at WeWork events.
	Green Biz, July 19, 2018

 

Green building initiative launches in Vancouver

The first of its kind in Canada, ZEBx aims to boost knowledge among residential and commercial building operators. The October civic election is destined to result in a new-look city council running Vancouver, but it’s still been business as usual for Mayor Gregor Robertson and his team. For example, Robertson will be on hand on Wednesday (July 18) to announce a partnership between the city and ZEBx, the Zero Emissions Building Exchange.

BC Business

Seeking airport resiliency with microgrids?

More and more airports are interested in developing microgrids following last December’s power outage at the Atlanta airport. But often transportation officials aren’t sure how to get started. The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) aims to help them by developing a “microgrid implementation toolkit,” according to Adam Klauber, RMI’s director, sustainable aviation.

MicroGrid Knowledge

Desertification and why Canada should care

A growing human population and runaway consumption are putting unsustainable pressures on the natural resources we depend on for survival. Our misuse and abuse of land and water is changing fertile land into deserts.  Desertification describes the way land can be transformed by climate variation and human activities, including deforestation, overgrazing, the cultivation of unsuitable land and other poor land-use management decisions.

Water Canada

Widespread environmental decline at Wood Buffalo National Park

An exhaustive federal study of Canada’s largest national park concludes almost every aspect of its environment is deteriorating. The 561-page report on Wood Buffalo National Park says industry, dams, climate change and natural cycles are sucking the watery lifeblood from the vast delta of northeastern Alberta’s Peace and Athabasca rivers.

Globe and Mail

	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

 

Termination of Ontario’s clean-energy projects impacts companies

Renewable-power contracts from Boralex Inc. and Invenergy LLC are among those targeted for cancellation by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who’s working to terminate or wind down more than 750 contracts in a revamp of the province’s energy policies. The contracts includes one with the 50-megawatt Otter Creek Wind Farm in western Ontario.

Windsor Star – Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

Ontario municipalities, school boards hit by cancelled energy contracts

The Ontario government’s move to cancel renewable energy contracts will hit municipalities, farmers, school boards and First Nations who were developing small-scale electricity projects to generate additional revenue for their operations. The cancellation of 758 renewable projects that had not yet received final approval will nonetheless cost provincial taxpayers millions of dollars.

Globe and Mail

Voluntary climate risk disclosures are lagging

It’s been a year since the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) released its recommendations. Backed by the G20 finance ministers and Michael Bloomberg, recently reappointed as the United Nations special envoy for climate action, the TCFD offered concrete guidance for public companies on how to report risks and opportunities arising from climate change.

GreenBiz

Ireland, the first country to divest from fossil fuels

The Republic of Ireland will become the world’s first country to sell off its investments in fossil fuel companies, after a bill was passed with all-party support in the lower house of parliament. The state’s €8bn national investment fund will be required to sell all investments in coal, oil, gas and peat “as soon as is practicable”, which is expected to mean within five years.

The Guardian – The

Products, Technology and Design

Opening the door to high performance in extreme temperatures

Canada’s large temperature swings and harsh winters are as well-known as Niagara Falls. Even temperate southern cities like Toronto see average monthly temperatures drop more than 25 C (77 F) between peak summer months and the dead of winter. This number grows to more than 30 C (86 F) for cities like Québec, Montréal, and Edmonton, and nearly 35 C (97 F) for Winnipeg.

Construction Canada

Market Trends and Research

The business case for sustainability in commercial real estate

Earlier this year ING issued a survey, which found that sustainability strategies have shifted from being a cost-cutting or brand reputation strategy to being a true revenue driver. The importance of sustainability in commercial real estate as a growth engine is now recognized by market participants both on the equity and on the debt side.

NREI Onlione

N.A. energy saving and performance contracting market to 2024

The North American energy saving and performance contracting market is currently in the growth stage and is expected to witness healthy growth between 2017 and 2024. A high rate of growth is due to the government support and policy initiatives toward energy performance contracting and increased emphasis on energy savings across all the verticals in the North American market. HVAC and lighting are the most prominent energy conservation measures (ECM) accounting for 64.6% revenues in 2017.

PR Newswire

U.S. solar panel market: USD 22.90-billion by 2025

The U.S. solar panel market size is expected to reach USD 22.90 billion by 2025 as a result of increasing demand from consumers owing to decreased installation cost of solar panel systems. Increasing environmental awareness among customers is driving the adoption of cost-efficient renewable forms of energy over conventional energy sources.

PR Newswire

Canada’s high Arctic glaciers at risk of disappearing

Hundreds of glaciers in Canada’s high Arctic are shrinking and many are at risk of disappearing completely, an unprecedented inventory of glaciers in the country’s northernmost island has revealed. Using satellite imagery, researchers catalogued more than 1,700 glaciers in northern Ellesmere Island and traced how they had changed between 1999 and 2015.

The Guardian – CBC

Market trends and research

Global urbanization numbers turns out to be wrong

Widely accepted numbers on how much of the world’s population lives in cities are incorrect, with major implications for development aid and the provision of public services for billions of people, researchers say. The United Nations predicts the world’s urban population is expected to grow to 70 per cent by 2050 from 55 per cent at present after becoming majority urban for the first time around 2008.

Eco Business

A price on carbon would mitigate climate change impact

In April, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-LA, and co-sponsor Rep. David McKinley, R-WV, introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives that denounces a tax on carbon pollution as “detrimental to the U.S. economy,” among many other criticisms. This non-binding resolution focuses exclusively (and incorrectly) on the perceived negative economic impacts of carbon pricing.

Ceres

Municipal Policy and Urban Issues

Opinion: Scrapping Ontario’s cap-and-trade carbon creates losers

Like a backwater version of Donald Trump, Doug Ford prefers destruction to building or repairing. His first act as Ontario’s premier was to rip up the province’s cap-and-trade carbon program. There was no orderly wind-down; it just vanished into thin air like a plume of diesel smoke.

Globe and Mail (Requires subscription)

Renewable Energy

Renewables in remote communities 2017 conference proceedings

The Renewables in Remote Communities 2017 conference saw over 250 people come together in Whitehorse to discuss the human and financial capacity for renewable energy projects in remote communities. This report discusses how Indigenous leaders, territorial, provincial and federal government representatives, utilities, private business, knowledge experts and the nonprofit sector shared insights into how to better advance diesel reductions in remote communities.

Pembina Institute

Residential Green Buildings

Michelle Taggart looking to build a greener Ottawa

Most people want to make a difference in the world but aren’t always sure where to start. For Michelle Taggart, her eye-opening moment came while she was a first-year university student and environmental activist protesting outside the 3rd Summit of the Americas in 2001. She watched from the rowdy crowd while the security gates opened long enough to permit entry for the cars carrying the leaders and influencers.

Ottawa Business Journal

Green features are more of a requirement for apartment renters

Renters in many U.S. cities have come to expect green features in apartments that they rent, with an eye toward energy efficiency and healthy indoor air. Some 42% of overall multifamily financing provided by Fannie Mae in 2017 qualified for its Green Rewards program.

BDC Network

Corporate Sustainability

How to effectively evaluate your environmental risk

In 2015, S&P Global Ratings downgraded a major auto manufacturer for material deficiencies in the company’s management and governance and general risk management framework. This led to wide-ranging negative credit consequences. More recently, a national energy firm was placed on CreditWatch due to liquidity issues as a result of a strike by employees in 2017.

GreenBiz

OGC pioneers groundbreaking steward ownership structure

Imagine a company where the largest stockholder never wants to sell its stock or take a profit. And where leadership is directed to focus 100 percent on its founding purpose: to deliver a positive impact on people and planet through its products and services. Today, Organically Grown Company (OGC) becomes that company and the first U.S. business to utilize trust law to structure its operational and funding model.

CSR Wire

Cities and Towns

How to catalyze sustainable small town redevelopment

Many cities fully embrace redevelopment as a strategy to revitalize whole districts, as we are witnessing in old manufacturing centers such as Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Even smaller cities such as Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, are getting in on the action. Instead of greenfields, brownfields and their classic, historic architecture, their raw industrial grit, are back in vogue.

GreenBiz

Waste Management

Calgarians cut landfill waste in half since 2008

Calgarians have essentially halved how much they send to the landfill compared with about a decade ago, statistics show — which suggests programs aimed at reducing waste are paying off. Last year, on average, each resident sent 368 kilograms to one of the city’s three landfills which is 48 per cent less than what Calgarians did nine years ago, in 2008.

CBC