CaGBC issues ‘a roadmap for retrofits in Canada’

CaGBC issues ‘a roadmap for retrofits in Canada’

A new Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) report sets out actions for industry, non-profit organizations and governments to build a retrofit economy by 2030 that improves the performance of existing buildings and creates new economic opportunities. The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Passive house design on increase in Canada

Across Canada, provincial and municipal levels of government are raising performance requirements and establishing roadmaps for reaching Net Zero energy and/or carbon performance goals similar to those mandated by the Passive House standard. Examples include the City of Toronto Zero Emissions Buildings Framework and the City of Vancouver Zero Emissions Plan for New Buildings.

Canadian Architect

ULI joins Architecture 2030, Measurabl to aid N.A. cities

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Architecture 2030 to help cities within the 2030 Districts Network and commercial property owners in those cities develop and implement energy efficiency and climate change mitigation strategies. The partnership also includes Measurabl, which is the most widely adopted sustainability software for real estate.

ULI.org

Plan calls for 100 per cent net zero buildings

This graphic from the World Green Building Council outlines the organization’s ambitious drive to advance net zero in very simple terms. With a goal that 100 per cent of all buildings operate at net zero by 2050, WorldGBC’s “Advancing Net Zero” calls for better tracking and verification of building performance.

Living Building

Designing healthier buildings: Fitwel system

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average American spends 93 per cent of their life indoors. In response to the growing market demand for healthier buildings, the Centers for Disease Control and the General Services Administration developed Fitwel — a healthy building certification standard optimizing building occupant health and productivity through targeted improvements to workplace design and policies.

BDC Network

Smart surfaces pave way for healthy, wealthy cities

In June, a group of the world’s climate change leaders warned Earth could face irreversible temperature increases if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t reduced by 2020. While Mission 2020 urges energy policymakers to move the world to 30 per cent renewable energy in the next three years, it noted much of the needed change will fall to cities and municipal governments.

Engineering.com

ESG and REITs: Sustainable investing for the long term

An appropriate consideration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues is important to making the right real estate investments. CenterSquare has been incorporating ESG considerations into its listed real estate investment process for decades. However, as its clients’ focus on these issues has increased, so too has the formalization of the firm’s approach. 

CP Executive

Region of Waterloo wants greener Greenbelt expansion

Ontario is thinking of widening its Greenbelt to include the Waterloo moraine under its protection, but Region of Waterloo councillors aren’t so thrilled to jump on board. Ken Seiling, the regional chair for The Region of Waterloo, told CBC News they are not satisfied with the current Greenbelt legislation because some standards are lower than those outlined in the regional policies.

CBC

Will Halifax be ready for future floods and storms?

The storm seemed mild by Nova Scotia’s standards: winds reaching only about 70 kilometres per hour, a mere gale on the Beaufort wind-force scale. But the tides on the Halifax waterfront were higher than usual on Jan. 4, and harbour levels rose further. People who manage or own properties and businesses near the water understood it was a recipe for flooding.

Globe and Mail

New scheme to rank Edmonton neighbourhoods by flood risk

Live near a hospital or substation? You’re in luck. EPCOR officials are busy prioritizing neighbourhood pockets across the City of Edmonton based on how likely they are to flood and what critical infrastructure is nearby. At-risk homes beside a hospital, a school, electrical substation or the LRT will see the biggest investments first as Edmonton prepares for more extreme and frequent flash floods in neighbourhoods far from the river.

Edmonton Journal

Technology may help predict lightning-sparking wildfires

A study by researchers at the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering suggests it’s possible to predict where lightning will strike and how often. They say satellite data and artificial intelligence can help foresee where lightning poses a greater risk to spark wildfires. “It also can be used for the future predictions about those hazards,”  said Dr. Xin Wang

Globe and Mail

Western Canada’s risk of water shortages rising

Three years of drought mean Cape Town could become the first major city in the world to run out of water. As the countdown to “Day Zero” continues in South Africa, scientists are warning some Canadian communities could face their own water crisis in the not-so-distant future.

CBC

Cape Town world’s ‘guinea pigs’ with conservation campaign

When he turned on his bathroom taps and only a few drops trickled out, Yazeed Kamaldien knew the crisis had arrived. In a panic, he rushed to the shops, searching for water buckets and storage drums. The rationing had begun. Cape Town’s government was throttling the water pressure in its pipes, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, and Mr. Kamaldien’sapartment block was one of the first to be hit.

Globe and Mail

Building for green growth in Thailand

Thailand seems likely to emerge as a model of green building in Asia, a region urbanizing more rapidly than any other in the world. Last month, the country took a significant step by submitting two Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change: greening Thailand’s low- and middle-income housing, and greening the country’s government buildings.

UN Environment

Ahead of MIPIM, what is the future of green buildings?

This week, MIPIM real estate conference brings the most influential players in the international property together in Cannes, France. With the EU needing to make big gains in the energy efficiency of buildings to meet climate mitigation targets, how can we get there? Ahead of the conference, we asked experts from the Climate-KIC community “What can we expect to see in the future of green buildings?”

Daily Planet

Products, Technology and Design

Aurora unveils solar cell quality control software

Aurora Solar Technologies Inc. (ACU-X) Monday announced the introduction of Veritas Insight, a new product in the company’s mission of creating a fully integrated quality control system for the solar cell manufacturing industry. Veritas Insight directly addresses the growing challenges facing cell manufacturers in characterizing and controlling production variation.

Globe Newswire

Market Trends and Research

The GreenBiz Report Report

A monthly summary of reports prepared by GreenBiz concerning climate change and green business. This edition includes reports about low-carbon banking, plant-based economics, private-sector collaboration.

GreenBiz

The Global Thermal Energy Storage Markets Report 2015-2024

This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Thermal Energy Storage (TES) in US$ Million and Megawatts (Capacity Installations). The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of World.

Globe Newswire – The report

The global off-grid solar power systems market 2018 to 2022

The global off-grid solar power systems market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 14.45% during the period 2018-2022. Global Off-grid Solar Power Systems Market 2018-2022, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts.

PR Newswire – The report

Commercial real estate

Harvard’s green buildings achieve stringent certifications

Two recent renovation projects by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Extavour Laboratory and the Science Center – Cabot Library Projects, mark the next phase in Harvard’s commitment to green buildings with their recent achievement of the first and second LEED v4 Commercial Interiors certifications in Massachusetts and on campus. 

Harvard University

Renewable Energy

Solar Alliance to build 2.4-MW solar project in SE U.S.

Solar Alliance Energy Inc. (SOLR-X) Wednesday announced it will build a 2.4-MW commercial solar project for a Fortune Global 500 company in the Southeast U.S. The Company will design, engineer and construct the 2.4-megawatt ground mount solar project. The project, the largest sold to date by Solar Alliance, is equivalent to building 480 average-sized residential solar systems. 

Globe Newswire

Farm manure could be viable renewable energy source

Researchers at the University of Waterloo say farm manure could be a viable source of renewable energy to heat homes. UW scientists say they are developing technology to produce natural gas from manure so it can be added to the existing energy supply system for heating homes and powering industries.

CBC

Residential Real Estate

A house can become a big wind-powered battery

Passivhaus or PassiveHouse buildings have plently of insulation and lose heat very slowly; I have previously called them thermal batteries, speaking figuratively. But now Es Tressider of Lean Green Consulting and Highland Passive shows how PassiveHouse buildings could literally be batteries, storing wind power.

TreeHugger

Burrell discusses subjective pleasures of PassiveHouse

I have probably quoted Kiwi architect Elrond Burrell more than any other living architect; his blog on Passivhaus (or PassiveHouse) is invaluable. I even named a new green building standard after him. One of the things I really looked forward to at the 22nd International Passivhaus Conference in Munich was actually meeting him in person and hearing him speak as one of the keynotes.

TreeHugger

Government Programs and Incentives

Al Gore praises Ontario’s cap-and-trade system

As debate over how to combat climate change gears up to be a key issue in Ontario’s spring election, former U.S. vice-president and environmental crusader Al Gore lauded the Liberal government’s cap-and-trade system on Thursday and criticized politicians who wanted to dismantle it. Gore, who met with Premier Kathleen Wynne in Toronto, called cap and trade better than a carbon tax.

Globe and Mail – Toronto Star

Corporate Sustainability

PortsToronto releases third annual Sustainability Report

PortsToronto has released its third annual Sustainability Report, which details progress in three priority areas that define sustainability for the organization: environmental stewardship, community engagement and economic performance. PortsToronto is undertaking efforts to refine sustainability priorities and ensure the report reflects the sustainability topics that are most relevant to the organization and its stakeholders.

Construct Connect

Going beyond green buildings to climate justice

It’s time for the University of British Columbia to move beyond green initiatives like curbing energy use and become a leader in the fight for global climate justice, according to participants in a Climate Town Hall last week. The university has won plenty of awards for sustainability efforts over the last 20 years, including three last year — one received in part for reducing emissions 34 per cent by 2016.

The Tyee

Arnold Schwarzenegger to sue big oil

Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced he will soon file a lawsuit against major oil companies for their decades-long contributions to climate change and environmental degradation. Schwarzenegger, who specifically called out Big Oil for “knowingly killing people all over the world,” is working with several private law firms and developing a public plan for his lawsuit. 

Inhabitat

Peer pressure a good thing: Climate Group CEO

British-schooled Helen Clarkson became an accountant so she could get into humanitarian work. It was a way to bide time until she was old enough to step forward into the field for Médecins Sans Frontières.  It was working as a project manager in places such as Pakistan, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, that she had the epiphany that led her into the business world.

Green Biz

Cities and Towns

L.A. mayor proposes mandatory seismic retrofits

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has proposed a seismic retrofit requirement for vulnerable steel buildings built before the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Garcetti’s plan would also apply to daycare centres and private schools. The proposal comes after the recently published Resilient Los Angeles report said steel buildings constructed from the early 1970s through 1994 were susceptible to earthquake damage.

BDC Network

Water Management

Africa’s first waterway recognized as a living entity

The rivers in Nigeria are not having an easy time of it. None of them meet the water quality standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO) – the country has one of the worst river degradation conditions of any nation on the planet. Of Nigeria’s rivers, River Ethiope stands out. It is believed to be the deepest inland waterway in Africa.

TreeHugger

Winnipeg stuck with $1.4B tab for sewage treatment upgrades

When the most expensive project in the City of Winnipeg’s history is finished, there probably won’t be a ceremonial ribbon-cutting. For symbolic reasons, politicians don’t like being caught on camera at a sewage-treatment plant. The upgrades to the North End Water Pollution Control Centre — the largest of Winnipeg’s three sewage-treatment plants — are expected to cost $1.4 billion.

CBC

Waste Management

Increased dialogue and policy needed on compostables

Compostable packaging is becoming increasingly common in Canada, but the results of a recent study involving 152 stakeholders from nine sectors by the National Zero Waste Council indicate packaging manufacturers, governments and composting companies need to work more closely if these materials are to reach their true circular economy potential.

Globe-net.com

Sobeys introduces bags that use 30 per cent less plastic

Sobeys (EMP-A-T) stores in P.E.I. have introduced more environmentally friendly plastic grocery bags and they’ll be in stores across Atlantic Canada by the end of the year. The lighter bags are produced with 30 per cent less plastic than Sobeys’ previous bags. This is the equivalent of removing 33 million plastic bags in the waste stream a year.

CBC

Attitudes to food waste need to change: GFL

An Alberta-based environmental company would like to see Saskatchewan’s two major cities accelerate wet waste disposal programs. Don Francis, the director of organic solutions at Green For Life Environmental (GFL), points to Calgary and a number of Alberta municipalities that have made it illegal to throw away wet waste (food scraps), in the garbage.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Canada’s G7 anti-plastics push limited by inaction: Professor

Environment professor Tony Walker at Dalhousie University says Canada’s push to lead the G7 into a war against plastic garbage would get a whole lot more heft if the federal government started enacting stronger policies at home.  He says Canada is actually lagging behind many other countries.

CTV News

Other

Book chapter: Life on a disposable planet

Our impacts on the biosphere — the frail membrane in which life occurs, which envelops the dead rock of planet Earth — are treated as externalities. The living world exists outside the realm of market exchange, and therefore outside the models. Or it is reduced to just another component of the consumer economy. As the neoliberal economist Milton Friedman put it, “Ecological values can find their natural space in the market, like any other consumer demand.”

GreenBiz