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GHG reduction plan for federal buildings moves ahead
The GHG reduction plan for federal buildings moves ahead
The Government of Canada has spent a lot of time studying buildings and converting lighting systems to LED bulbs during the past year. Now, it’s heading into a more critical, and difficult, phase of its plan to live up to its commitments under the Paris Agreement and the Vancouver Declaration on Climate Change.
Canadian industry challenged to improve energy efficiency
The federal government is throwing a challenge, and some incentives, at Canada’s industrial manufacturers to scale back their energy use. Industrial manufacturing is the most energy-intensive sector of the economy, producing more than one-third of Canada’s greenhouse gases, so it’s a good place to seek efficiencies, Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr said Tuesday in Winnipeg.
Energy Manager Today – Energy Manager Today
Investor Confidence Project (ICP) to accelerate retrofit economy
The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC), Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), and the Advanced Energy Centre at MaRS Discovery District (MaRS) announced today that they are working together to bring the Investor Confidence (ICP) Project and its Investor Ready Energy Efficiency (IREE) certification to Canada.
Choosing to ditch the car commute to the office
Which is more valuable, a parking spot at work or help switching to a clean and healthy commute? That is the decision Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) employees in Boulder, Colorado, made ahead of their move to the newly opened Boulder Commons North Building in the Boulder Junction district.
Bloor bike lanes should stay: city report
City transportation staff are recommending that council make the pilot project of separated bike lanes on Bloor St. permanent, paving the way for what would be a huge victory for Toronto’s cycling advocates. A highly anticipated report released Wednesday morning determined that the lanes have achieved the key objectives of improving safety on the corridor, dramatically increasing cycling rates, and minimizing negative effects on other road users.
Toronto Star – Metor – TreeHugger – CBC
Sustainable Buildings Canada researches Dutch net zero model
Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC) has announced the release of foundational research for large-scale net zero energy refurbishments conducted in collaboration with Netherlands social innovator, Energiesprong. The research looks at models for industrialized manufacturing processes and financial conditions to provide Canada’s social housing sector with a long-term, self-financing opportunity to elevate and maintain the building stock to the higher levels of energy efficiency.
New energy concept from Sweden can make any building net zero
A new Swedish energy concept can turn any building into a net zero energy structure. Pioneered by Malmö-based company Innenco, the concept utilizes a building’s thermal mass to drastically reduce energy use by around 85 percent. With their active elements systems, heat pumps, chillers, and adding solar panels, Innenco can bring new or existing buildings to net zero energy consumption.
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A double LEED® Platinum convention centre |
| The Vancouver Convention Centre has demonstrated sustainability excellence by becoming the first double LEED Platinum convention centre in the world, and the first v4 Platinum Existing Building project to certify in Canada. | |
| CaGBC – News Release, October 10, 2017 |
New green roof design appears to be smart too
Green roofs haven’t been in the news much lately. But that doesn’t mean that they’re not being built nor does it mean they aren’t being improved. Perhaps it’s the mass media’s constant quest for something new and different that has kept green roofs out of the news. Certainly, research continues, often with interesting but not sensational results.
Landsec leads the way with science-based targets
It was at the UN’s COP 21 gathering in Paris, France that Landsec executives tasked with running the UK’s largest commercial property company – with a portfolio of assets, including shopping centres and offices, worth some £14.4 billion – decided the time was right to take their environmental impacts more seriously.
Bloomberg heralds new HQ as ‘World’s Most Sustainable Office Building’
A new building in London, that has achieved the highest BREEAM score ever awarded to a major office development, may just be the world’s most sustainable office building. Bloomberg’ new European headquarters nabbed a 98.5% score and an “outstanding” rating. The building delivers a 73% savings in water consumption and a 35% savings in energy consumption compared to a typical office building.
Streamlining building envelope materials for building teams
Efficiency has become a top-of-mind concern in construction. Greater energy efficiency is mandated by codes and regulations. Greater working efficiency is required to stay competitive even as labor costs rise. Sometimes, the two seem at odds with each other. Constructing an energy-efficient building means making it airtight from the inside, water-resistant from the outside, and very well insulated without thermal bridges—all in addition to fulfilling structural requirements.
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Humans can sustainably exist on Earth |
| David Suzuki is nearing the end of his of life – but don’t feel morose for the scientist, environmentalist, husband, father and grandfather. Suzuki, 81, assured hundreds of people at the Expo for Innovation, Design and Technology, that he is content. | |
| CBC, October 10, 2017 |
Reducing duct leakage is focus on latest green building standards
The latest version of ASHRAE 189.1 will expand duct testing requirements to include low pressure ducts as well as high pressure ducts. The latest updates to ASHRAE 189.1 have been finalized and incorporated into the standard.
Canada’s renewable energy growth projections scaled back
A new report expects growth in Canadian renewable energy capacity to slow in the next five years compared to earlier projections, a decrease that comes after Ontario scrapped a contentious clean energy program aimed at boosting wind and solar supplies. The International Energy Agency’s annual outlook for renewable energy, projects Canada’s renewable capacity to grow by nine gigawatts between 2017 and 2022.
Energy storage for microgrids to be $22B by 2026
A new report from Navigant Research examines the global market for energy storage for microgrids (ESMG), providing an analysis of trends and market dynamics, with forecasts for capacity and revenue that extend through 2026. Although not required for microgrids to operate, energy storage systems (ESSs) have emerged as an increasingly valuable component of distributed energy networks.
The sky fell in Puerto Rico raising the microgrid argument
Hurricane Maria showed that warnings about the vulnerabilities of centralized electric grids – and the need for microgrid development — are not overstated. When the hurricane hit the U.S. territory on September 20, it knocked out power to 100 percent of 1.57 million accounts served by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), the island’s utility.
Products, Technology and Design
Is blockchain the singularity point for the environment?
If you know something is bad for you but you don’t know how to measure it, how can you reduce it? Take calories, for example. If we want to lose weight, we need to reduce our calorie intake. To do this, we can use the information found on packaging and in apps to monitor our calorie intake and adjust to what is healthy. Let’s apply this analogy to the environment.
Market Trends and Research
Clean energy could cut GHG emissions by 80% in the U.S.
The U.S. can cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% percent by 2050 with an “ambitious, but realistic, increase in clean energy,” according to a National Resources Defense Council report. America’s Clean Energy Frontier: The Pathway to a Safer Climate Future says that such a reduction could be achieved almost entirely with tools available today.
Canada well-positioned to decarbonize, says wind association president
Canada is well-positioned to transition to a low-carbon economy as wind and solar projects will be the focus of energy investments over the next two decades, a national wind energy conference was told. Almost three quarters of new energy capacity investments in the country through 2040 will be for the two renewable energy sources, said Alex Morgan, wind energy analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
On carbon, cities, circular, coal and consumer goods
The Report Report is a monthly wrap-up of recent research on sustainable business and clean technology, produced by Corporate Eco Forum, a by-invitation membership organization comprised of large, global companies that demonstrate a serious commitment at the senior executive level to sustainability as a business strategy issue.
Municipal Policy and Urban Issues
Will America’s infrastructure investment withstand future disasters?
When Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the gulf coast of Texas in late August, it led to widespread flooding in Houston and other cities and towns. In some places more than 15 inches of rain fell in a 24-hour period, quickly inundating roads, highways and entire neighborhoods. Damage from the storm is expected to be in the billions of dollars.
Commercial real estate
NH ski resort reduces energy consumption by 30%
Cannon Mountain Ski Area in New Hampshire announced it has installed energy efficiency upgrades expected to help reduce energy consumption at the ski area by 30%, while significantly increasing snowmaking capabilities for less cost. The ski resort recently completed a $5.1 million energy efficiency upgrade in partnership with Ameresco, an energy efficiency and renewable energy company.
Commercial Green Buildings
Why an office is not a spaceship
Employees deserve more than just good air quality. Remember that scene from the Apollo 13 movie, where the astronauts start bouncing off the walls and yelling at each other? Then Tom Hanks looks at the CO2 levels and realizes that, Houston, we have another problem.
The growing demand for early childhood education
As the body of research on the effectiveness of early learning centers continues to grow, the value in designing more of these institutions has become increasingly apparent. Recent research estimates that the brain grows the most in the first five years of life, thus programs directed at this age demographic have proved to yield astonishing results.
Government Programs and Incentives
Feds get failing grade from environment commissioner
The federal government is nowhere near ready for the massive storms and more frequent floods and fires that are expected to result from climate change, warns Canada’s environment commissioner. In her autumn annual reports, Julie Gelfand asked whether Ottawa will be able to protect more than $66 billion in federal assets like bridges, roads and airports.
Trump abandon of clean power plan out of step with business
The proposal released by the Trump administration to abandon the Clean Power Plan is both “misguided and out of step with the leaders in the business community,” Ceres said in a statement. The Clean Power Plan is the nation’s first comprehensive effort to reduce carbon pollution from existing electric power plants – the second largest source of global warming pollution in the country.
Intensifying the focus on sustainability
When the United States pulled out of the Paris Accord earlier this month, it changed the environmental climate in this country—and the world—profoundly. While many pundits, advocates and talking heads have decried how much this will set the U.S. and the rest of the world back in terms of environmental initiatives and sustainability, the truth of the matter is that this decision could easily be a driver for sustainability.
Investors applaud U.S. governors for strengthening RGGI
On the heels of the Trump administration’s latest move to repeal the Clean Power Plan, the first comprehensive effort to cut power plant pollution, major companies and investors are praising an agreement by states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to extend and strengthen the carbon cap-and-trade program through 2030.
Corporate Sustainability
Reporting climate risk is a major business opportunity
All companies soon will have to account for climate risk — that was the clear message of the recommendations released in June by the G20 Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), led by financial heavyweights Mark Carney and Michael Bloomberg. It is increasingly the message of shareholders, too. More than 100 CEOs signed up to support the TCFD recommendations at its launch.
Is sustainability now the key to corporate success?
The broader societal concern about sustainability has grown from almost nothing in the early 1990s to a dominant theme today. Meanwhile, leaders of major corporations worldwide are increasingly facing the challenge of managing organizations that meet the expectations of a broad range of stakeholders (often themselves in conflict), while still delivering a return to shareholders.
Lloyd’s chairman: Businesses are under-insured against climate
Hurricanes, floods, mudslides, the third series of ITV’s “Love Island”: 2017’s turbulent summer has been captured in disturbing media headlines across the world that, taken as a whole, read like a contents page to the Old Testament. It is particularly disturbing because the sheer scale of devastation wrought by such events —escapist reality TV shows aside — is expected to grow.
What does it look like to embed sustainability across an organization?
A recent GreenBiz article by Joel Makower described how Cargill is preparing all of its employees to understand the concept of sustainability. The giant food and agricultural chemical company is also one of the largest private companies in the United States. One of its managers who was very knowledgeable in sustainability felt it was time to build the profile of sustainability within the organization.
Cities and Towns
Nature speaks, cities listen
Appropriately and poetically, Mother Nature shouted for attention last month on the lead-up to this year’s Climate Week NYC — an annual event focused on driving climate action forward — which this year coincided with GreenBiz’s signature fall event VERGE 17. From a safe distance, I listened and sent donations to Harvey victims.
Other
Future of global responsible forestry focus of FSC meeting
A broad range of vital topics that will have a profound impact on the future of responsible forestry was discussed by delegates attending the second day of the triennial global General Assembly of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the world’s leading forest certification organization. Approximately 800 delegates from more than 80 countries are at the meeting.
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Sustainable Biz followers on Twitter |
| Follower The Buildings Performance Institute EU is a Brussels based think-tank delivering policy analysis, advice and implementation support for buildings energy performance. | |
| Follow BizSustainably, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian business concerned about sustainability. |
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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