Fully off-the-grid development in Kelowna breaks ground

Fully off-the-grid development in Kelowna breaks ground

It’s not your usual commercial development: A self-storage facility combined with a co-workspace. But that is what Kelowna, B.C., is getting at the corner of Ellis Street and Bay Avenue. Parent company Ulmus Development claims EcoLock Kelowna will be the first fully off-the-grid, “green” commercial development of its kind in North America.

Global News

B+H designs PCL Toronto’s new LEED v4 office space

PCL Toronto has settled into its new Oakville, Ont. office space in Westbury International Centre, which reflects both its heritage and future as Canada’s largest construction company. “Our previous space served us well for more than 25 years,” said PCL Constructors Canada Inc. (Toronto) senior vice-president and district manager Todd Craigen of the former location at 2085 Hurontario St. in Mississauga, Ont. “However, it was dated and in need of a major renovation.

Sustainable Biz Canada

New initiatives lift Oxford back atop GRESB rankings

Toronto-based Oxford Properties has returned to the top of the annual Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) ranking in the North American diversified retail and office assets category. The real estate investment firm reached the top spot in the international assessment and ranking program five out of the last six years said Oxford’s head of office, Andrew McAllan. The only year it missed out was 2017.

Property Biz Canada

Bentall Kennedy ranked 1st in Canada in the 2018 GRESB

For the eighth consecutive year, the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) has ranked Bentall Kennedy among the top firms in the world for its commitment to investing sustainably. Bentall Kennedy retained its position as a top global leader in sustainability on the strength of its collaboration with clients and tenants, and its employees’ commitment to driving innovation in asset and property management.

Bentall Kennedy news release

Ivanhoé Cambridge among top 10% in GRESB performance

For the fourth consecutive year, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Ivanhoé Cambridge is a real estate subsidiary of Caisse de depot et placement du Québec, one of Canada’s largest institutional fund managers. . has further improved its score in the prestigious Global ESG Benchmark for Real Estate (GRESB) from 82 to 83 (out of 100). With this result, the company continues to perform in the top 10% compared to its fellow private real estate companies with diversified portfolios.

Ivanhoe Cambridge news release

JLL Income achieves 4-star GRESB Rating

JLL Income Property Trust, an institutionally managed daily NAV REIT earned a 4-star GRESB Rating in the 2018 Real Estate Assessment, and in so doing has become the first NAV REIT to be rated by the leading, institutionally accepted, global non-profit agency committed to creating better places for people and communities.

PR Newswire

The CaGBC announces the 2018 Greenest Schools

As part of World Green Building Week, the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) and the Canada Coalition for Green Schools are happy to announce the winners of the annual CaGBC Greenest School in Canada competition: Lacombe Composite High School in Lacombe, AB, and Trinity College School in Port Hope, ON. 

Canada Green Building Council

	World Green Building Week – Sept. 24-30, 2018
	This year, we want everyone, everywhere to take action and commit to making a change in the homes they build, lease or live in. We can all do something to make our home a greener, healthier and more energy efficient home. Let’s start now.
	World Green Building Council

 

Atlantic Canada’s best green buildings

Atlantic Canada’s outstanding green building projects were recently honoured by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) with the 2018 CaGBC Atlantic Chapter Green Building Awards. The Wilkinson Warehouses in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and the only industrial multitenant project for the CaGBC’s Zero Carbon Building Standard (ZCB), won in the Zero Carbon category.

Construction Canada

Largest LEED-certified office buildings in the U.S.

Since the U.S. Green Building Council first developed its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the nation’s LEED-certified construction volume has increased to comprise about 40 per cent of green construction’s contribution to the economy. The list below highlights the largest office buildings based on square footage that have received LEED certification and re-certification based on a Yardi Matrix data ranking.

CP Executive

Starwood to open luxury eco-friendly 1 Hotel in Toronto

Hotel visionary Barry Sternlicht is planning to open his luxury 1 Hotel brand for eco-travelers in Toronto. The first 1 Hotel opened in 2015 in South Beach, Fla., with a living wall, access to a Tesla electric car and filtered water in taps and showers. Now Sternlicht and his US$60-billion Starwood Capital Group investment firm have their sights set on Toronto.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

ALDO first footwear company certified climate neutral

South Pole, a world-leading developer of climate action projects, certified the ALDO Group as climate neutral according to South Pole’s climate neutral company label criteria. The ALDO Group offset 100% of the carbon emissions produced in 2017 by its corporate stores, offices and distribution centres, and will continue this commitment moving forward.

Canada Newswire

	RE100: Greener companies outperform peers
	Companies sourcing renewable electricity outperform their rivals financially, according to a new report released Tuesday from RE100, the initiative from the Climate Group that encourages firms to commit to using 100 percent renewable power.
	GreenBiz, September 28, 2018

 

QuadReal Property Group adopts Yardi Smart Energy Suite

QuadReal Property Group needed a utility expense management system that could seamlessly handle 12,000 residential units at 45 properties. The company selected Yardi® Utility Expense Management, part of the Yardi® Smart Energy Suite, to receive, validate and complete utility bill payments. The system receives account information and utility data directly from utility providers and stores it in the Yardi Voyager® property management and accounting system.

Canada Newswire

Green cleaning: Where we’ve been and what’s next

For more than two decades, I have been discussing the value and the reasons for green cleaning in the professional cleaning industry. While the first few years of my journey – and it certainly has been a journey – were difficult, with few people attending my seminars or presentations, I am happy to report that today “green cleaning” has become mainstream in the professional cleaning industry.

Environmental Leader

Sustainability careers of the future require depth and breadth

It’s that time of year again: The launch of the GreenBiz State of the Profession report, which looks at the evolving role of sustainability leaders and practitioners in business today. As in past years, I partnered with GreenBiz to help expand the number of people surveyed. (Take note: This year’s report captures insights from nearly double the number of people from outside the United States, which paints a more accurate picture of this global field.)

GreenBiz

Climate change could turn megacities into death traps

GreenBiz

Market Trends and Research

European leaders urged to act on soil sustainability

Soils play a key role in regulating the earth’s climate, sustaining agriculture and preserving biodiversity. Yet they have fallen down the EU policy agenda even though tools exist to reverse that trend, according to a new report published on Wednesday (26 September). Policymakers cannot afford to ignore soil sustainability anymore, argues the report by the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC).

European Activ

Global green cement market expected to reach $37.2B

The global green cement market is expected to witness a CAGR of 12.4% and is projected to reach USD 37.2 billion by 2024. Perpetual increase in demand for cement from construction industry, and scarcity of raw materials for production of conventional cement are likely to propel the growth of this market over the forecast period. Additionally, increasing environmental concerns due carbon emissions in the manufacturing of regular cement is also expected to attribute to the growth of this market.

Globe Newswire

Municipal Policy and Urban Issues

Ottawa’s urban forest walloped by tornadoes

Catastrophic weather events such as the tornadoes that struck Ottawa last week are becoming increasingly common, and that’s threatening the lush tree canopy that covers large parts of the city, according to an urban forestry expert. Mike Rosen, president of Tree Canada, spent part of Wednesday — National Tree Day, as fate would have it — helping a co-worker clear her property of trees and branches downed in Friday’s violent storm.

CBC

Forests cut warming better than technology

Simple solutions are often the best, and British and European climate scientists have identified one: forests cut warming better than the technological solutions now being widely canvassed. They have established some simple ground rules for limiting global warming to the international target of an average rise of no more than 1.5°C by 2100.

Globe-net.com

Cleaning up Manitoba’s contaminated sites will cost $22M more

An accounting change has added nearly $22 million to the amount the Province of Manitoba expects it will have to pay to clean up contaminated sites. Premier Brian Pallister says the previous NDP government ignored a report by the auditor general in 2014. That report alerted the government that estimated environmental liability of $281 million had not been adjusted for inflation since new public accounting rules were adopted in 2005-2006, Pallister said.

CBC

Commercial real estate

Interview with Tom Paladino, green building consultant

Tom Paladino of sustainability and green building consulting firm Paladino and Co. talks with Tim about how architects, developers and corporations are improving the design and operations of their buildings in order to minimize costs, increase profitability, create market demand, and increase occupant satisfaction.

Environmental Leader

Niagara Falls farmer growing crops on an old landfill

Farming has been in Kyle Smith’s family since 1796. He’s been farming full-time for about 15 years now, but this is the first time he’s done it on top of a dump. “When they first approached us with the idea it was definitely something different, nothing we’d encountered before or heard about in all our years,” he says. The project is on a landfill owned by Walker Industries in Niagara Falls.

CBC

Renewable Energy

A necessary shift to distributed renewable energy

Over the weekend, the Co-operative was tabling at Green Energy Doors Open Ottawa at Lansdowne’s Horticulture Building. There was much discussion of how climate change is causing more extreme weather events like the one that had just affected the region. The length of the power outages that some parts of the City of Ottawa experienced (and are still experiencing, in some cases), demonstrates the fragility of our centralized electrical grid.

Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-operative

Government Programs and Incentives

Climate resilience must be on every government’s agenda

This year, the World Economic Forum ranked climate change and its effects as the biggest risk facing the world. This reality demands both our immediate action and a long-term plan. Collectively, we are too reactive to the effects of climate change. We must apply greater urgency to implement the most important steps to take now to protect us in the future.

Globe and Mail

Ford ‘gutted’ climate change programs that were working: Report

The Ontario government has “gutted” climate change programs that were beginning to reap benefits and a new “meaningful” law is needed to replace them, the province’s environmental commissioner says. In a report released on Tuesday, “Climate Action in Ontario: What’s Next?,” Dianne Saxe says such a law is required immediately to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and provide solutions to environmental problems.

CBC – Global News – Globe and Mail

Carbon dividends would benefit families: Report

Canadians for Clean Prosperity has released a new report showing that most households would receive more money in the form of carbon dividend cheques than they would pay in carbon taxes, if the federal government brings in carbon dividends in those provinces in which it brings in its carbon tax “backstop” starting in 2019.

Canada Newswire – Winnipeg Free Press

B.C.’s targets will be unreachable if LNG goes ahead: Critics

Environmentalists are warning that it will be impossible for British Columbia to reach its climate targets if a Shell-led liquefied natural gas project forges ahead along the northern coast. The BC NDP government has suggested that other industries would need to sharply reduce their greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions should the LNG Canada project in Kitimat get built.

Globe and Mail

Waste Management

Why we’re choking on Amazon cardboard

In the courtyard of my apartment building in Berlin, one of the eight containers for various kinds of garbage, the blue one, is for paper and cardboard. It’s emptied every Wednesday and it’s always chock-full by Thursday. My wife and I have taken to watching the container and running to it after the weekly pickup with our pile of cardboard from Amazon and other online stores.

Bloomberg

Confusion over bioplastics hinders fight against waste: Expert

A Vancouver-based plastics expert is pushing for more public education about the different types of plastics following Ottawa’s plans to eliminate the use of single-use plastics in government operations. Love-Ese Chile, a bioplastics specialist and consultant, argues not all plastics are the same and it’s crucial to understand their differences when creating public policy.

CBC