Peak Power signs Starlight, partners with BGIS, Sidewalk Labs

Peak Power signs Starlight, partners with BGIS, Sidewalk Labs

Toronto-based Peak Power Inc. has opened offices in Boston and New York City and more than doubled its staff to 25 over the past year, as its software and solutions to provide electricity savings gain in popularity. Peak Power offers a range of services, including project development, construction, software, financing, operations and maintenance.

Sustainable Biz Canada

New Minto Capital rental building LEED registered

Minto Capital announced its new purpose-built rental tower, 1235 Marlborough in Oakville, is now LEED registered. The 14-storey building comprised of 144 units, state of the art amenities and located in the prime College Park neighbourhood at Trafalgar and Upper Middle Road near Sheridan College, is also pre-leasing units with occupancy targeted for fall 2018.

Canada Newswire

CALÉO attains LEED Silver certification from USGBC

After opening its doors on July 1 in Boucherville, Que., the CALÉO residential retirement complex is the first private seniors’ home in Canada to earn LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification. “This distinction, which makes me extremely proud, is recognized as the international mark of excellence for green buildings,” said Luc Maurice, president of Le Groupe Maurice.

Canada Newswire

Canada invests in net-zero retrofit program for homeowners

Energy efficiency is hard to see, but we feel its benefits in our homes, neighbourhoods, environment, economy and wallets. A clean energy future includes federal investments in innovation to drive economic growth, reduce environmental impact and create new, middle-class jobs for Canadians.

Canada Newswire

New ‘living’ wall spruces up Fredericton green space

A major facelift to a retaining wall on Fredericton’s north side is sprucing up a popular green space. The City of Fredericton turned the wall that borders Carleton Park, near the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge, into a living wall made up of colourful plants.

CBC

Smart Surfaces Coalition formed to reduce urban heat islands

Research indicates that most American cities will experience up to five or 10 times as many excessively hot (90+ degrees Fahrenheit) days within a few decades. To help reduce urban heat, 22 U.S. organizations have launched the Smart Surfaces Coalition. The group’s aim is to help cities to understand how to use advanced surface technologies to reduce heat and prevent flooding.

BDC Network

Better land use policies to help thwart climate change

When we think about solutions to climate change, we often start by focusing on reducing the negative. After all, what can power plants, vehicles and industrial producers do beyond emitting less greenhouse gas? In the restaurant industry, however, we also can focus on increasing the positive via our agricultural supply chains: Land is naturally able to reduce carbon by pulling it out of the atmosphere.

GreenBiz

	Manitoba Race to Reduce targets 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, July 26, 2018

 

Manitobans call for more charging stations

Electric vehicle owners in Manitoba say more needs to be done to encourage drivers to hang up the gas pump and switch to zero-emission automobiles in this province. The Manitoba Electric Vehicle Association (MEVA) held its annual MEVAfest Saturday, an event that brings electric vehicle (EV) owners out to meet and answer questions from drivers interested in making the switch.

CBC

Million-dollar, zero-emission bus used in Charlottetown

Charlottetown residents may have gotten a glimpse of the future of transit this week in the form of a bright orange electric bus. On Thursday, a group that included politicians and members of the media got to take a ride on the ten metre, New Flyer Canada zero emission, battery-electric Xcelsior Charge demo bus, and learn more about what it can do.

The Chronicle Herald

Walmart commits to alternatively powered vehicles

 Walmart Canada today announced plans to power its fleet using 100 per cent alternative power by 2028. To meet that goal, the company has announced plans to acquire an additional 30 Tesla 18-wheeler semi-trucks, building on its original order of 10 trucks in November 2017.  With 40 Tesla Semis in total, the company will feature one of the largest electrified fleets planned by a company in Canada.

Canada Newswire – Ottawa Citizen

Walmart’s Berezowski honoured for lifetime achievement

Retail Council of Canada (RCC) announced Don Berezowski, Walmart Canada’s director of Environmental Health and Safety, will be honoured with the 2018 RCC Retail Secure Lifetime Achievement Award. The award will be presented during Retail Secure 2018, Retail Council of Canada’s Loss Prevention Conference on Sept. 20, 2018 in Toronto.

Canada Newswire

	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

 

Sustainable investing is ‘low priority’ for many allocators

Sustainable investing is a low priority issue for most institutional investors, according to a survey by Schroders. The UK-listed asset manager polled 650 investors around the world running $24trn (€20.6trn) and found that, although they expected sustainable investing to become a bigger issue in the next few years, it was not currently a high priority for most.

IPE Real Estate

BASF committed to accomplishing UN sustainability goals

Far too often, Canadian businesses are unwilling to make the bold calls needed to support sustainable practices. The idea that a company should only act in its own self-interest, driving profits while ignoring social and environmental impacts, needs to be retired once and for all. Why? The easy answer is that it’s the right thing to do – but it’s also great for business.

Globe and Mail

Saltwater could contaminate Miami’s drinking water supply

The Miami metro region faces crises due to rising sea levels that threaten to make the area uninhabitable. While the danger of flooding has been widely documented, the threat to the region’s drinking water supply has been less chronicled. In fact, salt water incursion into the region’s aquifer could be what threatens Miami’s viability for human habitation.

BDC Network

California governor commits to 100 per cent clean energy

California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed a bill requiring the state to source electricity from exclusively carbon-free sources by 2045, a move aimed at combating climate change that clashes with U.S. President Donald Trump’s pro-fossil fuel policies. The law makes California the largest global economy to commit to 100 percent clean energy. Hawaii is the only other U.S. state to set a similar goal.

Reuters – Energy Manager Today

Products, Technology and Design

Alberta project aims to capture CO2, boost oil output

Nearly a decade after winning millions of government dollars in support, a project with the seemingly contradictory goals of trapping greenhouse gas and boosting oil output is poised to bring a new dimension to the Alberta oilpatch. In August, Enhance Energy announced it has enlisted Wolf Midstream as a partner on its long-awaited Alberta Carbon Trunk Line project.

CBC

Decisions on carbon capture future 7 years away

Decisions around whether to expand carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) in Saskatchewan could be made as long as seven years from now, according to SaskPower’s CEO.  Mike Marsh appeared the Crowns committee reported about recent decision to not retrofit Boundary Dam power station units 4 and 5 with CCS and instead shut them down.

CBC

Market Trends and Research

Changing ice conditions clear way for historic fuel delivery

An Alaska company says changing ice conditions in the North Slope area have allowed it to make a bulk fuel delivery to Prudhoe Bay by barge for the first time. KTUU-TV reported Thursday that Colville Inc. says that the single trip carried 8 million litres of fuel. The fuel took 70 hours to unload before it was moved to a tank farm in the community of Deadhorse.

CBC – Anchorage Daily News

Sudden spike in Great Lakes temperatures worries scientists

The Great Lakes are getting hotter, seeing a rise in some parts of three degrees. Aaron Fisk, a professor with the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Windsor spoke about why temperatures are on the rise and what that means for the Great Lakes and the things that live in it.

CBC

Government Programs and Incentives

Greenpeace taking Ontario government to court

A legal challenge filed on behalf of Greenpeace Canada alleges Premier Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservative government failed to consult the public on a regulation ending Ontario’s cap-and-trade program and a proposed bill that would alter the province’s legislative regime for tackling climate change.

Globe and Mail

Manitoba’s price on carbon will be up for discussion: PM

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s happy that Manitoba has put a price on carbon emissions even though the province doesn’t plan to keep pace with Ottawa’s climate change plan. Before meeting with Premier Brian Pallister, Trudeau said he is pleased a conservative premier has acknowledged the need to put a price on pollution and understands the need to fight climate change.

CBC

Corporate Sustainability

New research being debated at the Global Climate Action Summit

The Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) in San Francisco — and more than 350 affiliate events connected to what’s being described as an unprecedented gathering of businesses, cities, NGOs and other “nonstate actors” supporting the transition to a clean economy — has inspired the publication of dozens of new economic prognostications, deep-dive analyses and take-action handbooks.

GreenBiz

Musk rails against fossil fuel use and climate change

Tesla CEO Elon Musk last week gave an impassioned speech arguing against the further use of fossil fuels. In an appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast on Thursday, Musk called the ongoing use of fossil fuels “an insane experiment” and called for humanity to speed up the adoption of sustainable energy sources to replace them.

INSIDER

Public Transit

REM commits to planting 250,000 trees in Montreal region

The Réseau express métropolitain (REM) will begin preparing work sites in the West Island for future construction of light-rail train stations and other infrastructures. Preparatory work, which is planned for mid-September, will include the removal of branches, shrubs and the cutting of trees. The work will be restricted to land within the project design, REM said in a statement.

Montreal Gazette

Water Management

Winnipeg aims to reduce raw sewage in river system

Canoeist David Danyluk doesn’t live far from Winnipeg’s Assiniboine River but he tends to spend more time paddling further afield.  That’s because he doesn’t want to risk gliding through the sewage that regularly makes its way into Winnipeg’s river system. Some 3.2 million litres of raw sewage and rainfall runoff spilled into Winnipeg’s river system last month but the incident was unusual only in scope.

Globe and Mail

Waste Management

Garbage-bag manufacturer leads way in sustainable living

The Canadian roots of the disposable trash bag may come as a surprise. Every day, Canadians buy more than a million Glad garbage bags, an essential staple item created in 1950 by Canadian inventors Harry Wasylyk and Larry Hansen. Originally intended for commercial use, the polyethelene bags were first sold to the Winnipeg General Hospital before Union Carbide Company bought the idea in the 1960s.

Globe and Mail

In blue box, not all plastics are created equal

Since China’s ban on plastic waste left municipalities across North America scrambling to find new markets for their recycling, a new hierarchy has emerged. Some plastics are still sought after, while others just aren’t worth collecting anymore. Some municipalities continue to accept both kinds anyway, and in certain cases it’s ending up in landfill.

CBC

How can we lift Ottawa’s lagging recycling rate?

A doll’s severed arm. Christmas lights. Even a kitchen sink. None of them recyclable, yet all chucked into Ottawa’s blue bins. Cascades Recovery, the company that processes the city’s recycling, believes we can do better. “You can go onto the City of Ottawa recycling website and find out exactly what’s recoverable,” said Dan Stone, the site’s general manager.

CBC