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New Canadian gov’t standards a boon for biofuels

3 years ago

Canadian biofuels have formed an important part of Canada’s energy mixture for 20 years.  Strengthening federal and provincial regulation is combining with dynamic new technologies to strengthen biofuel’s role in Canada’s energy transition, with next-generation producers maneuvering to take advantage.

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Ride-hailing company Uber is expanding its electric vehicle and hybrid “green trip” option to over 1,400 new cities including Washington D.C., Austin, Calgary, Houston, Miami, New York City, Tucson, Winnipeg. Drivers can now rent a zero-emission vehicle at Avis.

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NFI Group had a rough ride in 2020, but there is growing evidence that zero-emission bus (ZEB) technology will lead the transportation sector with a renewed commitment by governments to make funds available to replace diesel buses with ZEBs.

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B.C. businesses and non-profits that operate medium- and heavy-duty trucks, vans, or buses are being enticed to go green with a doubling of a provincial rebate that offers up to $100,000 to reduce the price of an electric or hydrogen vehicle.

Energy Profiles

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Green construction company Nexii Building Solutions Inc. is on track to open its first production facility in the U.S. in Hazleton, Pa., in the spring. The plant will produce green building and retrofit products using Nexii’s breakthrough proprietary material Nexiite.

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The newest Starbucks location in Abbotsford took just six days to build and will soon be home to the first-ever sustainably constructed Starbucks drive-thru cafe in Canada. The Mount Lehman Crossing shopping centre location is set to open shortly.

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Two consumer goods firms plan to create recycling machines that use artificial intelligence to identify and sort plastic packaging. The Waste Free World initiative, a partnership between Unilever and  Alibaba, combines the former’s packaging technology with the latter’s operating system.

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The big stories of 2020 were not just about a pandemic: these 20 C-suite executives have steered their companies forward through much disruption, providing inspiration for the possibilities of advancing sustainability, social responsibility and circular business models — sometimes all at once.

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The last year brought about a proliferation of microgrid projects, as the technology hit its stride in the marketplace. Here we look at 21 of those projects that we believe should be carefully watched as they unfold in 2021.

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When CleanSpark began talking to owners of luxury homes in California, it pitched microgrids as it usually did with economics as a key part of the discussion and found these microgrid customers were keenly interested in the return on investment.

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With the dawn of 2021, the finish line is now clearly in sight for the Pempa’q In-stream Tidal Energy Project, targeted for commissioning in Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy by the end of the year.

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The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) and Oneida Energy Storage LP, a joint venture between NRStor Incorporated and Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop the Oneida Energy Storage project in Ontario.

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Carbon crediting systems are on the cusp of taking off and that’s not necessarily good news. Net-zero commitments from corporations and governments doubled in 2020. The World GGBC has signed 68 business, 28 cities and six states to its Advancing Net Zero program.

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Some large utilities and energy companies are adding renewable assets to their extensive portfolios of carbon-emitting power plants and oil projects. Should environmentally conscious investors embrace these moves during what looks like a corporate-wide pivot toward a greener future?

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Mid-December, Montréal Mayor Valérie Plante delivered the most comprehensive plan to fight climate change of any Canadian city to date, a plan that not only aims for carbon neutrality by mid-century but cuts Montreal’s emissions by 50 per cent by 2030.

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Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University has been selected to establish the Low Carbon Cities Canada (LC3) Innovation Centre through a $22-million federal investment, one of seven centres across Canada that will help unlock the full emissions reduction potential of low-carbon innovations.

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His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Chairman of the NEOM Company Board of Directors, announced THE LINE, a revolution in urban living at NEOM, and a blueprint for how people and planet can co-exist in harmony.

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Occupations we could never have imagined 50 or even 15 years ago are now commonplace. Bloggers, podcast producers, mobile app developers, data scientists, scrum practitioners and cloud architects are all 21st-century professions that are consequences of invention.

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Close to 60 natural gas well sites near Jenner, Alta., are supposed to have been shut down, cleaned up and the land returned to nature. Instead, scattered equipment, holes in the earth, dead vegetation and deep divots dot the landscape.

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The second-warmest year on record brought storms, fires and floods that killed at least 8,200 people and cost the world $210 billion US in losses, according to a report by Munich Re, exceeding those of 2019, which saw $166 billion US in losses.

Industry Events