Sustainable builder Nexii attracts big names to its boards

BIZ  Real Estate  •  Technology  •  National, British Columbia

Nexii, a Western Canadian company with a patented new building material, is attracting major business leaders to its board of directors and advisory committee. Now based in Vancouver, Nexii is attracting increasing attention for its Nexiite building system.

Corporate Knights top 2020 company: MEC

Real Estate  •  Corporate Knights  •  Corporate Knights

Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) has a long history of sustainability as a retail cooperative focused on getting people outside. Since its founding in 1971, MEC has vowed to do business differently, building a co-op with democratic principles rather than private ownership.

GFL Environmental expands into U.S. with $1.13B deal

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

GFL Environmental Inc. has signed a deal to buy a portfolio of integrated solid waste collection, transfer, recycling and disposal assets in the United States for $1.13 billion Cdn. GFL says the deal will significantly expand its U.S. footprint.

Feds invest in Net-Zero Energy Residential Buildings

Real Estate  •  Canada Newswire

The Federal Government has invested over $2,445,000 toward the construction of energy-efficient residential buildings in four Provinces, a project led by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association that will enable seven housing builders to construct net-zero energy and net-zero energy residential buildings.

Vote for 2020 LEED Homes Awards project of the year

Real Estate  •  U.S. Green Building Council

USGBC’s annual LEED Homes Awards recognize some of the most innovative and transformative LEED-certified residential projects  all around the world.  For a second year, the USGBC LEED Homes Awards opened voting for Project of the Year to the public.

Sustainable ratings, SITES and TRUE test safety first credits

Real Estate  •  Facility Executive

The Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) has released Safety First pilot credits for its SITES and TRUE rating systems in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new credits will apply to projects pursuing sustainable landscape development and zero-waste goals.

Sponsored by Canada Green Building Council CaGBC studies the zero carbon skills gap for Alberta’s building trades

CaGBC released a new study on June 23, 2020 that looks at the readiness of Alberta’s building trades to meet the demand for zero carbon, high-performance buildings: Trading Up: How Alberta’s Trades can Build a Zero Carbon Future.

Conservatory and bridge win enduring architecture award

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

An iconic conservatory in Niagara and a futuristic bridge in Toronto have just been honoured for architectural excellence. They were ahead of their time when they were built a quarter of a century ago and continue to inspire architects today.

Use solar power for home and garden

Energy, Real Estate  •  Canadian GreenTech

Solar panels and deep retrofits: A reframed tech series

Real Estate  •  The Pembina Institute

To achieve climate and housing goals, we need to streamline how we retrofit existing homes and buildings and identify additional sources of capital to pay for upgrades. Solar photovoltaic panels generate clean electricity and could free up future cash flows.

Lowe’s Canada wins its first ENERGY STAR® award

Real Estate  •  Canada Newswire

Lowe’s Canada, a home retailer with over 470 stores, has received a 2020 ENERGY STAR Canada Special Recognition Award for offering thousands of products with a smaller environmental footprint, including hundreds of ENERGY STAR-certified products, through its ECO program.

Terra View Homes wins 2020 ENERGY STAR® award

Real Estate  •  Canada Newswire

Terra View Homes has been named the recipient of the 2020 ENERGY STAR Canada Builder of the Year Award, in the small builder category, for new home construction in recognition of best practices in the ENERGY STAR for New Homes program.

Homes gain momentum as ‘grid flexibililty’ resources

Energy  •  Microgrid Knowledge

Call them nanogrids or smart homes, households are increasingly shaping up as a means to leverage grid flexibility, and energy companies are stepping forward with a range of new products and building electrification configured to make homes into grid assets.

Why is transactive energy important to microgrids?

Energy  •  MIcrogrid Knowledge

The growing emphasis on using microgrids to generate revenue is leading to increased discussion of transactive energy, a concept described in a new paper by Monash University researchers and featured at the recent Microgrid Knowledge Virtual Conference.

Whitla Wind to become Alberta’s largest wind power facility

Real Estate  •  CBC

Capital Power Corporation says a $92-million expansion of its Whitla Wind power facility in southern Alberta that will add 54 megawatts of capacity by late 2021 will make it the largest in the province taking it to 353 MW.

Amazon $2B climate fund to support ‘a zero-carbon economy’

Real Estate  •  Les Affaires  •  Winnipeg Free Press

The online retail giant Amazon has created an investment fund with $ 2 billion to finance companies that will achieve “a zero-carbon economy” and allow Amazon and other companies to become carbon neutral by 2040 in accordance with Amazon’s initiative The Climate Pledge.

Canadian flood risks difficult to insure

Real Estate  •  Mondaq

Storms, power outages, landslides, and road closures; as a result, last spring’s floods in Quebec were identified as the weather event of 2019. Indeed, tens of thousands of residences and businesses were flooded, and an even greater number of citizens were affected.

Do coronavirus safety guidelines limit hotel sustainable?

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

For Ned Bell, opening a restaurant and inn with a focus on sustainability and locally sourced products is well within his comfort zone. He an environmental champion who made the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver’s kitchens 100-per-cent Ocean Wise.

Green building advocates ‘underwhelmed’ by EU recovery plan

Real Estate  •  Edie.net

When the European Commission unveiled its proposed €750bn recovery fund two weeks ago, green activists were expecting a detailed spending programme, with billions of euros allocated to clean mobility, renewables, and an upcoming EU-wide building renovation wave.

Tencent’s ‘smart city’ a model for post-coronavirus China

Energy  •  EcoBusiness

Chinese tech giant Tencent is creating a “smart city” –  a 21.5-million-square-foot neighbourhood in the southeastern city of Shenzhen –  that utilizes technology to put people and the environment first, a model that could apply to other urban developments.