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Toronto pushes for greener property development
Toronto pushes for greener property development
When Oxford Properties breaks ground on The Hub, a 57-storey tower located near the foot of Bay Street next to Toronto’s Harbour Commission building, it will be embarking on what it claims will become Canada’s first “net zero” office tower.
Google tool helps cities with effects of climate change
Saskatoon officials hope new software designed by Google will provide more information in the city’s battle against climate change. The tool, Environmental Insights Explorer, combines information from Google Maps with existing information to create a city’s environmental footprint.
Insurance industry at risk from mega-catastrophe
• Financial Post • CBC • Forbes
The federal government needs to take action to shore up systemic risks in Canada’s insurance industry that could leave the sector vulnerable to collapse in the event of a mega-catastrophe according to research into potential fallout from major disasters.
Warren Buffett company to build wind farm in Alberta
• CBC • Environmental Leader • Toronto Star
A company linked to U.S. investor Warren Buffett says it will break ground on a $200-million, 117.6-megawatt wind farm in southeastern Alberta next year. The Rattlesnake Ridge Wind project will produce enough energy to supply the equivalent of 79,000 homes.
Greenhouse hydro use will soar within five years
Electricity use for indoor agriculture in Chatham-Kent is expected to grow by 455 per cent by 2024, according to research by the Independent Electricity System Operator. Indoor or covered agriculture includes vegetable greenhouses, the indoor and greenhouse cannabis sector and vertical farming.
SaskPower to restore rooftop solar program
SaskPower is preparing to launch a less generous net metering program weeks after suspending its old one, and a Saskatchewan solar company says it will cripple a burgeoning industry by making rooftop solar panels unattainable for many customers.
Endress+Hauser breaks ground on zero carbon building
Endress+Hauser Canada Ltd. has broken ground on an environmentally sustainable $28 million customer experience centre and administrative home in Burlington. Designed by mcCallumSather, the two-storey, 47,000-square-foot facility will target LEED Gold, net-zero energy and the new Zero Carbon Building Standard.
More U.S. buildings plug into the electric grid
Electrification of buildings involves replacing oil and gas systems with technologies such as air-source heat pumps and heat pump water heaters which use electricity to provide higher efficiency, a process that could play a key role in curbing city emissions.
Built Green project aimed at increasing housing supply
Built Green Canada’s High-Density Renovation Program is aimed at what the organization believes are dual challenges facing homeownership in Canada: the increased cost of housing forcing a growing number of first-time buyers toward multi-family units; and homeowners not selling.
Hydro-Québec’s Karim Zaghib wins Lionel-Boulet Award
This year, the highest distinction awarded by the Québec government in the field of research and development in the industrial sector, the Lionel-Boulet Award, goes to researcher Karim Zaghib, General Director of Hydro-Québec’s Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage.
Interface CEO on optimism, carbon-negative products
• GreenBiz
Jay Gould readily admits he has not always been one to innovate through the lens of sustainability. A “stern lecture” from activist Paul Hawken and immersion in biomimicry with biologist Janine Benyus contributed to the self-described skeptic’s change of heart.
Builders creating a climate change fighting coalition
Builders and some unions in Ontario’s residential and civil sectors are looking at joining forces with other industry and business groups to form a national coalition focused solely on fighting climate change.
Construction concrete a key ‘lever’ in climate change fight
The construction industry “probably has the largest lever” to inhibit climate change through the restoration of the world’s carbon balance. It just must look to the most widely used building material on the planet — concrete — as key to the solution.
Toronto’s construction industry creating hazardous dust
According to cancer specialist Dr. Paul Demers, a 2017 study, Burden of Occupational Cancer in Ontario: Major workplace carcinogens and prevention of exposure, it’s estimated that 142,000 workers in Ontario are exposed to crystalline silica, leading to almost 200 lung cancer cases annually.
Montreal wants to ban grocery stores from trashing food
• CBC
The City of Montreal wants to bar grocery stores from throwing out organic waste. “We’re producing food. There’s an environmental cost, an economic cost. To waste that is absolute nonsense,” said Laurence Lavigne Lalonde, responsible for the city’s ecological transition.
Calgary startup, Leaf Environmental Products for CRE
Leaf Environmental Products provides compostable liners to many commercial client owners and managers of downtown Calgary properties, including Brookfield’s towers, GWL, Oxford, Cushman Wakefield, and The Bow, and Mount Royal University uses them for both its commercial and residential buildings.
Apartments: The low-impact green investment
Regardless of the age of the property, apartment life offers many advantages for individuals and for the greater community, especially for those seeking a greener, healthier and more responsible lifestyle. Living in an apartment leaves a smaller carbon footprint than single-family homes.
BMO pitching sustainable bonds
Bank of Montreal is pitching energy companies to issue sustainable bonds as the lender seeks to expand its ESG capital markets business amid pressure for the oil industry to move into greener technologies.
Canadian companies warming to responsible investing
• Globe and Mail (Sub. required)
Canadian institutions are growing more committed to applying responsible investing criteria as part of their decision-making – but cracks are showing in the global commitment to the concept – according to RBC Global Asset Management’s annual survey.
A $75 carbon tax not high enough for Canada: IMF
Even if Canadian federal and provincial governments increase their carbon taxes to US$75 a tonne they will fall far short of reaching greenhouse gas emission targets, according to a new report by the International Monetary Fund.
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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