Walmart rolls out new sustainability committment

Walmart rolls out new sustainability committment

Walmart is taking the next step in its 11-year sustainability journey, as CEO Doug McMillon announces a series of 2025 goals. For the first time, the company is putting some hard targets and timetables on previously aspirational goals. Among other things, the world’s largest retailer is committing to by 2025 achieve zero waste to landfill in Canada, Japan, U.K and the U.S.

Green Biz – Green Biz

The federal government pledges to green its buildings

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said Wednesday the federal government will run all its operations on renewable energy by 2025.  “We’re talking about greening buildings,” McKenna said. The government also promises to spend $1 billion modernizing heating and cooling systems in more than 80 locations in the Ottawa region.

CBC News – Globe-Net – Proud Green Building – Market Business News

Operational gaps slash Vancouver green building gains

Failure to teach green building landlords and tenants how to properly use their systems and technology is undermining government-led sustainability initiatives in commercial real estate, said stakeholders and experts at a Vancouver forum last week. The pursuit of environmentally-friendly standards must not end when its time to move into a green building.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Simon Fraser gains funding for “energy systems” building

The federal and B.C. governments announced Tuesday joint funding to create a $126 million “energy systems building” at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey campus. The five-storey, 15,000-square-metre facility will be the used for degree programs in energy systems – in the energy, hydrogen, electricity and liquefied natural gas sectors – and environmental engineering.

Canada.com

Building code changes coming to encourage net-zero construction

The federal government wants existing homes to be more energy efficient and for developers to build more net zero homes. Very shortly the Liberal government is expected to introduce changes to the national building code that will require builders to include more net zero homes. The government is also expected to announce incentives for homeowners to retrofit their existing homes.

CBC News

Home reno pilot encourages energy efficiency

Built Green Canada launched its new renovation program pilot in November. The organization said a huge opportunity exists to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen the economy through energy-efficient retrofits of older homes in Canada. The program helps assess the scale of  the renovation and its ability to impact greater energy efficiency.

Marketwired

Onyx Solar’s unique panels come to Canada

While Elon Musk is busy perfecting Tesla’s solar roofs, Spain’s Onyx Solar Group has already installed its flexible, energy-generating solar glass into dozens of iconic buildings world-wide. That same revolutionary glasswill soon find its way into Canadian buildings for the first time.

Sustainable Biz Canada

	The tallest timber tower ever in Chicago
	River Beech Tower is a residential high-rise which, if built, would be taller than any existing timber building. The collaborative team behind River Beech consists of architects Perkins+Will, engineers Thornton Tomasetti and the University of Cambridge.
	Arch Daily, October 8, 2016

 

Tesla’s solar shingles: breaking down the cost

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about Tesla’s recently announced solar shingles. But there’s a dearth of information about cost and performance so far. So I’ve made some educated guesses in an effort to provide a better understanding of the prospective economics of a Tesla solar roof.

Green Tech Media

New floor converts footsteps to energy

US scientists have found a new way to generate energy at home: the tribo-electric floor. Tread on it and it will convert the kinetic energy of a footstep into a current of electricity. And it’s made from the waste wood pulp that already serves as cheap flooring throughout the world.

Globe-Net

Submetering technology becoming more sophisticated

While submetering has been a common practice in the commercial real estate industry for many years, outdated technology has hindered some companies’ ability to truly understand and improve their energy usage. Modern technology is paving the way for owners to get a better sense of their actual energy use and how they can be more energy efficient.

Commercial Property Executive

Major mixed-use development in the works for Vancouver

Bentall Kennedy is proposing a mixed-use sustainable project for Vancouver’s former Canada Post building. The plan calls for three high-rise towers constructed on top of the sprawling steel structure, and would include 427 rental apartments and 327 condos, with more than 25,000-square-metres of retail space and 47,000-square-metres of office space. 

CTV News

	Earth experiences hottest five years on record
	Earth experienced its hottest half-decade on record between 2011 and 2015 and the floods, droughts and storms unleashed by rising temperatures are likely only a prelude to new weather extremes, the World Meteorological Organization said.
	Bloomberg News, November 8, 2016

 

New initiative engages tenants on energy efficiency

The Institute for Market Transformation, a D.C.-based nonprofit that promotes energy efficiency in buildings with two partners is launching the  Landlord-Tenant Energy Partnership — a four-year, nationwide initiative designed to transform the U.S. commercial office and retail sectors through creating permanent tenant demand for energy efficiency in commercial leased space.

Green Biz

Is this the sustainable house of the future?

It’s not your usual retirement home. Construction is underway on an 850-square-feet house incorporating post and beam construction with solar panels, straw bale insulation, rammed earth walls, and a metal roof. But what makes the central Alberta house really remarkable is its potential to have a long-term impact on the future of sustainable building practices in globally.

Globe and Mail

Passive House Canada to present design and standards workshop

For the first time in Buildex Calgary’s history, Passive House Canada will be presenting several workshops on Passive House design and achieving Passive House standards. Passive House designs are described as “ultra-efficient, affordable and healthy buildings that can transform the built environment.”

Journal of Commerce

Green-energy that is devastating our rural areas

Wind turbines are not “farms” but sophisticated industrial machines, each taller than Toronto’s Royal York Hotel or the Ottawa Peace Tower. They will never be built in urban centres. So rural Ontario is being progressively devastated while residents of towns and cities, along with the media, remain uncaring.

Financial Post

Products, Technology and Design

Norway spruce approved for U.S. home construction

Norway spruce has recently passed muster from strength testing to be used for a number of construction applications.  It is the first new U.S.-grown softwood species to be fully tested for strength values since the initial process for assigning design values from testing of wood samples began in the 1920s.

Building Design + Construction

Steel: The next sustainable building material?

Steel is becoming less environmentally impactful to make. At the same time, there are developments in steel grades, primarily started with the auto industry where much higher-strength steels and more formidable-strength steels are being developed. We’re now starting to look at whether those steels can be used in construction.

Proud Green Building

Architects challenged to design with wood in competition

Architects from 40 countries competed to design a wooden extension to an existing urban building for 69 cities worldwide, using Kerto laminated veneer lumber as the main material. “Construction must become sustainable and cities must stay liveable. said Michael Green from Vancouver’s MGA Architects and DBR Design Build Research, who chaired the jury.

Canada Newswire

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Green building awards

Canada Green Building Chair founder honoured

The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC recognizes Peter Busby, MAIBC, with honorary membership in the association for his dedicated commitment to the professions of engineering and geoscience. Busby is the founder and recent chair of the Canada Green Building Council and is a pioneer on green building design in Canada.

Marketwired

Green home builder sweeps Ottawa housing awards

RND Construction’s Roy Nandram swept the recent Housing Design Awards in Ottawa with the most awards ( nine), also winning custom builder of the year and renovator of the year. The home builder is known for its energy efficient green designs. 

Ottawa Citizen

Municipal Policy and Urban Issues

Time for urban waterfronts to plan against major storms

Hurricane Matthew has brought renewed attention to the importance of adaptive strategies in the planning and future-proofing of our urban waterfronts. Adaptive planning can address a variety of objectives, including reducing the impact of a direct storm event such as Hurricane Katrina, avoiding damage from storm surges such as Hurricane Sandy and mitigating sea level rise.

Building Design + Construction

Calgary prepares for further suburban growth

Calgary officials may talk big about increasing density inside the city, but they are also preparing to swoop down on farmland to the south, paving the way for future suburbs. The city and the Municipal District of Foothills have been talking about their shared boundary on Calgary’s southern edge.

CBC News

Commercial real estate

The next sustainable hotels will copy nature for inspiration

The future is for hoteliers to build lodging establishments that are not only energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly, but inspired by and adaptable to natural habitats. Imagine a hotel that breathes; a hotel that generates power and cools itself using the wind, absorbs sunlight for energy, collects and recycles rainwater from underground pools, and is covered with a landscaped roof.

Building Design + Construction

Edmonton eco-industrial park set to open

The long-envisioned Edmonton Energy and Technology Park in the northeast quadrant of the city is on pace to kick off in 2017 with the opening of Pilot Sound Industrial Park. With full urban services such as curbs and gutters, street lamps and architectural guidelines, Pilot Sound is “going to be a showpiece, but it’s still a working man’s industrial park.”

Journal of Commerce

Residential Real Estate

Podcast: Build more mixed-use, not single family homes

A professor at the University of British Columbia says it’s time to ditch the single family home, calling for more mixed-use developments instead. Nathan Lauster argues that “mixed use is a great idea. It gives people a place to go, to walk, to bike, to meet their neighbours, in a very sort of public setting.”

CBC News

Residential Green Buildings

Calgary Buildex focuses on sustaining business in uncertain times

This year’s Buildex includes some never-seen-before features, including a series of TED-like talks and several Passive House seminars. “In light of the economy, members of the construction industry have told us they want to see content around how to sustain business in unstable economic times,” says Nicole Etherington, Buildex spokesperson.

Journal of Commerce

Green building ratings

New rules for U.S. apartment developers under LEED

Beginning this month, apartment developers interested in applying for a Leadership in Energy Efficiency & Design (LEED) green building certification will be operating under a whole new set of rules. That’s when LEED v4 became the de facto LEED standard mandated by the Washington, D.C.–based United States Green Building Council.

Multifamily Executive

Stone gains LEED V4 certification as a building material

Stone is one of our most durable, timeless, and beautiful building materials, but is it sustainable? Yes, if best practices are employed in stone quarrying, processing, and transportation The ANSI/NSC 373 Sustainable Production of Natural Dimension Stone certification has now gotten a boost with approval by the U.S. Green Building Council for recognition in LEED v4.

Building Green

Corporate Sustainability

Lodging survey offers insight into hotel sustainability programs

The American Hotel & Lodging Association has released the 2016 Lodging Survey—the definitive industry review examining the top trends in the hotel industry. The survey provides a comprehensive understanding of sustainability steps hotels are taking, including statistics on LEED building and more.

Green Lodging News

General Motors creating sustainable ecosystems at its facilities

General Motors is supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal to halt biodiversity loss by developing wildlife habitats at its sites around the world. From helping protect honeybees with pollinator gardens or designating no-mow zones to grow grassland habitats, GM is demonstrating the role business can play in advancing sustainable ecosystems.

CSR Wire

Municipal Policy and Urban Issues

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Water Management

Halifax harbour disinfection pilot program saves energy

Halifax Water is temporarily turning off the ultra-violet lights that disinfect waste water going into the harbour beginning today, a move the utility says will save ratepayers money, save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. During the previous pilot program, levels of fecal coliform, E. coli and enterococcus were within safe swimming limits.

CBC News

Waste Management

Montreal compost centres over budget, behind schedule

Montreal’s compost treatment centres, which were slated to start handling the city’s organic waste as of 2019, are now expected to be completed more than a year behind schedule, for $51 million more than originally budgeted. The city says its plan to collect organic waste by 2019 from all single-family homes and apartment buildings with eight units or less still stands.

Montreal Gazette

Edmonton on the hook for bankrupt recycling operation

The City of Edmonton is trying to recover $9.4 million it invested between 2009 and 2014 into a paper recycling company that declared bankruptcy earlier this year. The city’s investment in the Grey’s Paper Recycling Facility included land, equipment and the building. 

CBC News

Waste planned to power new industrial park

 A new masterplan from William McDonough + Partners and 3XN/GXN has presented a proposal to develop Denmark’s Argo Food Park into an urban environment. Farm fields surround the buildings located in the food park, and the proposal takes that into consideration, using the plant waste and manure from these farms as part of the new system design

Building Design + Construction