Feds announce new tall wood building program

Feds announce new tall wood building program

Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr has announced the launch of a new mass timber program called Green Construction Through Wood, aimed at encouraging the long-term use of wood in non-traditional construction projects, such as tall buildings. The program launch was Oct. 6 and follows the government’s Budget 2017 announcement to provide funding of $39.8 million over four years.

Daily Commercial News

‘Simple methodology’ when it comes to net zero planning: expert

A U.K.-based designer with a long list of passive building projects to his credit has some advice for anyone planning to design and build a net zero building: don’t overthink the process. Bill Dunster, ZEDfactory principal, advises that when it comes to net zero project planning, overthinking the process will hinder success.

Daily Commercial News

EU green building spendings to reach $112B by 2026

Europe continues to serve as a role model in implementing sustainable development legislation and initiatives, but in order to continue to meet building efficiency objectives over the long term, its investment in intelligent digital building technologies will increase by roughly one-third within the next 10 years, according to a report by Navigant Research.

CP Executive

Multifamily developers look to health and wellness for an edge

Walk into just about any newly built or renovated multifamily complex these days and you’d think you’ve walked into a well-appointed hotel. Pools, spas, workout studios, coffee bars, lounges, study spaces, rooftop terraces — these amenities and more are becoming increasingly commonplace in the amenities “arms race” occurring in the multifamily sector.

BDC Network

The dawning of the new Don River Valley Park: Micallef

The Lower Don Trail was closed a long time. Two summers came and went. When it finally reopened last month there was relief, but also great fanfare because it coincided with the opening of the new Don River Valley Park, an enhanced and renovated part of the Lower Don Valley.

Toronto Star

Transform Ambassador Bridge into ‘gorgeous’ public park

A Windsor group wants the existing Ambassador Bridge preserved — should a new private span be erected — and transformed into a public park linking two countries. “What a lovely park it could be, what a lovely green space it could be — it would be gorgeous,” said Tammy Dewhirst, president of the Windsor-Essex Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.

Windsor Star

NCC maps Gatineau Park’s next 50 years

The perennial debate between those who would like to preserve Gatineau Park in its natural state and those who would like to develop parts of the sprawling green space dominated the discussion as the National Capital Commission kicked off public consultations on the park’s future.

CBC

	SSQ Tower Receives LEED Gold Certification
	SSQ Financial Group unveiled a commemorative plaque today to celebrate the conferring of the highly coveted LEED™ Gold Certification to SSQ Tower, a prestigious building located at Place Charles-Le Moyne in Longueuil.
	Canada Newswire, October 24, 2017

 

Vertical forests taking root all over the world

Looking at a photograph of downtown Milan, Italy, one’s eye is caught by what looks like a couple of highrise apartment towers. Heavily forested towers. The towers opened just three years ago and the trees that adorn every horizontal surface of the buildings’ exteriors have grown enough sprouted new branches that the buildings themselves have begun to disappear from view.

Daily Commercial News

Delta Hotels by Marriott GreenSTAY plants 100,000 trees in Canada

In only 32 months, Delta Hotels by Marriott, in partnership with WEARTH, has to date helped Delta hotel guests to plant more than 100,000 trees in conserved lands across Alberta, Canada through the hotels’ GreenSTAY program.

Green Lodging News

More UBC trees get axed to make way for market housing

A 165-tree woodland is being cleared on the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus to make way for a new residential development. A 14-storey high-rise, 5-storey mid-rise and townhomes will soon take the place of a forested area in the Wesbrook Place Neighbourhood.

CBC

Ottawa’s Thermal Energy captures $1.3M deal

A repeat customer is turning back to Thermal Energy International for its energy savings solutions, earning the Ottawa-based firm another lucrative contract. Thermal Energy signed a $1.32-million deal with an existing hospital client that will see the firm install its FLU-ACE heat recovery systems in the facility.

Ottawa Business Journal

	MEC opens flagship store in Olympic Village
	MEC, Canada’s go-to place for outdoor gear, know-how and inspiration, broke ground today on its new Vancouver flagship store designed to a LEED Gold standard.
	Canada Newswire, October 24, 2017

 

Solar proponents push SaskPower to embrace ‘huge’ potential

Solar producers say the future is bright in the land of living skies, if only Saskatchewan’s government-owned electrical utility would take greater advantage of the opportunity. “We would love to expand,” says Bill Walton, president of 2B Green Solar Power. “We thought we were going to be able to. We had meetings with SaskPower last spring and nothing has happened.”

CBC

US Government massively underestimated national solar capacity

Predictions always involve a certain level of guesswork, but when the US Energy Information Administration estimated in 2006 how much solar capacity would be installed by 2016, the number wasn’t even close. The EIA had underestimated the capacity by 4,813%, an analysis by Statista found.

Energy Manager Today

Majority remain opposed to Alberta carbon levy: study

After nine months of the provincial government’s carbon levy and rebate policies, the majority of Albertans remain opposed to the program. The opposition has softened compared with a survey conducted this time last year, according to Faron Ellis, research chair of the Citizen Society Research Lab (CSRL) at Lethbridge College and principal investigator of the study.

Edmonton Journal

Six benefits of becoming a sustainable business

Over the past two decades, sustainability has become more than a fad or just a buzz word. Research shows that sustainability has real business benefits when conscientiously integrated into business operations. Six major advantages for practicing sustainability are described in this story.

Environmental Leader

Market Trends and Research

Alberta methane releases underestimated

New research suggests industry and government are badly underestimating Alberta’s emissions of one of the most potent greenhouse gases. The difference between official estimates and the measured results suggests the province’s energy industry could have to double its planned methane emission cuts if Alberta is to meet its promised 45 per cent reduction.

CBC

B.C. wildfires set record high greenhouse gas emission levels

This year’s wildfire season in British Columbia was a record-breaker. Not only did a historic amount of land burn (more than 12,000 square kilometres or an area more than twice the size of Prince Edward Island), but the fires also released a record amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

MacLeans

Global pollution kills 9m a year, threatens humanity

Pollution kills at least nine million people and costs trillions of dollars every year, according to the most comprehensive global analysis to date, which warns the crisis “threatens the continuing survival of human societies”. Toxic air, water, soils and workplaces are responsible for the diseases that kill one in every six people around the world, the landmark report found.

The Guardian – Study in the Lancet

Three-quarters of companies don’t acknowledge climate risks

Investors and regulators around the world may be increasingly vocal in their demands for listed firms to report on climate-related risks, but a clear majority of companies remain deaf to their calls. That is the stark conclusion of a new report from consultancy giant KPMG.

GreenBiz

Renewable Energy

Exhibition Place wind turbine hasn’t produced power since March

The wind turbine that symbolized Ontario’s push for green energy is at a standstill and won’t be generating electricity until next month at the earliest, CBC News has learned. The turbine located at Exhibition Place was damaged in a storm in March, and it hasn’t worked since. 

CBC

Province downplays bird death issue as it expands wind power

Environment Minister Shannon Phillips says Alberta is taking precautions to ensure minimal effects on bird and bat populations as it expands the use of wind power in the province, but says allegations that wind energy is a major killer of winged wildlife have been vastly overblown in the past.

Calgary Herald

Cities and Towns

Dorval to modernize thousands of street lights

Dorval will begin to roll out its street lighting modernization plan this week. The city plans to implement new technologies over the next three years in order to “optimize lighting conditions, leading to significant cost savings and major environmental benefits.”

Montreal Gazette

In ‘energy city’ USA, Hurricane Harvey’s fury is still lingering

It took five weeks for the largest U.S. oil refinery to get back to normal after Hurricane Harvey. It’s taking Port Arthur, Texas, a lot longer. Nearly two months after Harvey inundated Port Arthur, a crucial hub of the global energy industry, the city of 55,000 is struggling to recover.

Bloomberg

Transit, bikes and transportation

Vancouver cyclists are reaching peak entitlement

A survey conducted by the City of Vancouver shows not only a record number of cyclists using the city’s enviable network of designated bicycle routes, it also shows that 81 per cent of those regularly using the routes feel more entitled than ever before. More than 3,300 cyclists of all abilities were surveyed between June 1 and Aug. 31, 2017.

Globe and Mail

Waste Management

From trash to gas to cash in Saint-Michel

A power plant in Montreal’s Saint-Michel neighbourhood is back in action turning gas from garbage into clean energy. The Biomont Energy consortium has revamped the former Gazmont biogas facility on des Regrattiers Street, which closed in 2014.

CBC

Other

	Sustainable Biz followers on Twitter
	Follower The Buildings Performance Institute EU is a Brussels based think-tank delivering policy analysis, advice and implementation support for buildings energy performance.
	Follow BizSustainably, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian business concerned about sustainability.