CBRE rolls out WELL certification in its buildings

CBRE rolls out WELL certification in its buildings

Standing desks, natural light and noise cancelling diodes are all part of a make-over that is turning CBRE Limited offices across Canada into some of the country’s most advanced workplaces. In the last two years, the real estate services and investment firm has applied the WELL Building Certification to three of its six Canadian offices.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Solar rooftops bring big dividends for Ottawa

The City of Ottawa is making money off of sunlight thanks to an innovative rooftop solar project the city has put in place along with Energy Ottawa. Energy Ottawa, a subsidiary of Hydro Ottawa, has leased eight rooftops from the city on which to install large solar installations. The roofs are mostly on sports complexes and garages.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Alberta building code change aims to cut emissions

Alberta has adopted updated energy efficiency requirements to cut greenhouse gas emissions from new buildings. Buildings in the province put out 19 megatonnes of greenhouse gases in 2014 — about seven per cent of Alberta’s total. The new rules will update or change codes for building, energy, electrical, elevators, gas, pressure vessels and private sewers.

The Edmonton Journal

LEED Resilient Design is the next building standard

GAF is honored to announce that its global headquarters in Parsippany, NJ, is the first building in the world to be awarded a LEED® Resilient Design Pilot credit from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This achievement recognizes accommodations made in the building’s design that allow it to function during an emergency event. 

Marketwired

Colliers Project Leaders on how to do sustainability

Putting together Colliers Project Leaders’ newly released Sustainability Impact Report, Ralf Nielsen received a sudden insight.  Nielsen, the company’s director of sustainability, realized that Colliers could do much more than just help a client put in high-efficiency technology or achieve a LEED Gold building.

Sustainable Biz Canada

The greenest option for 564 Beatty Street

The greenest office building is the one that doesn’t get built. The act of tearing down an office tower to erect a new one in its place eats up a lot of resources and creates a lot of waste, said Colin Scarlett, an executive vice-president with Colliers International in Vancouver.

Property Biz Canada

GWL Realty Advisors wins top marks for green management

Partly from effective environmental management on the part of its real estate subsidiary, GWL Realty Advisors, Great-West Lifeco earned a position on CDP’s 2016 Climate A List, placing it in the top 10 per cent of companies globally. As well, GWL achieved a “Green Star” ranking for a second consecutive year, from the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) survey.

Canada Newswire

Real estate service firm gets into electric bus business

Proterra and JLL are partnering on a zero-emission electric bus fleet that will operate between Chicago’s commuter train stations and two of the city’s tallest buildings – both of which are managed by JLL. The corporate fleet will also help Chicago achieve its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Marketwired

SDA developing sustainable mixed-use project in Montreal

Construction is underway in Montreal on a $115-million mixed-use development that will combine business, retail and residential. The Carre Saint-Laurent will be built to LEED-CS certification and feature five electric vehicle charging spaces as well as more than 100 bike parking spots. 

Canada Newswire

Sustainable condo development proposed for Calgary

A proposed, $20-million, 78-unit condo building in Calgary aims to increase density in that city. “Areas of suburban sprawl use two and a half times more energy than inner-city areas of density,” said one of the developers pitching the project. “That’s just one of the many compelling reasons why density is a great thing for a city’s core.”

Globe and Mail

Sustainable office tower captures major award

Oxford Properties, the real estate arm of OMERS, has been named the recipient of the Project of the Year Award by NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, for their MNP Tower in Vancouver.

Journal of Commerce

Federal government incentives designed to encourage net-zero building

The Liberal government plans to re-introduce incentives for home-energy retrofits and commit to phased-in changes to the national building code that will eventually require all homes to be virtually energy self-sufficient. The goal is to have all builders within 15 years routinely construct “net-zero” homes.

Globe and Mail

buildAbility leads net zero home charge in Canada

Ontario’s buildAbility Corporation has luck on its side — that would be Candice Luck. The 30-year-old is the company’s Director of Strategy & Programs, and recently won a 2017 Clean50 award for her work in net zero energy housing innovation and adoption.

Sustainable Biz Canada

WorldGBC aims for all net-zero buildings, including in Canada, by 2050

Advancing Net Zero is a new project from the World Green Building Council, which aims to ensure that all buildings are “net zero” by 2050.

World Green Building Council

B.C.’s building sector moves toward net zero

The establishment of a net-zero energy ready code target for new buildings by 2032 and the development of an energy “step code” for local governments are positive steps toward a sustainable future for B.C.’s buildings.

Huffington Post

Products, Technology and Design

Toronto firm’s solar glass produces electricity from sunlight

Toronto-based Belnor Engineering Inc (BEI) has launched Onxy Solar, a crystalline silicon and thin-film PV glass that can replace conventional glass in a building to produce clean electricity from sunlight. The glass can be used in curtain walls, ventilated facades, canopies, skylights and elsewhere.

Marketwired

New e-book tells how to centralize building data

Successful building operations requires a keen understanding of all data points. A new e-book tells building owners and managers how to centralize their utility, operations and occupant data to help gain new insights into and reduce energy consumption.

Energy Manager Today

Market Trends and Research

U.S. construction appears to be on the rebound

Dodge Data & Analytics today released its 2017 Dodge Construction Outlook. The report predicts that total U.S. construction starts for 2017 will advance five per cent to $713 billion, following gains of 11 per cent in 2015 and an estimated one per cent in 2016.

Building Design + Construction

Green building awards

Vancouver mayor, deputy mayor, win prestigious green award

The World Green Building Council has announced the winners of its prestigious Chairman’s Award and the David Gottfried Award at a ceremony held at Stockholm City Hall. The awards are handed out for “championing green buildings around the world.”

World Green Building Council

Enbridge Gas’s green building program grabs award

Enbridge Gas Distribution‘s Savings by Design program was honoured with the Smart Energy Communities Award by Quality Urban Energy Systems of Tomorrow (QUEST) Canada. The Savings by Design program is a green building initiative that helps builders construct energy efficient, healthy and sustainable homes that exceed code requirements by at least 25 per cent.

Marketwired

U.S. think tank honours Pickering for sustainability

The City of Pickering has been named one of the world’s Smart21 Communities of 2017 by the Intelligent Community Forum.  The Smart21 program recognizes the global elite municipalities that are successfully leveraging the power of technology to create a more connected, engaged, vibrant, and sustainable community.

Canada Newswire

Market trends and research

Want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Insulate

A new report reveals that by simply retrofitting homes with better insulation, Canadians could save hundreds per year on electricity bills and play a big role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The study included an audit of 634,000 homes in all provinces and territories and is the first of its kind to measure energy performance in a representative way.

Marketwired

Municipal Policy and Urban Issues

Ottawa city councillor: Cities must become greener

An Ottawa city councillor says cities need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and calls for more mid-rise development as one way to help support proper density in cities. Tobi Nussbaum also calls for more flexible mixed-use zoning with shops and services to cut down on the need to drive further afield.

Huffington Post

International residential code may grow to include tiny homes

In many places, tiny homes exist in a legal gray area of sorts, on top of the fact that there are no widely agreed-upon safety standards for them, making it difficult for wider integration.

Treehugger

Tiny homes are a taxing problem

Tiny Homes are taking off in popularity with people across the country joining the miniature movement but homebuilders in Manitoba say municipal bylaws haven’t caught up with the craze.

CBC News

U.S. civil engineers address tsunamis in new building code

For the first time in the U.S., national construction standards will address the risk of tsunamis.

Building Design + Construction

Commercial real estate

Air pollution lowers office worker productivity

Air pollution is bad for our health, and researchers continue to find evidence of pollution’s negative effects, reports the Harvard Business Journal.

Proud Green Building

Renewable Energy

Investors wanted for B.C.’s biggest solar project

Bright days could be ahead for the City of Kimberley if they succeed in securing an investor to expand their SunMine solar project, which would be used to power a planned business park.

CBC News

Thin, solar wallpaper offers new panel options

A new, thin-film CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) solar technology could offer much lighter weight, simpler installation, and increased energy generation to everything from buildings to vehicles. The panels could potentially work on the skin of buildings, or as a rooftop array and could allow for easier custom installations on complex residential roofs.

Treehugger

New wood flooring could create energy from our footsteps

Researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a new technology that could make our homes energy-generating spaces, with or without solar panels.

Treehugger

Residential Real Estate

Sustainable shipping container housing development set for Edmonton

A new 20-unit housing development in Edmonton will be the first to use repurposed shipping containers as part of an innovative modular building technology. Ladacor touts its modular system as an affordable, durable, reusable, environmentally sustainable solution.

Canada Newswire

Canada’s changing housing market

The need to rethink design and construction practices of dwellings and align them with contemporary environmental constraints has taken centre stage in recent years. A key question is whether the home building industry, in its present organizational structure, will be able to respond effectively to these emerging trends.

Alternatives Journal

Smart thermostats become mandatory in Austin, Texas

Austinites use a lot of air conditioning and the city wants to cut down on the energy demand. To do so, the city council has passed an ordinance that requires all new homes and apartments to have smart thermostats, like the Nest, installed.

Treehugger

Residential Green Buildings

New LEED Gold condo tower opens in Montreal

Proment Corporation unveiled its new 36-storey condo tower, EVOLO X. Located in the heart of Montreal’s Pointe-Nord ecological neighborhood, the $170-million, 292-condo building is certifying to LEED Gold standard, and includes geothermal energy and energy-efficient windows.

Marketwired

Will this residential building be the world’s greenest?

Things are looking up in Hemel Hempstead, which is getting the Beacon, which they call “The world’s most sustainable residential tower.”

Treehugger

World’s tallest timber high-rise proposed for Chicago

A collaboration between Perkins + Will, Thornton Tomasetti, and the University of Cambridge has produced a conceptual academic and professional design for an 80-story residential timber high-rise.

Building Design + Construction

Corporate Sustainability

Deloitte Canada lands office tower with Well certified-like features

Deloitte Canada consolidated seven Toronto offices into one building that features work areas ranging from traditional work pods to treadmill desks to lounge chairs with a view of the street.  The office that officially opened the first week of October has a dramatic look based on a philosophy of disrupting routine to encourage collaboration and creativity.

Globe and Mail

Cities and Towns

Calgary planner calls for mid-rise and sustainable development

The inaugural Richard Parker Professor in Metropolitan Growth and Change at the University of Calgary says he would like the city’s new communities to be more fiscally sustainable, complete communities. I don’t think we truly appreciate the long-term fiscal liabilities the infrastructure in these new communities will be once they have reached the end of their life cycle.

Calgary Herald

Saskatoon’s big ideas: transit-oriented communities and more

From high-speed trains that would shuttle residents quickly between Saskatoon and Regina to the implementation of a municipal sales tax that would give the city more money to improve crumbling infrastructure, the 40 candidates vying for seats on city council have weighed in on what they think is “one big idea that could transform Saskatoon.”

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix

Alberta county going green with district heating, new technology

As part of the Municipal Sustainable Buildings Policy, the county is working towards a more eco-friendly, sustainable community starting with its facilities.

Sherwood Park News

Waste Management

Certifying landfill-free claims important to credibility

An increasing number of organizations are claiming landfill-free (or zero waste to landfill) status or establishing goals to get there.  Landfill-free verification allows companies to be fully transparent about their waste reduction efforts, leading to greater credibility in the marketplace, improved supply chain recognition, increased efficiencies, and potential cost savings.

Environmental Leader

Sustainable Biz News

Federal funding adds up to improved energy efficiency for Calgary college

Calgary’s SAIT campus plans to upgrade aging facilities and improve energy efficiency thanks to a $20-million boost from the federal government. SAIT’s Green Building Technologies Lab and Demonstration Centre will expand advanced research and training opportunities, but will also aim to meet a net-zero energy standard.

Calgary Herald