Climate change to limit Olympic city selection

Climate change to limit Olympic city selection

Rising temperatures and humidity caused by climate change will make it increasingly difficult to find cities eligible to host the Olympics Summer Games, according to a new study encompassing the broader implications of climate change on the Olympics.

Christian Science Monitor

Meet one REIT that’s going solar

Meet Prologis, a real estate investment trust with $65 billion in assets under management and a market capitalization of $28 billion. The company controls 149 megawatts of solar generating capacity atop its global portfolio of warehouses and industrial facilities.

GreenBiz

Record number of cities measuring environmental data

A record number of cities are now measuring and disclosing environmental data on an annual basis in order to manage emissions, build resilience, and protect themselves from the growing impacts of climate change. Five hundred and thirty-three cities globally representing 621 million citizens reported the actions they’re taking on climate to the non-profit CDP this year, a rise of 70 per cent from 2015.

Carbon Disclosure Project

How a digital plan can benefit commercial properties

From landowners to urban residents, all stakeholders would benefit from bringing digital, collaborative and transformational elements together in the traditional real estate value chain.

Knowledge Insead

New transportation tech creating smarter cities

Columbus, Ohio, is a mid-size city known primarily as the home of Ohio State University, not as a hub of cutting edge technology for public transportation. But that is exactly what this city of 790,000 people plans to be.

The Guardian

The truth behind net zero energy buildings

Buildings account for around 40 per cent of total energy consumption, and consequently around 40% of carbon emissions. So as we strive to reduce our carbon emissions you would expect ‘net zero energy buildings’ (Net ZEB) to offer a significant step in reaching our objectives. Unfortunately, things are not as simple as that.

Memoori

Shifting buildings to zero-energy a challenge

With buildings accounting for nearly 40 percent of the nation’s energy consumption, they serve as a substantial part of our energy challenge, as well as a potential solution — and a key sector on the path to a zero-energy society.

GreenBiz

Yale declares sustainability “mega-trend” of the century

This September 21-23, Yale will host the first Yale Sustainability Leadership Forum, bringing together perspectives from the United States and across the world, from business, government, NGOs, and academia, to examine the concept of sustainability.

CSR Wire

First-of-its-kind waste facility slated for Nova Scotia

Chester has officially sealed a deal that will “revolutionize” waste management by making the need to bury garbage at its local landfill a thing of the past.

CBC News

New waste and materials tracking feature unveiled

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unveiled a waste and materials tracking feature in its Energy Star Portfolio Manager, which is a free benchmarking and tracking tool for commercial building owners and managers

Green Lodging News

UPEI opens new Sustainable Design Engineering School building

The new building for the School of Sustainable Design Engineering at the University of Prince Edward Island has been officially opened. The 76,000 square-foot- building, which cost of $26 million, will house students and faculty of the program.

CBC News

	Ground zero for climate change effects
	There are icebergs to port, icebergs to starboard, and a parade of icebergs jammed at the opening as we come down from the massive Sermeq Kujalleq, or Jakobshavn Glacier. Only a fifth of the iceberg is above the water, and they come in all shapes and sizes.
	Vancouver Sun, August 15, 2016

 

The next building materials may imitate nature

Why can’t our buildings get all their energy from the sun and water from the sky, provide habitat for birds and animals, and, when their life cycles are over, be broken apart to supply future buildings with growth materials? This is the general idea of biomimicry: If nature has had 3.8 billion years to develop the best possible designs for various ecosystems, why are we not copying them?

GreenBiz

Solar roofs already a reality

The solar roof exists now, and notwithstanding Elon Musk’s claim, it looks pretty good. It’s from SunTegra, and comes in two varieties: one that integrates with asphalt roof shingles, and one with tile roofs.

Treehugger

How GM saves money with captured rain water

On its company blog, GM describes the GM Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly project, two years in the making, and says it will save the plant nearly $2 million annually. It will also save water: the plant will reuse captured rainwater for manufacturing processes throughout the four-million-square-foot facility.

Environmental Leader

Why hospitals are becoming more energy efficient

New Hampshire takes its healthcare seriously. It also wants its facilities to operate in an energy efficient manner. Energy efficiency always is a secondary concern behind the progress and success of the business being run by the facility. In healthcare, that situation is even more extreme because of a hospital’s life and death mission.

Energy Manager Today

	Sustainable Biz is on Twitter
	SustainableBiz.ca opened February 2016 to provide news, information and commentary about environmental, social and governance issues as it pertains to sustainability.
	Follow BizSustainably, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian business concerned about sustainability.

 

Green Building Rating Systems

Energy efficiency criteria meant to bolster investor confidence

The newly formed Investor Confidence Project (ICP) is attempting to provide a definitive set of criteria for energy efficiency projects. Created by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), ICP aims to provide confidence in investments for energy efficiency upgrades, a needed service the organization says will help spur more such projects. 

Building Design + Construction

New sustainability platform enters Hong Kong market

In Australia and New Zealand, the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) has helped lead the charge towards more efficient building operation and performance, creating a benchmark that enables property owners, facility operators, managers and designers to monitor and manage the energy performance of an asset.

Just Means

Green building awards

Ingersoll Rand tops eco-leader list

Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:IR), a world leader in creating comfortable, sustainable and efficient environments, is recognized on Green Builder Magazine’s annual list of Eco-Leaders for a second consecutive year.

CSR Wire

Bold Awards nominations for sustainability are underway

Real estate professionals are continuously striving to create the “workplace of tomorrow” by raising efficiency, sustainability, and comfort standards. Their efforts will be celebrated with the 2nd Annual BOLD Awards, that recognizes Building Optimizers, Leaders, and Disruptors who are transforming the way real estate management professionals use technology in the built environment. Nominations are now being accepted through September 2, 2016.

Facility Executive

New eco-innovation award launched

In the spirit of innovation and value creation, KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the launch of the Eco-Innovation Award for KKR portfolio companies as part of the Firm’s Green Solutions Platform (GSP), a global effort to identify, support, and highlight environmental initiatives at KKR portfolio companies across three areas: eco-efficiency, eco-innovation, and/or eco-solutions.

Business Wire

Conservation champions honoured

Veridian Connections is proud to recognize some of its business customers for achieving outstanding electricity conservation results in 2015. These “Conservation Champions” were leading participants in the utility’s energy efficiency and demand management programs that provide valuable financial incentives and reduce operating costs.

Canada News Wire

Commercial Green Buildings

A new refrigerant cuts grocery store emissions

Festival Foods, one of the largest independent grocery store chains in the US Midwest, is the first supermarket chain to build a new store with refrigeration equipment designed to run Honeywell’s reduced-global-warming refrigerant, Solstice N40 (R-448A).

Environmental Leader

Residential Green Buildings

“Vapour open” technique adds superior insulation to homes

We have Roombas, iPhones to control lighting, thermostats and blinds, and prepackaged food that takes seconds to reach the table. Life is good, no? But we still throw tons of heat or chilled air against the interior walls of our houses because they’re so poorly designed. In other words, we don’t have futuristic insulation.

Globe and Mail

Corporate Sustainability

Green office program helps reduce university’s carbon footprint

Reducing Penn’s carbon footprint has been a part of the University’s commitment to sustainability since the launch of the Climate Action Plan in 2009. Campus buildings constitute some of the University’s largest producers of carbon, causing more than three-quarters of Penn’s emissions. To reduce carbon emissions in buildings on campus, the Green Campus Partnership, located within Facilities & Real Estate Services, created the Green Office Program.

Penn Current

Transit, bikes and transportation

Vancouver recruiting drivers for air emission study

Metro Vancouver is recruiting 200 drivers for a seven-week driving study to reduce fuel consumption, save money and cut air emissions. The Metro Vancouver Smart Drive Challenge aims to get drivers to use 15 per cent less fuel through efficient driving techniques.

Langley Advance

Sustainable Biz News

Sweden’s ICA Gruppen cuts GHG emissions

ICA Gruppen (STO:ICA) today presented its sustainability report for the first quarter of 2016. The report addresses important issues and initiatives regarding the environment, quality, ethical trade, health and community engagement.

Business Wire