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Hamilton building the first Passive House retrofit in N.A.

5 years ago

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The transformation of the CityHousing Hamilton-owned building at 500 MacNab Street North is considered to be the first Passive House retrofit of an existing residential tower in North America.  The 18-storey Ken Soble Tower is a building with a long list of problems.

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They look and live like most newly built Toronto suburban homes. But for their builder Scott Simmons, two Etobicoke houses that were listed for sale on Thursday are the realization of a 30-year dream of sustainable construction.

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A condo project in Victoria could become one of the largest residential buildings in B.C. made from wood.  The proposed development on Speed Ave. will have a 12-storey tower with 179 units and it will be constructed using entirely mass timber products.

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Ontario Power Generation and First Nation partners have transformed the former Nanticoke Generating Station site, located on the northern shore of Lake Erie, into a 44-megawatt clean energy facility that hosts 192,431 solar panels across 260 acres.

Energy Profiles Limited

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UBC has increased enrolment by 24,000 students over the last 20 years while reducing annual water consumption on the campus by 50 per cent. With the completion of its hot water district energy system, UBC is on track to reduce GHGs 67 per cent by 2021.

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In Toronto, most powerful wind gusts — some which seem to stretch entire city blocks — have little to do with Mother Nature and more to do with the city’s skyscrapers. The tall buildings shift the wind’s course, redirecting it to the ground.

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The federal Liberal government began levying its carbon tax on greenhouse gas-emitting fuels Monday in the four provinces that have refused to take part in the pan-Canadian climate framework.

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Canadians for Clean Prosperity and the University of Toronto’s Loewen Lab released new data today that reveals broad acceptance for carbon pricing in key ridings in Ontario ahead of its scheduled implementation on April 1st.

Better Buildings Breakfast

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A study — Canada’s Changing Climate Report — was commissioned by Environment and Climate Change Canada. It says that since 1948, Canada’s annual average temperature over land has warmed 1.7 C, with higher rates seen in the North, the Prairies and northern British Columbia.

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They were first created by the Acadian settlers of the 1700s, one shovel full of clay-rich soil at a time.  Over the centuries the dikes protecting the Maritime lowlands have been extended, expanded and, in the 1950s and 60s, built higher and stronger through a massive federal rehabilitation program.

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The changes caused by declining ice cover on the Great Lakes are pretty bad, but it’s not all doom and gloom. Ice cover on the Great Lakes has declined in the past 40 years with average ice coverage dropping up to 75 per cent, depending on the lake.

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Climate change could bring warmer weather to Saskatoon, but also more precipitation and higher utility bills. A new City report paints a picture of a very different Bridge City in the next 80 years if climate change proceeds unchecked.

BOMA

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An Ottawa condo development’s insurance rate has soared by nearly 730 per cent after a tornado and two fires, and the condo board’s president says some residents won’t be able to handle the extra cost.

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After encroaching on 30 hectares of farmland in Brossard to install the terminus of the future Metropolitan Express Network, CDPQ Infra, confirmed the creation of a trust to encourage the establishment of agricultural businesses on the edge of the station.

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IKEA will expand tests to allow customers to rent desks and sofas rather than buy them as it shifts away from selling low-cost disposable furniture in response to growing environmental concerns.

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The top commercial real estate developers, owners and managers are embracing the ESG trend with quantifiable initiatives and dedicated staff that make their companies and portfolios more responsible, sustainable, resilient, and profitable–and more attractive for institutional capital.

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