Canada a Global leader in green real estate

Canada a Global leader in green real estate

Chris Pyke, COO of the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) Pyke said he was “impressed and surprised” that the entire real estate industry’s sustainability achievements.  Leading sustainability markets, such as Canada and Australia, are essentially a “microcosm” of the pressures that are forcing the larger European and U.S. markets upward.

REIT.com – Property Biz Canada

Cost is biggest challenge for UBC wood project

One of the biggest challenges for designing what will soon be the world’s tallest wood building, the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) planned 18-storey student housing project is cost. Austrian architect Christoph Dünser, an architect for Herman Kaufmann, explained that this is due there being few producers of high tech wood products meaning little competition and high prices in Canada.

Journal of Commerce

Environmental Sciences Building opens at U of T campus

An innovative new research and teaching facility for the study of environmental sciences and chemistry opened officially last week at the University of Toronto Scarborough.  Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and delivered with design-build construction partner EllisDon, the 110,000-square-foot building provides state-of-the-art laboratory and teaching space.

Canadian Architect

United Nations HQ wins 2015 Beyond Green™ Award

The Honor Award in the High-Performance Buildings Category — the top prize in the National Institute of Building Sciences Sustainable Buildings Industry Council’s 2015 Beyond Green™ High-Performance Building and Community Awards — has been awarded to the United Nations Headquarters in New York, NY for its sustainable renovation project.

Facility Executive – Daily Commercial News

Sustainability adds value to assets: Liberty exec

Director of sustainability Billy Grayson told REIT.com Liberty Property Trust (LPT-N) has tried to broaden its program to include more environmental factors and different metrics over the years. According to Grayson, Liberty’s LEED- and Energy Star-certified buildings are outperforming the market by about 42 per cent.

REIT.com

True North REIT going for LEED-EB Gold

True North Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (TNT.UN-T) announced an initiative designed to reduce its carbon footprint while simultaneously enhancing tenant satisfaction. The REIT has selected 340 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, comprising 279,100 rentable office square feet, for a LEED-EB Gold Certification Retro-Commissioning Plan.

Canada Newswire

Edmonton International Airport receives LEED Gold certifications

Edmonton International Airport (EIA) has been awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification for the south terminal domestic/international/transborder expansion and LEED Gold certification for the new central tower.

Skies Magazine – Edmonton Journal

Ambassatours new home taking shape

Halifax’s Ambassatours is trading its bus depot home for a new, greener building being put up near Fairview Cove to house its head office and entire fleet of vehicles.  The 32,000-square-foot building, a $4.5-million investment for the company is using carbon-infused walls manufactured by CarbonCure.

The Chronicle Herald

Sobeys distribution centre receives LEED silver

The Terrebonne distribution centre is the first automated distribution centre for a grocery retailer in Quebec, and the second in Canada, following on the heels of the Sobeys distribution centre that opened in Vaughan, Ontario in 2009. Seven storeys high, its leading-edge technology increases efficiency and enables customized deliveries based on each retailer’s needs.

MM&D Online

Green retail buildings can boost profits

New research released Monday by the World Green Building Council suggests retailers around the world are missing a big opportunity to understand how the physical retail environment can affect the enjoyment of both staff and customers.  The study focuses on a broad definition of “green buildings” to encompass the health and wellness of its occupants.

Green Biz – Architecture and Design – World GBC Report

Using big data to help solve the building energy problem

Big Data isn’t just an impressive show of new technology, it’s a way to solve problems. Now the U.S. Department of Energy, with the support of partners and allies, has created the SEED Platform Collaborative to help put big data to work on one of the biggest problems in the global effort against the negative effects of climate change – the waste of energy in big buildings.

Energy Manager

Is smart glass ready for prime time?

The idea of “smart” glass with the ability to change its opacity has been with us for a couple of decades, at least. When installed in a building envelope, it would save costs for heating, air conditioning and lighting while avoiding the cost of installing and maintaining motorized light screens, blinds or curtains.

Daily Commercial News

France to ban supermarkets from throwing away food

In an effort to tackle the dual problems of food waste and poverty, France just passed a groundbreaking law that requires supermarkets to donate unsold food to charity, give it away as animal feed, or face fines of up to €75,000 ($82,324) and two years in jail. The law, which was passed unanimously this week by the French senate.

Inhabitat.com

The ‘green’ branding of Vancouver

On the city of Vancouver website you can click on a big green arrow and be swept up in a feel-good animation about Vancouver, our little utopia by the sea, and learn about just how valuable the city’s brand is. For positioning, cities with famous reputations — Paris! Rome! L.A.! — are introduced. Then, we meet “brand” Vancouver.

Vancouver Sun

LEED Platinum skyscraper in Guangzhou, China

The Pearl River Tower, an environmentally-smart building that stands as a landmark within the Guangzhou skyline, has passed LEED-CS platinum certification – the highest LEED rating, thus becoming a big draw to multinational enterprises. The 71-storey skyscraper is the first project in Guangzhou that achieves the LEED-CS platinum certification.

Canada Newswire

Market Trends and Research

Minto Place transportation survey

Minto Group conducted a survey at their Minto Place complex in Ottawa in October of 2014 to determine the transportation habits of residents and employees as a part of an application for LEED designation for existing buildings (LEED EB).  Of residents interviewed, over 44% walk and over 30% take public transportation to work or school each day.

Ottawa EcoDistrict

Energy storage cost to drop 70% in 15 years

The world of tomorrow has to be powered by clean and renewable sources of energy. We simply can’t keep pumping toxins in the air that we breathe and messing with the composition of the atmosphere. But to get there, we not only need continued exponential growth in wind and solar power, but also lots and lots of energy storage capacity. Eventually.

TreeHugger

Commercial Green Buildings

Toronto store owner wants a greenhouse on his roof

Potsothy Sallapa props a ladder against the back wall of his natural-foods store in Kensington Market, climbs to the top rung, hoists himself onto the flat roof and takes a long look around. To anyone else, it is just a roof, an expanse of grey tar paper. He sees much more. He sees fragrant herbs, fresh lettuce leaves and rows of fat tomatoes.

Globe and Mail

Solar panel ‘Gigafactory’ in Buffalo almost ready

Soon after SolarCity acquired solar panel maker Silevo in the summer of 2014, it announced the construction of a 1.2-million-square-foot ‘Solar Gigafactory’ in Buffalo, New York. The move had two main goals: 1) For the solar installer to get its own secure supply of high-efficiency solar panels and 2) drive down the cost of the panels and of installing them.

TreeHugger

Google, Amazon underestimate data centers’ carbon footprints

Google and Amazon are among the companies using an obsolete tool to calculate their data center emissions from the electricity they purchase from the power grid, according to Lux Research.  The research firm has developed a new analytical tool that finds data centers underestimate coal usage by 30 percent or more, and thus have much higher emissions than they report.

Environmental Leader

Why hotels are switching to LED Lighting

More than any other large properties, hotels and resorts can take advantage of the great benefits offered by LED lighting because these facilities have a fixed operating cost for heating/cooling and lighting in all their common areas; lighting in their lobbies, hallways which are operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Green Lodging News

Residential Green Buildings

Menkes builds first LEED Silver home in Halton Hills

Sustainable design in the home industry is quickly becoming the norm and is becoming very important to homebuyers, especially of a younger generation. And Menkes recently completed the first LEED Silver home in it’s Halton Hills development which will feature 184 ENERGY STAR qualified homes.

Newinhomes.com

Working at home not so good for the planet

Next time your boss tries to convince you of the benefits of working from home, spare a thought for how that could contribute to wrecking the planet. Working from your kitchen can actually increase the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming, since those who stay home usually turn up the thermostat. 

Bloomberg

Waste Management

Ford sends zero waste to landfill at HQ

Ford’s North American headquarter facilities now send zero waste to landfill.  The automarker says the facilities — located in Dearborn, Michigan, Oakville, Ontario, and Santa Fe, Mexico — divert more than 240,000 pounds of waste from landfills annually. Ford has set a goal to trim global waste to landfill by 40 percent on a per vehicle basis between 2011 and 2016.

Environmental Leader

On-site recycling mandatory in Calgary

An amended bylaw that went into effect on Feb. 1 makes it mandatory for apartment buildings, condos and other multi-family complexes in Calgary to provide residents with on-site recycling. The City of Calgary, however, will not be involved in collecting the recyclables. Instead, private-sector recycling companies will provide collection and processing services.

Global News – Calgary Herald

Durham Region gives incinerator green light

Toronto Star

Walmart bets on Canadian paying for plastic bags

Walmart (WMT-N) believes most of its Canadian customers will accept having to pay for disposable plastic bags in future, given it could help reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills. Customers at hundreds of Walmart stores across the country will soon have to pay five cents for each plastic bag they use.

CBC News

Renewable Energy

DoubleTree ‘goes green’ with Bullfrog Power

DoubleTree by Hilton Regina is the first hotel in Saskatchewan to ‘go green’ with electricity from Bullfrog Power, according to representatives of Bullfrog and the international hotel chain.

Regina Leader-Post

Products, Technology and Design

Battery storage giving businesses a break

Battery storage is helping utilities do their jobs. And by extension, it will — in time — help energy managers. Just off the lot: a 8.75 megawatt project that captures and reuses energy created by braking subway cars along two subway lines. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) now has one of the nation’s largest customer-sited battery storage networks.

Energy Manager

Smart computer use hikes energy efficiency

The facility manager’s job, of course, is to track energy usage in a building. In most cases, this involves HVAC and other elements relating directly to the operation of the building. But the specific activities going on within the building are vital as well — and the potential source of great gains in efficiency. 

Energy Manager

Sask. carbon capture centre receives boost

A new carbon capture and storage (CCS) “knowledge centre” planned for Saskatchewan is getting a $20-million boost. On Friday, Global mining giant BHP Billiton announced its intention to provide the cash over a five-year period. The idea of the centre is to accelerate the development of CCS technology, thereby bringing down its cost and sharing it around the world.

Regina Leader-Post

Green Companies and CSR Reports

UVic poised to lead a green industrial revolution

When UVic’s civil engineering program first launched in 2013,  its intent was to grow into the go-to program in Canada for green civil engineering.  Its first class of 41 students will graduate in 2017 focused around four strategic areas: green buildings, sustainable cities, industrial ecology and water resources.

University of Victoria

Staples Canada surpasses batteries goal

Staples Canada (SPLS-Q) recently released its Q3 sustainability update and recent environmental achievements. Highlights include a 12 per cent increase in batteries collected in the quarter as the company surpassed its full-year collection goal. “We are proud that, together with our customers, we continue to have a positive impact on our environment,” said Pete Gibel, senior vice-president of merchandising.

Canada Newswire

The elephant in the room for corporate emissions goals

Amid the celebrations following the successful outcome of the Paris climate talks, a few sustainability commentators had words of caution: The Paris Agreement was not an end in itself, but merely marks the start of the hard work of tackling climate change.  Nowhere is this truer than in the contribution of big business to mitigating global warming.

Green Biz

Government Programs and Incentives

It’s high time for Canada to invest in developing green technology

In light of overwhelming scientific evidence and the recent COP21 agreements, green, clean tech is clearly the way forward — for our species and, therefore, our economy.  This is an economic watershed moment for our country. And right now our low dollar, largely due to our economy’s overweighting in oil, prices our know-how attractively to boost international sales in a Canadian brave green wave.

Montreal Gazette – Canada Newswire

Alberta offering solar power incentives

The Alberta government said $5 million was being invested to help municipalities and farmers start using solar power with a solar energy incentive program as part of the province’s Climate Leadership Plan. As part of the program, municipalities would be eligible for rebates up to $300,000. Farmers would be eligible for rebates of up to $500,000.

CTV News

Ontario’s wind energy plan ignored rural impact: Study

Ontario brought in wind energy with a “top-down” style that brushed off the worries of communities where the massive turbines now stand, says a University of Ottawa study. The 2009 Green Energy Act gave little thought to the transformation that wind farms bring to rural communities, writes a group headed by Stewart Fast.

Ottawa Citizen

B.C. claims progress cutting greenhouse gases

British Columbia has released its 2014 report on industrial greenhouse gas output that says carbon dioxide emissions from waste treatment, mining and smelter have dropped. However, the Environment Ministry reports overall industrial carbon dioxide emissions were up 2.1 per cent between 2013 and 2014.

Winnipeg Free Press

Municipal Policy and Urban Issues

Using big data in quest for sustainable cities

Priorities vary of course, but there are some items certain to be on everyone’s list of what is needed to create sustainable and liveable cities: Don’t build on floodplains. Give pedestrians and cyclists priority over cars. Develop efficient public transit to coax people out of their cars. Plan and build for weather that gets worse as the world warms.

Daily Commercial News – Green Biz

U.S. towns look to microgrid

Albany, N.Y., which repeatedly found itself without power for days during storms, is planning a dramatic step by pulling its municipal buildings entirely off the electric grid. The decision by Nassau to rely on solar, wind, landfill gas and battery storage by 2020 puts the town of 5,000 near Albany on the leading edge of a national campaign to develop “microgrids.”

Winnipeg Free Press

‘Green’ Gardiner proposal includes a park

City staff recently reviewed five proposals including the “Green Gardiner,” an ambitious plan to reroute the eastern end of the Toronto highway in close alignment with the rail corridor, and cover that with a long narrow park. Architect and planner Cal Brook of Brook McIlroy Inc. gives us his pitch.

Toronto Star

Surrey approves upgrade to LED street lights

Surrey will be one of the first Canadian cities to embark on a full conversion of street lighting to LED lights, the city said Tuesday. Council endorsed a five-year implementation plan Monday night to replace 28,000 existing street lights with LED roadway lighting technology.

Vancouver Sun

Bikes and The City

Ride Report crowdsources better biking for all

When we last caught up with the folks from Knock Software creating Ride Report last year, their smart phone application was just called Ride, without the Report. They’ve come a long way since then, collecting ride data from 40,000 rides taken in the bike-happy city of Portland, Oregon.

TreeHugger

Separated bike lanes attract riders

On Streetsblog, Angie Schmitt describes research by Raymond Ziemba at Toronto’s Ryerson University, studying the impact of installing a separated bike lane, in this case the Sherbourne Street bike lane in Toronto.  The results were impressive, with a 300% increase in cyclists on the street after the painted bike lanes were replaced with separated lanes.

TreeHugger

Other

Consortium to drive sustainability in India’s housing

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is convening a voluntary, collaborative effort with leading Indian housing sector companies to form an industry-led Sustainable Housing Leadership Consortium to drive sustainability in India’s housing market with a particular focus on the affordable housing sector.

Economic Times of India