Ontario’s Green Energy Act, enacted last month, dominated discussions at the 2009 Power of Water Conference, held Oct. 15-16 by the Ontario Waterpower Association.

Green Building and Development as a Public Good
Source: Canadian Policy Research Networks

Governments in Canada are attempting to respond to the challenge of global warming and to the expectation Canadians hold for a healthy economy and enhanced quality of life. Actions include energy conservation, the introduction of a carbon tax (British Columbia) and the possibility of carbon cap and trade legislation (or agreements among some provinces). An area of increasing attention is how we develop communities and build and use residential and commercial buildings.

In Green Building and Development as a Public Good, Mike Buzzelli argues that green building and development faces a classic policy paradox: we collectively agree that improvements are needed in the built environment but we are caught in a whirlwind of information and debate about how to move forward. We are motivated to “be green” but challenged by implementation.

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The Canadian government will reward some pulp and paper producers for making their operations more environmentally friendly.

But the $1 billion Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program also attempts to level the playing field between Canada’s pulp and paper industry and its U.S. competitors.

Radisson(R) Hotels & Resorts today announced the opening of the Radisson Plaza Mississauga Toronto Airport, a USD 24 million, 100-room, all-suite hotel located at 175 Derry Road East in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The hotel was recently recognized with a Four Key rating by the Eco Rating program from the Hotel Association of Canada as a hotel that has taken significant steps to protect the environment.

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities has announced that the city of Toronto has passed a new green roof by-law with overwhelming support yesterday. The green roof by-law consists of a green roof construction standard and a mandatory requirement for green roofs on all classes of new buildings. The by-law requires up to 50% green roof coverage on multi-unit residential dwellings over six stories, schools, non-profit housing, and commercial and industrial buildings. Larger residential projects require greater green roof coverage, ranging anywhere from 20-50% of the roof area.

On April 1, the Honorable Jim Prentice, Minister of the Environment, announced that the government of Canada introduced tough new regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the automotive sector under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA).

The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. has awarded $13,750 to the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corp. to look at the feasibility of developing oilseed crops—such as canola and soybeans—for the production of biodiesel in the Sault St. Marie, Ontario, region. The study will look at establishing an oilseed crushing facility and biorefinery. The development corporation has also received funds to study the feasibility of fiber crops—such as industrial hemp—for the production of paper and textiles.

Scientists have noticed some disturbing changes in the water, and the reproductive organs of fish, in the St. Lawrence River near Montreal.

Concentrations of estrogen as high as 90 times the normal rate have been discovered just downstream from the island of Montreal, according to researchers from l’Université de Montreal.

Wal-Mart Canda President and CEO David Cheesewright has announced plans to cut energy use by more than 30 percent in new Wal-Mart high-efficiency stores opening in 2009.

Households and the Environment
Source: Statistics Canada

There is a growing recognition that the actions of households have a major impact on the environment. The Households and the Environment Survey (HES) is conducted to measure those actions. The HES has been relaunched after a 12-year absence and collects data on some of the same environmental variables that were investigated in the 1991 and 1994 surveys. However, many of the topics covered in this survey are new. The following are the major themes covered by the 2006 HES:

The topics in the 2006 HES covered:

• Water quality concerns
• Consumption and conservation of water
• Energy use in terms of lighting and home heating and cooling
• Ownership and use of gasoline powered equipment
• Pesticide and fertilizer use on lawns and gardens
• Recycling, composting and waste disposal practices
• Impacts of air and water quality on households
• Transportation decisions

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The environmental and public health concerns that arise from the chemical treatment of wood have brought about the development of greener alternatives.

PCI Industries Inc. has created a heat treatment technology for wood (the PerdureTM technology) that does not require any added chemical agents and which sterilizes and protects the wood against microorganisms and insects (except termites), and improves its dimensional stability.

This technology, an ecological substitute for chemically treated wood, extends the service life of the wood and can be used on all species. Also, the heating process alters the colour of the bulk wood, leading to the production of exotic wood substitutes.

As part of a joint partnership with a local educational institution, Chatham-Kent council has approved purchasing a biodiesel fuel production system.

British Columbians will pay more at the gas pump as the provincial government’s carbon tax on all fossil fuels takes effect Tuesday.

The carbon tax, introduced in the Feb. 19 budget, taxes carbon-based fuels — including gasoline, diesel, natural gas and home heating fuel — at a rate of $10 per tonne of greenhouse gases generated. The carbon tax will rise $5 a tonne for the next four years until it hits $30 per tonne in 2012.

The Tuesday tax increase works out to an extra 2.4 cents a litre on gasoline, increasing to 7.24 cents per litre by 2012.

This week, city counselors in Ottawa, Ontario, unanimously approved a new waste-to-energy facility that will turn 400 metric tons of garbage per day into 21 megawatts of net electricity–enough to power about 19,000 homes. Rather than burning trash to generate heat, as with an incinerator, the facility proposed by Ottawa-based PlascoEnergy Group employs electric-plasma torches to gasify the municipal waste and enlist the gas to generate electricity.

The new Water Centre in Calgary which opened earlier this month is the recent recipient of some heavy metal from the Green Building Council of Canada.

Designed by Manasc Isaac Architects in collaboration with Sturgess Architecture, the 183,000-square-foot facility is the first building in the province of Alberta to qualify for the CaGBC’s Gold LEED certification. Since 2003, Calgary’s Sustainable Building Policy requires all new municipal buildings meet or exceed a Silver rating.

The annual Canadian Pollution Prevention Roundtable (CPPR) provides a unique opportunity in Canada for pollution prevention (P2) leaders, decision-makers, and practitioners to exchange ideas, share expertise, and coordinate P2 efforts. The CPPR brings together corporate, government, academic and non-profit representatives and is an important event for networking and finding out about exciting P2 initiatives in Canada. Come join us! On-line registration has been activated and the agenda has been posted at www.c2p2online.com/CPPR

For additional information, please email leah@c2p2online.com or phone 416-979-3534 ext.1.

A partnership between politics and science in an effort to clean up Canadian waters is gaining momentum in the new session of Parliament.

Chris Metcalfe, a professor in Environmental and Resource Studies at Trent University, brought cutting edge science to explain the effects of “subtle contaminants” such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) to Parliament Hill on Tuesday.

Lifting Ontario’s offshore wind farm moratorium is just what the wind-farm industry needs to help promote further construction in this field, a West Coast-based offshore wind development firm says.

The premiers of British Columbia and Ontario will push their colleagues from other provinces today to reach a national accord on how to adapt to the fallout from global warming that is already evident on the country’s forests, lakes and wildlife.

Even though the Ontario government has lifted the moratorium on offshore wind development, one consultant predicts turbines won’t be popping up in Lake Erie any time soon.

Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon said Thursday the government is working towards a “made-in-Canada” solution to reduce the fuel consumption of new cars and light trucks by 2020.

On Thursday it announced that it will launch a consultation process that will help create new rules for fuel economy.

Offshore wind could play an important role in the development of renewable energy resources in Ontario, says Premier Dalton McGuinty, who confirmed yesterday that an official announcement on wind power in the Great Lakes is coming soon.

Southeast False Creek in Vancouver, British Columbia, will be the site of the 2010 Olympic Village and a model neighborhood for sustainable urban planning. Once a bleak industrial scar on the city landscape, the neighborhood now has the potential to be one of the most sustainable communities in one of the greenest cities in the world.

Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators 2007 – Highlights
Source: Environment Canada

The health of Canadians and their social and economic well-being are highly dependent on the quality of their environment. One way to assess environmental quality is to use indicators that convey complex information in a simple form. The Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators provide an indication of the health of our environment in much the same way as the gross domestic product (GDP) and other measures provide a sense of the health of the economy. Over the long term, the intent of the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators initiative is to supplement traditional social and economic measures with information that will allow Canadians to better understand the relationships that exist among the economy, the environment and human health and well-being.

This is the third annual Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators Highlights report. It presents key findings from the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators 2007 report. The full 2007 report provides more analysis on indicators and socio-economic factors than previous reports and is based on the best national information available on three environmental issues of high importance to Canadians: air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and freshwater quality. In this year’s report, the three indicators have been updated with 2005 data.

As part of the regional agreement, the three countries’ top environmental officials agreed that their agencies would coordinate efforts to assess and take action on industrial chemicals. The United States, by 2012, will complete risk characterizations and take action, as needed, on more than 9,000 chemicals produced above 25,000 pounds per year. It also provides for the sharing of scientific information and technical understanding, best practices and research on new approaches to chemical testing and assessment. The agreement establishes goals to be met by 2020, which includes creating and updating chemical inventories in all three countries, as well as coordinating the management of chemicals in North America as outlined in other international agreements.

This U.S. commitment to complete assessments and take needed action on 9,000 chemicals will apply the results of EPA’s work on High Production Volume (HPV) chemicals and extend its efforts to moderate production volume chemicals. The 2012 goal is to ensure that these chemicals are produced and used in ways that minimize risks to health and the environment.

This agreement will build on Canada’s Chemical Management Program to categorize chemicals for review, assessment, and management and EPA’s HPV Challenge Program. The HPV program successfully challenged the U.S. chemical industry to provide the public with basic health and safety data on chemicals that are manufactured or used in quantities in excess of a million pounds a year. Later this month, EPA will release an initial set of reports evaluating the potential hazards of HPV chemicals.

EPA plans to use the Canadian results as a starting point for U.S. efforts to assess the hazards of moderate-volume chemicals, using available data and hazard estimation approaches to prepare initial scientific assessments.

Additional information on this effort can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/chemrtk/index.htm

The Lake Huron shoreline will soon have another wind farm with the erection of six turbines near Ravenswood west of Grand Bend.

Glen Estill of Sky Generation says work on the turbines will begin this month and should be completed by November.

Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), an arm’s length, not-for-profit corporation created by the Government of Canada, has awarded $9.8 million to a project led by Woodland Biofuels Inc. of Mississauga, Ontario for the construction and testing of a cellulosic ethanol plant.

With a goal of diverting 65% of garbage from landfills by 2012, city officials in parts of Canada think they’ve hit on a unique solution to help convince families to recycle. They’re employing a small team of students to scout out the neighborhood on garbage day and reward those who do it consistently well with a certificate for being a “Green Team All-Star” and a chance to win $150.

Research on growing tree plantations for bioenergy got a $203,500 boost in Sault Ste. Marie Wednesday.

The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund is providing that funding for the Upper Lakes Environmental Research Network project. Sault MPP David Orazietti made the announcement at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre.

Canada, the United States and Mexico pledged to co-operate on developing energy technology on Monday in an agreement that could reduce trade barriers to alternative energy development.

The countries’ top energy officials, who signed the five-year deal following a meeting on Canada’s Pacific Coast, said it should also promote joint research in areas such as nuclear energy and renewable fuels.

When John Prno heads off to the office each morning, he drives his Honda Civic hybrid to his workplace at the regional government headquarters of Waterloo, Ont.

The building he enters is positioned on a lot to maximize solar gain and features, among other things, energy-efficient light fixtures controlled by sensors, flooring made of recycled materials and dual-mode low flush toilets powered by cistern-stored rain water.

That’s not all. His workplace has radiant in-floor heating, low off-gassing materials used in furniture, paint, floor and wall coverings, “naturescaping” for low maintenance grounds-keeping, dehumidification instead of air conditioning for locker rooms and a bioswale to naturally filter parking lot runoff.

The first commercial building certified “gold” under the Canada Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard, Mr. Prno’s workplace represents a new style of work environment. And he represents a new breed of worker, who place a high priority on doing their part for the environment – much more than simply turning out lights and recycling paper.

Naysayers of environmental sustainability and promoters of the mighty buck take note: sometimes it does pay to reduce your global footprint – and it doesn’t cost a fortune, either.

The city of Beaconsfield received a $5,000 (U.S.) prize Friday for its Sump Pump Patrol, which began last summer.

The award, for best practice in small-city sustainability, was presented during the fourth annual meeting of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative in Grand Rapids, Mich., last week.

Canadians have just over 12 years left to reverse the damage to our environment if we are to save it, says the mayor of The Blue Mountains.

Ellen Anderson made that pessimistic prediction to council Monday night while reporting on the annual meeting of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.

Anderson, a director on the GLSLCI board, also represented The Blue Mountains at the organization’s annual meeting in Grand Rapids, Mich., last week.

The Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA), through its greenTbiz program, today reported that Toronto has been announced by Cree Inc. as the first Canadian city to join the LED City initiative, which works to share best practices about evaluating, promoting and deploying LED (light emitting diode) technology through municipal infrastructure.

The federal government shows little concern over the declining quality of the Great Lakes, activists say.

Aaron Freeman, policy director with Environmental Defence, said the federal government has been sitting idly by while the American government is discussing spending US$20 billion to revitalize the lakes.

In the long term, the most important promise in the McGuinty government’s green plan will likely be the one made by Ontario Education Minister Kathleen Wynne two weeks ago.

She promised that from kindergarten to Grade 12, environmental education will be taught within every subject on the curriculum.

If her promise is kept, environmentally literate graduates, flooding out of high schools, will offer the best possible antidote to global warming and its repercussions.

In particular, Wynne said she would implement all 32 recommendations in a report on environmental education prepared by a working group.

A group of College of the North Atlantic students hope to help make going green a win-win situation for local businesses and the environment alike.

Two of the college’s environmental technology students, Rhea Hutchings and Karyn Rumbolt, as well as Susan Pottle, a graduate student at Dalhousie University, are creating an inventory of materials and energy used by businesses in the Deer Lake to Stephenville corridor.

Under the direction of their instructor and project supervisor Leonard Vassallo, the initiative is supported by the College of the North Atlantic and the Centre of Environmental Excellence based in Corner Brook. The project aims to identify opportunities for waste material exchange and improved energy efficiency for local businesses.

More than 500 surveys have been sent out to small and large businesses, asking them about the kinds of materials and energy they use and how waste materials are disposed of.

The Honourable John Baird, Minister of the Environment, announced today the appointment of Wishart Robson to the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE). His appointment is effective immediately.

Ontario must do more to investigate whether potentially dangerous chemicals in the water supply coming from everyday shampoos, soaps and pharmaceuticals pose a threat to people’s health and the ecosystem, the province’s environmental commissioner says.

There is a pressing need for the province not just to monitor the spread of such chemicals, but to spend millions on research and get on top of the threat posed by pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller said.

Isuzu Commercial Truck of America has announced 1-800-GOT-JUNK? will be the first fleet to test biodiesel fuel in its trucks.

For six months, 10 junk-removal trucks will operate on the cleaner burning fuel in various climate zones across Canada and the United States. The companies anticipate making 1-800-GOT-JUNK? the first Isuzu-approved fleet to switch exclusively to biofuel. 1-800-GOT-JUNK? has more than 1,000 Isuzu N-Series and GMC W-Series trucks in its fleet.

The GLOBE Foundation and The Globe and Mail are proud to announce the winners of the 6th annual GLOBE Awards for Environmental Excellence. The prestigious awards were presented to four of Canada’s most innovative and eco-friendly companies at the EECO 2007 Environment & Energy Conference Closing Gala Luncheon in Toronto, Ontario on Wednesday, June 20th. The annual environmental awards are intended to recognize those Canadian companies that have taken a proactive approach to unique environmental and sustainability challenges, while still maintaining strategic excellence in business practices.

The warmer weather brings gardens, barbeques, and often, solicitors to your door. Many people dread opening the door for someone who’s asking for money. But in a number of Canadian cities, volunteers are actually giving something away: a compact fluorescent light bulb and a bit of education, too. Karen Kelly has the story.

The GLOBE Foundation of Canada and The Globe and Mail are proud to present the finalists of the 6th annual GLOBE Awards for Environmental Excellence. These prestigious awards are designed to honour Canadian corporations who have successfully combined the demands of the competitive business world with the need for proactive sustainable strategies to benefit their companies, surrounding communities, and the greater society. The awards will be presented on Wednesday, June 20th, at the EECO 2007 Environment & Energy Conference Closing Gala Luncheon in Toronto, Ontario. Premier of Ontario Dalton McGuinty will highlight the awards with the keynote address.

Awards will be presented in four categories: Corporate Competitiveness, Technology Innovation and Application, Sustainable Investment and Banking, and Excellence in Urban Sustainability.

The GLOBE Foundation of Canada and The Globe and Mail are proud to present the finalists of the 6th annual GLOBE Awards for Environmental Excellence. These prestigious awards are designed to honour Canadian corporations who have successfully combined the demands of the competitive business world with the need for proactive sustainable strategies to benefit their companies, surrounding communities, and the greater society. The awards will be presented on Wednesday, June 20th, at the EECO 2007 Environment & Energy Conference Closing Gala Luncheon in Toronto, Ontario. Premier of Ontario Dalton McGuinty will highlight the awards with the keynote address.

Awards will be presented in four categories: Corporate Competitiveness, Technology Innovation and Application, Sustainable Investment and Banking, and Excellence in Urban Sustainability.

Jacques Whitford, one of Canada’s largest environmental science and engineering firms, has taken a major step forward in reducing its carbon footprint through a new partnership with the Carbonfund.org Foundation, a leading provider of carbon offset programs.

As of June 1, all of Jacques Whitford’s operations and facilities must now become carbon neutral through a combination of conservation efforts and the purchasing of carbon offsets through Carbonfund.org. The non-profit foundation verified the work Jacques Whitford’s did to analyze their carbon footprint and recommended investments in carbon-reducing projects such as renewable energy, alternative energy and energy efficiency.

Details about this Canadian commemoration in early June that consists of a “week long series of events which encourage and celebrate grassroots action to make our environment cleaner and healthier.” Features environmental sustainability tips, links to resources for children, and listings for community action events such as a commuter challenge and Clean Air Day. In English and French. From Environment Canada.

Today Wal-Mart Canada stores nationwide began reducing lighting by one-third, a move designed to help the company meet its plan to reduce carbon emissions by a minimum of 19,000 tons this year. By initiating summer-long lighting reduction in all locations possible, a total 240 of its 284 stores nationwide, the company expects to cut carbon emissions by more than 4,500 tons, help control summer smog conditions, and aid the stability of provincial power grids.