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East Port Properties has developed a 300,000 square feet, multi-tenant warehouse in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and last week it was awarded the Zero Carbon Building Design Certification presented from the Canada Green Building Council.

“We at the Canada Green Building Council applaud East Port Properties’ dedication in pursuing zero carbon,” said Thomas Mueller, President and CEO of CaGBC. “East Port is bringing innovative thinking to industrial developments and they are paving the way for a new generation of zero carbon warehousing, an asset class that represents over two billion square feet of real estate across 11 Canadian markets.”

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Source: Building 

Renewable energy has come a long way over the last decade and it is only growing. It has been reported that solar and wind now power more to America’s grid than coal – some thought they would never see this happen.

Back in 2010 Chief Executive of Peabody Energy Corp, Gregory Boyce, made a strong comment, saying “It is unrealistic to suggest that renewables could replace conventional baseload fuels.”

BloombergNEF forecasts that by the year 2050 solar and wind will power half of the world.

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Source: Bloomberg

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Source: Global News

Energy Canada is the National voice for an energy efficient economy. They are a grant-based research fund based at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Energy Efficiency Alberta is the province’s expert on saving energy through efficiency – the most cost-effective fuel source. They have created programs promote the use of cutting-edge technology to save energy and reduce emissions, while improving quality of life. The province was recently praised for the success they have been having.

Here are some major highlights from their report:  

• $101 million investment in household programs, $534 million in energy savings and reduced emissions
• $88 million investment in commercial, industrial and non-profit institutions, $200 million saved
• 1,500 solar projects
• $17.5 million investment in solar projects resulting in $37 million in residential and commercial savings
• 214,000 people and groups participated in energy efficiency programs

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Source: CBC News

Wood Mackenzie stated in their recent report that they forecast a 5-gigawatt upgrade in the global offshore sector, yielding 129 gigawatts of new capacity and a compound annual growth rate of 26 percent for the burgeoning segment.

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Source: Green Tech Media

Source: Student Enerygy

Shopping malls are an ideal space for solar panels – a wide open FLAT space that sees sunlight all day, it’s perfect! That is exactly what the owner and operator at Oxford Properties thought as well when they started this project back in 2017 working with a Canadian engineering company RESCo Energy Inc.

The plan: to install 600 solar panels in clusters around the mall’s roof surfaces to generate power to the one million square foot of retail space for the next two decades.

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Source: The Globe and Mail

The Sir Adam Beck Power Canal is a 13.7 km power canal that channels water to OPG’s hydroelectric generating stations. It was built in 1921 and will undergo a major refurbishment to improve the performance for another 50 more years.

“This work will preserve the structural integrity of the canal and clear debris to restore and improve water flow.” Tony Palma, Project Manager with OPG

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Source: Ontario Power Generation 

The company behind this new RV design is Dethleffs and it offers off-grid status. The whole RV is covered in solar panels a total of 334 sq feet (on the roof AND on the side) which offers 3,000 watts of energy. To make it even better, you don’t need a charging station or fuel!

Click here to check out the inside, its luxurious! 

Source:Goods Home Design

*image from Goods Home Design website

Curious on what you can build with 600,000 plastic water bottles? Well, last month a company called JD Composites unveiled its first home in Meteghan River on Nova Scotia's southwest shore. Its walls are made from 15-centimetre thick plastic slabs.

Source: CBC News Nova Scotia

Microgrids are ‘decentralised energy grids that intelligently balance the local supply and demand of distributed clean energy resources'.

A new study shows they could play a pivotal role in supporting efforts to transition to renewable energy systems and meet climate targets. A Dutch report found that microgrid technology, through sharing of energy at the local level between multiple households, could make the economy 90 percent self-sufficient.  

Microgrids could play a huge role in the transition to renewable energy moving forward.

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Source: Vice

Statement released by Policy Director at Clean Energy Canada, Dan Woynillowicz, regarding the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision supporting the constitutionality of Ottawa's federal carbon price. 

“With Canada warming twice as fast as the rest of the world—triggering an increase in fires and floods—trying to score political points by grandstanding against sound climate policy is not only reckless, it’s deeply dangerous. With four out of five judges ruling in favour of the federal government, in addition to a similar decision in the Saskatchewan court in May, it could not be clearer that fighting climate change is more important than fighting each other. 

“It’s noteworthy that this case, and the court’s decision, goes beyond simply upholding the federal government’s ability to put a price on carbon pollution. It affirms that when provinces fail to act, the federal government can step in to ensure minimum standards for cutting pollution across... Read More

Source: Clean Energy Canada

Build Your Dreams (BYD) is opening their first Canadian assembly plant in Newmarket, ON. The 45,000 sq ft facility will first focus on assembling buses for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).  Will start with 10 electric buses with the option for 30 more.  

It has been reported that the BYD busses can eliminate approximately 10 tons of nitrogen oxides, 350 pounds of diesel particulate matter, and approximately 1,690 tons of CO2 over the 12-year lifecycle of the vehicle.

“We’re proud to establish a home in Canada; it re-affirms our commitment as a company to be rooted in this country and in this province,” said Ted Dowling, Vice-President, BYD Canada. “We look forward to creating new partnerships across the nation.”

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Source: Newmarket Today

Ikea has pledge to switch their whole delivery fleet to electric by 2025. By next year that will have New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Amsterdam and Shanghai all electric. In fact, they are even up ahead of schedule as they have already reached their goal for Shanghai.

“We wanted to challenge both ourselves and others, and Shanghai is one of the biggest cities in the world,” says Angela Hultberg, who oversees sustainable mobility at Ingka Group. “A city that struggles with air pollution, the very problem we’re trying to address, seemed like a perfect place to start.”

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Source: Fast Company 

Interested in living in one of the world’s largest planned sustainable communities? Well, you can now do so right here in Edmonton! In fact, you can buy a house in their first phase of development. This carbon-neutral neighbourhood is located 10 mins from downtown Edmonton and is powered entirely by renewable resources.

“There will be 30,000 people in Blatchford living and working in a sustainable way,” said Tom Lumdsen, development manager for Blatchford. “It’s a very forward-thinking opportunity to show that Edmonton is more than just an oil and gas town.”

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Source: New Energy Economy

A question most of us (or all of us) have thought about: How long does it take a wind turbine to generate as much electricity as is used and carbon dioxide as is emitted, during the entire lifecycle of that turbine?

SaskWind did a great job at breaking this all down. In short, they concluded that a typical wind turbine will have an energy payback of less than 6 months and a carbon dioxide payback of around 6 months.

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Source: SaskWind

We are all aware that the refurbishment at OPG’s Darlington unit 3 is well under way, but did you know that a key component of the refurbishment just arrived?

The stator made the journey all the way from Poland (where it was built) and is a critical piece to the puzzle. It is a specific element of the turbine generator that serves as the stationary portion of an electric generator that converts the rotating magnetic field into electric current. 

The stator is the largest piece of equipment since the plant’s construction. The hope is to have it installed by next year.

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Source: World Nuclear News

The Nanticoke Generating Station provided 15% of Ontario’s electricity for more than 40 years but in 2013 it stopped using coal as fuel. Shortly after that the site was closed.

This former coal power plant which is on the Northern shore of Lake Erie recently got a makeover! About a year ago the 650 ft smokestacks were torn down and in replace of them are 192,431 solar panels spread across the 260 acers.

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Source: Mining.com 

As Earth Day is a week away, here is a look at Ontario’s new plan to preserve and protect our environment for future generations.

The plan is now in motion!

In the fall, the province annouced their plan for all new light-duty cars and trucks that are sold to be zero-emission vehicles by the year 2040. It won't happen all at once, they want to phase it in with 10 per cent of new car sales will be zero-emission by 2025 and then by 2030 it will jump to 30 per cent and by 2040 it will be ALL new car sales. 

The province recongizes that zero-emission cars do cost more so to help with that they will be providing rebates to encourage more British Columbians to buy clean energy cars.

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Source: Global News