Sustainability

Raw performance metrics unflattering to Canada

Raw performance metrics unflattering to Canada

Canada ranks 7th for its policy measures and second-last in performance outcomes in an analysis of energy efficiency efforts in the world's 25 highest energy-consuming countries.
Quebec budget boosts climate action spending

Quebec budget boosts climate action spending

The budget also includes $232.5 million over five years to help universities and colleges rent additional space and $43 million to underwrite an extra 1,600 subsidized units in private rental housing.
Canada LEED

Greening your washroom for the good of the planet

Four tips for operating a more sustainable washroom in celebration of the International Day of Forests.
environments

Canadian school districts build for healthier environments

The schools installed future-ready infrastructure improvements for healthier, more sustainable learning environments.
Deep Retrofit Challenge

York Region piloting Passive House at new facility

A new men's emergency and transitional housing facility, set to rise in Aurora, Ontario, has opened the door to pilot-testing Passive House in York Region.
IAQ combos arresting airborne spread of COVID

IAQ combos arresting airborne spread of COVID

Commercial building operators could use a combination of air exchange, filtration and purification to comply with the industry-leading guidance for arresting airborne spread of pathogens and contaminants.
decarbonization

Canada’s clean energy efforts garner plaudits

The International Energy Agency commends Canada's targets and policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and identifies it as a potential key player in the transition to low-carbon energy sources
Environmental mishaps can herald personal liability

Environmental mishaps herald personal liability

Personal liability is a mounting possibility for directors, officers and supervisors of organizations that run afoul of environmental regulators or are on the losing side of civil litigation.
Accessibility carries a simple business case

Accessibility carries a simple business case

Many commercial real estate operators are making the simple business case for buildings that are functional for all potential users. It’s a quest that can begin with simple investigations, simple low-cost measures and simple mindfulness.
healthcare facilities 

Guidelines inform resilient healthcare facilities 

Newly released guidelines offer a standard for approaching the planning and designing of healthcare facilities from a resiliency perspective.
retailers

What can the new workplace learn from retailers?

Just as bricks-and-mortar stores embraced experiential retail to entice consumers who might otherwise shop online, organizations are now hoping to woo their remote-savvy workers back to the office.
healthy

How to provide healthy environments & meet climate goals

Three key lessons for making buildings energy- and carbon-efficient and healthy.
water consumption

Key steps to reduce water consumption

Reducing water consumption must remain an important aim for commercial facility managers.
COVID-19 prompts fine-tune for effective benchmarking

A fine-tune for effective benchmarking

The 2021 versions of REALPAC's normalization methodologies for calculating energy- and water-use intensity address issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and lower occupant densities in office buildings.
campus

Campus high-rise brings health to new heights

Dingy is a word that conjures thoughts of old institutional spaces. Academic buildings with dimly-lit hallways and windowless classrooms punctured with fluorescent glare. Rarely are
status quo stymies innovative retrofit options

Status quo stymies innovative retrofit options

Prevailing approaches for incentivizing, financing and implementing retrofit projects deemed unlikely to propel the existing building inventory to net-zero emissions by 2050.
Indigenous hub

Purpose-built Indigenous hub will be Ontario first

Construction is officially underway on what will be Ontario's first mixed-use, purpose-built Indigenous hub in the West Don Lands of Toronto.