Fiera Real Estate Canada – the current owner of Richmond’s Airport Executive Park (AEP) – is aiming to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, partly through the installation of electric heat pumps that will replace its gas-fired heating systems… And while 25 years from today may seem like a long time, experts warn Canada isn’t making progress fast enough to achieve its goal. The clock began ticking in 2021 when the federal government adopted the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050, with an interim target of GHG reductions hitting at least 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. …“It’s hard to see how we’re going to achieve the interim standards for the building sector by 2030, and if we don’t reach them, the climb to 2050 is going to be a lot harder,” says Thomas Mueller, CEO of the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC).
Earlier this year, the Canadian government released a new housing plan aimed at building more homes and addressing housing unaffordability. As part of that plan, government announced $600 million in funding to build homes cheaper and quicker using “innovative technologies.” The funding is earmarked for building more housing by automating processes and using materials like mass timber construction, robotics and 3D printing. …Building materials like mass timber, including cross-laminated timber (CLT), offer a renewable low-carbon substitute for conventional materials, reducing a building’s carbon footprint. …Piecemeal solutions or standalone initiatives cannot address the housing crisis. Canada needs a holistic and multi-stakeholder approach that bridges the gaps between federal, provincial and municipal governments, and includes the active participation of industry stakeholders and local communities.
When you think of new construction in Metro Vancouver, you think of concrete towers with glass facades. A Metro Vancouver report on rental housing is considering a different approach: Making it easier to build six-storey apartment buildings out of wood. The report’s name is a mouthful, “Streamlining the Delivery of Rental Housing Through Pre-Approved Plans and Off-Site Construction.” But it has a simple goal: making rental housing cheaper to build. Concrete buildings typically cost 20 to 24 per cent more to build than wooden ones. So the report, which will probably go to Metro in January, calls for low-rise wood frame buildings. The report also wants to make it easier to build. “We’re collaborating with B.C. Housing on (ways) to essentially speed up the delivery of six-story rental wood frame apartments,” said Michael Epp, director of housing, planning and development at Metro Vancouver.
Mass timber construction …has exploded in recent years, exemplified by buildings like Ascent, a high-rise in Milwaukee, and the new terminal at the Portland Airport. Industry group Woodworks predicts 20% growth in new projects. And passive house design, the ultra-energy efficient methodology of building, has also exploded, with numerous examples of homes, hospitals, high-rises, and even affordable housing built according to the standard. But this progress is at risk with a new Trump administration coming into power. Proposed tariffs by the incoming Trump administration may increase the prices of many items. But for architects and advocates working on more efficient and sustainable buildings, there’s fear that tariffs could impact specific materials and machines that are key to their work. Higher costs from tariffs, may slow down the pick up of these construction techniques, making such buildings more expensive, and slowing down the effort to cut emissions from buildings and the built environment.
On the whole, modern buildings have large carbon footprints, thanks to pollution-heavy concrete, steel, insulation, and more. …So it’s no surprise that the search is underway to shrink emissions. …These developments are mostly written about in scientific research papers and professional journals … here are just a sampling:
Non-profit organisation Two Sides is calling on organisations to remove or change misleading statements that it labels as ‘greenwashing’. …According to the organisation, economic pressures have caused companies which have previously relied on paper for customer communication to shift from traditional paper-based services to digital platforms, in order to cut costs. Alongside this transition, many companies have made environmental marketing claims such as “Go Green – Go Paperless” or “Choose e-billing and help save a tree.” But according to Two Sides, these claims are misleading, and are clear examples of greenwashing. …Two Sides has challenged over 2,800 organisations communicating these greenwashing messages to their customers, resulting in more than 1,260 changing or removing statements. …“Far from ‘saving trees,’ a healthy market for forest products and paper encourages the long-term growth of forests through sustainable forest management.”
