The Green Pages April 2010

The focus of this column will be to provide information to help us:

• lower our carbon footprint
• run our buildings more efficiently
• retrofit our existing building stock more effectively
• design and develop healthier, cleaner and more inspiring buildings
• find earth-friendly and efficacious substitutes for outdated products and methodologies
• source products that are produced in Canada and/or in the greenest possible way
• use less energy and inspire our tenants and colleagues to do the same
• be aware of outstanding Cleantech companies - especially Canadian Cleantech companies
• share information about uniquely green commercial properties around the world, including retail, hotel, and healthcare

I will be soliciting wisdom from my CREW and other colleagues to introduce you to people, places, programs, products and resources you may want to get to know.

Good companies:

Regen Energy's elegant distributed energy technology enables building managers to minimize peak demand without affecting tenant comfort.

Lucid Design's Building Dashboard - now in its third generation and in many commercial buildings in the US - provides a real-time dashboard indicating energy and water use in all areas of a building. Its user interface allows every tenant to see exactly how much energy and water they are consuming from a small dashboard on their desktops. Imagine the shifts in behavior that would occur if every commercial and government building, along with schools and health facilities, had real-time energy and water consumption meters installed in high-profile areas of their lobbies.

Windterra is hoping to change the way we look at wind power by producing small, easily-installed wind-power generators that use "micro-wind" for homes and small commercial buildings - for about $7K each.

Over 100 million tonnes of cement are produced in North America each year - almost all of it the ubiquitous Portland cement - which is extremely energy-intensive to produce. It's a huge industry controlled by a few, very large players. Slowly, the industry is working on becoming greener – the common addition of SCMs (supplementary cementing materials like fly ash and slag) being the most obvious way this is happening. It's incumbent upon all of us to bring greener concrete options to the attention of our colleagues in the development and infrastructure side of the industry. Marketing budgets for alternative cement producers often don't exist. Word of mouth matters.

The cement industry produces about 5% of human-related CO2 emissions. Production of Portland cement requires that materials be crushed and heated to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. For every ton of cement manufactured, about 6.5 billion BTUs of energy are consumed, and about one ton of carbon dioxide is released. The addition of fly ash (a byproduct of coal combustion) produces a lubricating effect, causing the cement to flow and fill forms with less water consumed in the process. This results in a greener, more durable product. But it’s important to note that the EPA is contemplating branding fly ash a hazardous substance. Transporting fly ash to construction sites may soon become complicated.

Companies that add fly ash to the manufacturing process have historically used no more than 60%. Now, however, a company called Ceratech offers a wide range of products that are entirely Portland cement-free. www.pavement.com

Calera also makes Portland cement-free concrete but uses power-plant CO2 emissions to make its product. This represents one of the most important possibilities for the future of the built environment. Calera also makes Portland cement-free concrete but uses power-plant CO2 emissions to make its product. This represents one of the most important possibilities for the future of the built environment. www.calera.com

Hycrete is a water-based concrete admixture (a substance added to water when concrete is being produced) that makes concrete waterproof. Contact Soren Thompson at 201-386-8110 sthompson@hycrete.comE-crete

E-crete’s AAC (autoclaved aerated concrete) emits no pollutants and creates no by-products or toxic waste products. www.e-crete.com

Novacem and Essroc are two hugely exciting companies that are developing "carbon-eating cement". Novocem uses magnesium oxide to harden their product, (rather than high heat) and promises that their cement will absorb more CO2 over its lifespan than is created in its production. Essroc - a division of Italcement - uses seawater mixed with an aggregate. Contact Canadian rep dave.lain@essroc.com for more information.

Carbon Sense Solutions, based in Halifax, is working on a number of proprietary methodologies for carbon capture and storage - most notably their Concrete Curing Process that consumes carbon dioxide. Contact Robert Niven - founder and president: robert.niven@carbonsensesolutions.com

Another exciting development in creating a more durable and greener concrete is taking place in Saskatchewan at Whitemud Resources. They are mining kaolin clay, which is processed to become metakaolin - a new kind of SCM. Traditionally metakaolin, processed in an energy-and-water-intensive way in the US Deep South, has been used to make paper glossy, with metakaolin for construction a tiny sideline. When Whitemud mines kaolin in Saskatchewan and processes it into metakaolin; absolutely no water is used. The process uses much less energy, the cement sets days faster and the end product is about 30% the price of the US-made product. Choosing to use Whitemud's metakaolin would appear to be a no-brainer. Ellis Don used it in Encana's Bow Tower. Contact Barry Lester at 1-877-909-4483.

Good Products:

Aspen Aerogel's Spaceloft Insulation - also known as liquid smoke - produces the highest R-value of any insulating material available and has the lowest bulk density of any known porous solid. It’s usually transparent, feels a bit like Styrofoam, and until now has been too expensive for commercial use. Aspen Aerogel was recently chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the GoingGreen East Top 50 winners; signifying their game-changing approaches and leading technologies. www.aerogel.com

Good Ideas:

Few things matter more in our industry than reskinning our existing building stock. The Zerofootprint Reskinning Award is a brilliant initiative. Go to www.zerofootprint.com

How many vending machines are on your property or in your office? They are massive energy eaters! Plug the machines into an "Energy Miser" and it will govern the flow of energy used. In Canada the product is distributed by Optimum Energy. www.optimumenergy.com. The Mayor of Halifax, Peter Kelly, mandated that these be installed on every vending machine in the City of Halifax (an amazing 2000 refrigerated units and 1000 other electric units).They're saving about $500K and eliminating about 5200 tonnes of greenhouse gasses a year.

Good News:

One Laptop Per Child has unveiled the XO3 Laptop - basically a single sheet of flexible plastic with touchscreen technology. It should be to market in 2 years at a cost of less than $100. www.laptop.org

Brownfields remediation is one of our industry's biggest challenges. The website for The Green Municipal Fund is surprisingly easy to navigate and offers case studies, online webinars and info on below-market loans. The city of Barrie just received a loan of $2 million at preferred rates and a gift of$400K to improve its water supply. Contact Margaux Stastny @ 613-996-2007. www.fcm.ca/gmf

Good Places:

Anyone involved with green building in Canada knows about Dockside Green. Developed by the visionary Joe Van Bellighem; it is still the greenest community in the country. The "Consultants" section of the project website lists some of the best practitioners of sustainable development working today. If you get an opportunity to see Dockside Green - go.

Good Practices:

There's no excuse not to power down or turn off your company computers when they are not in use. Every package - even the free ones - can be programmed to turn back on for regular updates and then turn off again. You'll save $25 to $75 a year in energy costs per computer.

Good Clean Energy Ideas:

I have written about kinetic energy in this column before. It’s the energy created by human movement. In various labs around the world green geniuses are working on what is often called "heel-strike power". Pioneers in this area are David Webb of the Scott Wilson Group and The Facility Architects, both based in the UK. The process has been brought closer to marketability by Pavegen Systems - also in the UK. Imagine: The Rogers Centre being lit and heated by the energy created by people walking in the door or your own lights working via a connect to a pad that your kids jump on for 5 minutes a day.....

Good read:

“Retrofitting office buildings to be green and energy-efficient” by Leanne Tobias
Published by the Urban Land Institute ISBN139780874201338

Good Toronto Crew News:

Toronto CREW sponsor Bennett Jones LLP has released an important report on the Copenhagen Climate Change negotiations and the new Copenhagen Accord. As they say: "Whether the CA (Copenhagen Accord) represents a bold new initiative that can rescue climate-change decision-making, a short term diversion from the tried and true method of negotiating international climate change policy or even the beginning of the end of international efforts to deal with climate change, the CA deserves a closer look by Canadians as do the events of Copenhagen itself". Read the Bennett Jones team's report and insights at www.bennettjones.com

Important Toronto News:

As of January 31, all new planning applications - including zoning amendments - in the City of Toronto are required to meet Tier 1 environmental performance measures. Go to www.toronto.ca/planning/environment

Please keep me apprised of activities, developments, best practices and products that might be of interest to your fellow CREW members in Vancouver, Calgary or Toronto.

Contact me at karensisco@ksebiz.com 416-473-4711. This column is the sole property of Karen Sisco and cannot be used without her permission.

These illustrations are by "Perfectly Square". Contact: perfectlysquare@perfectlysquare.com

Please note: the above information is based upon the results of research done for my own edification which I am happy to share with my CREW colleagues. It should in no way be construed as an endorsement by Toronto CREW, its members, or its sponsors.

Mission

Toronto Commercial Real Estate Women:

Dedicated to advancing the business success of its members through the power of networking, philanthropy and education.