News

Ryerson University’s Mechanical and industrial engineering professor Alan Fung was presented with two awards, one for research excellence and the other from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) for promotion of sustainable practices.

October 15-16, 2009 Goethe-Institut, Montreal

An article (in French) featuring Andreas Athienitis as one of the 25 top innovators in Quebec

A report (in French) on the JMSB project, and the relevance of this project to the future vision of Net-Zero energy buildings.

Obama administration launches energy efficiency measures that focus on Net-Zero Energy Buildings

Dr. James Love's work on energy efficient buildings was recently recognized by ASHRAE. A second place standing at ASHRAE's Regional Tech Award (ASHRAE Region XI) was given to the University of Calgary's Child Development Centre project. Further to this, his work was also featured as an impact story by NSERC.

JMSB BIPV/T installation shown on Daily Planet Episode 156

Featured in Volume 16, Number 2 of La Maison du 21e siècle (french)

Dr. John L. Wright will receive the ASHRAE Transactions Paper Award

Sustainable Technologies: Alstonvale Net-Zero home and JMSB PV/T installation

Dr. Alan Fung talks about Net-Zero homes

People travelling in Quartier Concordia along Ste. Catherine street or De Maisonneuve boulevard in Montreal can now look up and see a demonstration of innovative Canadian technology conceived at Concordia: solar panels covering the top two floors of one facade of an institutional building - the new John Molson School of Business (JMSB). This world first demonstration of this type of combined solar heat and power technology integrated into a non-residential building is also the largest solar-electric installation in Quebec.

This article was published in La Maîtrise de l'énergie (Vol 23-No. 3-September 2008) of the AQME

Dr. Jim Love's team which was responsible for the energy systems of the University of Calgary's Child Development Centre has won the Sustainability and Environment Award of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta.

Mr. David Anderson, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources Canada announced at the CanSIA conference in Toronto, Monday, November 19, 2007 the award of $900,000 to demonstration projects led by the Solar Buildings Research Network and Concordia University. Related support (in-kind and cash) brings the value of the projects to over $2,000,000.

Le Devoir devoted a major article in its issue of October 28, 2007 to the activities of our Network.

The University of Calgary's Child Development Centre (CDC) has achieved the highest level of certification for environmental sustainability. The 125,000-square-foot CDC has been certified as LEED Platinum by the Canada Green Building Council. It is the most highly rated and largest LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum building in Canada and the first in the world to be built in a cold climate. Dr Jim Love, a Network researcher and Chair in Sustainable Building Technologies in the Faculty of Environmental Design provided the energy engineering expertise on the project and will pursue follow-up research on the building.

The only team to represent Canada at the 'Solar Decathlon,' taking place from October 11th to the 20th in Washington D.C., unveiled its solar house, 'Lumen-Essence'. See the attached article from 'Le Devoir' for more details about the project.

The forum is held in parallel to the Canadian Solar Buildings Conference. Come hear from the latest experts and developers on what current trends are emerging with Net Zero Energy Home (NZEH) construction in the US and Canada and where this fits on the residential building sustainability continuum. Enjoy the opportunity to engage with the experts and learn about exciting opportunities of net-zero energy homes in Alberta from industry pioneers!

L’Agence de l’efficacité énergétique ci après « l’Agence » qui a comme mission de promouvoir l’efficacité énergétique dans toutes les régions du Québec, dans tous les secteurs d’activités pour toutes les sources d’énergie, lance un appel d’offres afin d’évaluer le potentiel d’utilisation du chauffage solaire passif et le contrôle de la surchauffe estivale dans les habitations et les bâtiments neufs en terme d’efficacité énergétique, de rentabilité, de confort et de santé des occupants.

The Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership is pleased to invite you to register for a one day session featuring Rob Dumont, Ph. D. with the Saskatchewan Research Council entitled "Optimal Value Engineering". This session is relevant to builders, building inspectors, engineers, architects, planners, municipal decision makers, academics, and students. Rob will discuss examples of successful Optimal Value Engineering projects, the Value Engineering approach, Integrated Design Approach, and Design Sequence. He has some 30 years of experience with residential building, dating back to the Saskatchewan Conservation House in Regina, one of the world's first super-insulated homes. With the increasing demand for green solutions in residential construction, you won't want to miss this event!

CMHC has announced the 12 winning submissions to the EQuilibrium Initiative (formerly known as Net-Zero Energy Healthy Housing Initiative). Members of the Solar Buildings Research Network actively participated in various aspects of the competition and will be working closely with a number of the teams to ensure successful construction of the winning designs.

American Solar Energy Society (ASES) unveiled its 200-page landmark report, "Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.: Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by 2030." The report illustrates how renewable sources of energy, combined with energy efficiency measures, can displace approximately 1.2 billion tons of carbon emissions annually by the year 2030 -- the magnitude of reduction that scientists believe is necessary to prevent the most dangerous consequences of climate change.

The Policy Briefing on Alternative Energy is an annual issue of "The Hill Times," an independent weekly newspaper on federal politics. In its latest issue it features prominently an article by Dr. Athienitis, the Scientific Director of our Network. You can find the article on page 10.

Hydro-Québec soutient et encourage l'autoproduction d'électricité en offrant un mode de tarification spécial : l'option de mesurage net.

The ALBERTA SOLAR Municipal Showcase is an exciting renewable energy demonstration project involving 20 municipal organizations across the province.

Our Network was prominently featured in the first page of the Business section of the Montreal Gazette.

Benny Farm was awarded the Global Holcim Bronze Award for Sustainable Construction. The jury's report singled out the fact that this was a community-driven initiative, and merited it for exploring an innovative merger of urban, architectural, and landscape design that serves to foreground the benefits of cost-efficient, sustainable augmentation of infrastructural services.

Drake Landing Solar Community (DLSC) project was awarded two prestigious awards in 2005. The Town of Okotoks was presented with a Gold Award for the DLSC project in the Environmentally Sustainable Project Section of the International Awards for Liveable Communities (LivCom) program. Also, The Alberta Home Builders Association presented Sterling Homes with the coveted Sales and Marketing Industry Achievement Award for Best New Idea of 2005 for the DLSC project.

The 34kwatt Building Intergrated solar PV system was integrated with an efficient building envelope, including multi-pane high performance glazing (clear triple pane, two spectrally-selective AFG Ti-R low-e coatings) with fiberglass frames for the punched window sections and clear 4-element Vision Wall framing for the atrium south face. Opaque wall and roof insulation values optimized for economic return relative to overall building performance and cost as well as occupant comfort; effective R20 walls and R35 roof.