Mark Greffen

Good Tuesday morning. Here is today's #sustainability news for technology partners. Updates for September 3, 2024 include: 1. Chief Sustainability Officer - Help Wanted:  Angela Avery, KC will retire as group executive VP and chief people, corporate & sustainability officer at WestJet. Avery will remain in her role until a replacement is named, then she will stay on as an advisor until early 2025, the company said. 2. #DataCenters and #RenewableEnergy Concerns: Tech giants Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta say they buy enough wind, solar or geothermal power every time a big data center comes online to cancel out its emissions, The Washington Post reports. But critics see a shell game with these contracts: The companies are operating off the same power grid as everyone else, while claiming for themselves much of the finite amount of #greenenergy, the Post asserted. 3. Amazon - #AI Robotics Strategy: Amazon is hiring Pieter Abbeel, Peter Chen, and Rocky Duan and licensing #Covariant’s robotic foundation models to "advance the state-of-the-art in intelligent and safe robots," Amazon said. 4. Tesla Robotaxi Strategy:  Tesla will unveil its #Robotaxi design during an October 10 event at a Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, California, SeekingAlpha reported. 5. Higher Education - Asset Management: The The University of New Mexico administration has adopted a new Asset Management Program (AMP). The program seeks to "expand collaboration, transparency, and holistic management of The University lands and facility assets." 6. Volkswagen Court Case: Former Volkswagen Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn on September 3, 2024, appeared in court on fraud charges over the so-called #dieselgate scandal, nine years after the German carmaker was found to have rigged emissions tests, Reuters reported. 7. Solar Energy - Infrastructure Recycling:  Canadian Solar Inc. and SOLARCYCLE are partnering to offer #recycling services to Canadian Solar's U.S. customers. 8. Wind Power - Landfills: Engineers expect wind turbine blades to generate more than 43 million tons of landfill waste by 2050, which is about three times as much total waste as New York City produces annually, The New York Times reports. Some European countries — including Germany, Austria, Finland and Netherlands — have banned turbine blades from landfills, the report said. One potential solution: Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have developed what they say is a turbine blade made from plant material that can be recycled, the Times reported. 9. Wind Power Blame Game:  GE Vernova said recent turbine blade failures at two offshore wind farms in the United States and the United Kingdom are unrelated and blamed the latest mishap on strong winds, Reuters reported. Read the complete details here: https://lnkd.in/enrPCYTR

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There's lots of buzz about Code harmonization with the release and pending implementation of the Ontario Building Code (OBC) 2024. But how does it affect facade performance and building enclosure design? My initial take is that OBC 2024 falls short of adopting a critical requirement of the National Building Code (NBC) and many green building regulations and guidelines: thermal bridging analysis. Thermal bridging is a silent killer of "thermal performance return-on-investment". In my experience, many designers and owners still do not realize the magnitude to which thermal bridging affects building enclosure performance. If you pay for an R-20 insulation product, you might only get R-10 (or worse) once it's installed. The sum is worse than the parts. Can you imagine if your investment portfolio had that kind of performance? Code harmonization is a positive trend and reduces confusion when working on projects in different jurisdictions. It's unfortunate that this harmonization attempt fails to close one of the largest performance gaps in enclosure design. (we'll talk about air tightness another time) Feel free to drop me a line or a comment to continue the conversation. What else are you seeing with OBC 2024? #architecture #codeharmonization #buildingcode #design #facade #enclosure #thermal #ZCB #thermalbridging #therm #BECx #enclosurecommissioning #buildingenvelope #envelopedesign #buildings

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Mass Timber: At 1% of the North American market Mass Timber is still somewhat niche. 6 stories and under in Ontario it can be effective, especially CLT floor & elevator shafts with panelized walls. Once you get over 6 floors it geta expensive real quick and is not remotely competitive with concrete at 12 stories in Ontario. There is no one answer or solution in housing all structural options have the correct application (including steel, pre-cast, CFS etc), a one type fits all obsession is a bad direction to try and go.

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