Sustainability News

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The Climate Pledge is a commitment by organizations to reach net zero carbon by 2040, meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement 10 years early. Signatories of The Climate Pledge represent a cross-section of organizations working together to address the climate crisis and solve the challenges of decarbonizing the global economy.

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With apologies to Saturday Night Live’s Bob & Doug McKenzie, the Great White North, Canada, is going green. Or greener, eh? Although no one knows for sure who coined the term Great White North in reference to Canada, the nickname has been in use for decades. Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, playing Bob & Doug McKenzie back in the 1980s, spoofed Canadian stereotypes for laughs. Today, Canadians have the last laugh as they are moving ahead of other countries in many areas, particularly sustainability in construction.

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In these days of uncertain climate conditions, obvious weather changes attributed to climate change, and a drive in all sectors to achieve controlled CO2 emissions as quickly as possible, companies are making vows to improve, setting deadlines for internal and supplier acceptance, and generally promising to do better for the environment. But how can we be sure our suppliers are onboard with these challenges?

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   Mines work 24/7. Underground, there is no day or night, just a clock to tell you when to start, when to finish. Running constantly requires reliability and consistency. Putting electric vehicles in this environment means having to find a way to charge them efficiently and quickly. A dead battery isn’t acceptable. 

  New commercial buildings are trending toward increased concern for the environment. Builders are finding that a focus on sustainability improves their chances for repeated business as owners find cost savings in energy usage a major benefit of “going green.” 

 Construction is a messy job. Even worse is destruction, demolition of existing buildings, often to make way for new—and messy—construction. Both building and demolition create debris that takes up space and generates potential hazards and environmental damage. What can be done with debris to make it beneficial? 

 It takes a network to maintain sustainability. Every company along the supply chain is a member of that network. Each step in the construction of a building requires concern for its impact on the environment. From the mining or harvesting of the raw materials, to the production of components and their assembly into the final structure, sustainability must be considered. And each member of that supply chain network has a climate footprint. 

  For climates with moderate heating and cooling needs, heat pumps offer an energy-efficient alternative to furnaces and air conditioners. Heat pumps move heat from a cool space to a warm space, making the cool space cooler and the warm space warmer. Because they move heat rather than generate heat, heat pumps can provide equivalent space conditioning at as little as one quarter of the cost of operating conventional heating or cooling appliances. 

 Windows are a mainstay of all buildings other than bunkers. Renewable energy sources such as solar are becoming mainstays of all new and many existing buildings. There is a way for these two to work together. 

  Major truck manufacturers in Europe are moving rapidly to provide both the equipment and the infrastructure that will make environmentally sound vehicles a staple of the near future. Daimler Truck AG and Volvo Group joined forces to create a fuel-cell joint venture, cellcentric, as part of a commitment to accelerate the use of hydrogen-based fuel cells for long-haul trucks and beyond. 

  We all know it is coming, the push to limit and eliminate hydrocarbons from fuels and from fuel burning vehicles especially. Driven largely by an ambitious climate agenda, state mandates, and aggressive net-zero targets, fleet operators across the U.S. are actively decarbonizing their operations. 

  We grow a lot of food product in the United States, but we also generate a lot of wasted food product. In the U.S., food waste is estimated at between 30-40% of the food supply.