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Clean Growth and Climate Change Working Group Reports Now Available
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On March 3, 2016 Canada’s First Ministers issued the
Vancouver Declaration
on clean growth and climate change. First Ministers agreed to develop a pan-Canadian Framework to achieve Canada’s international commitments in the Paris Agreement. They agreed to implement policies in support of meeting or exceeding Canada’s 2030 target of a 30% reduction below 2005 emissions and transitioning Canada to a stronger, climate-resilient, low-carbon economy.
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The Coalition is growing! Thanks to funding from
Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care has hired on two Energy Analyst Interns. Welcome Shawn and Eleri!
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Shawn Shi
is a programmer and environmental engineer. He is particularly interested in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and water conservation, and has published multiple journal articles on his modelling work in these areas.
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Eleri Davies
is interested in sustainable development and, as a passion
project, developed a feasibility and small business plan for sustainable hops production on a
small farm in Southern Ontario. She has previously worked in community outreach and
conservation planning in the private, public and non-profit sectors of Ontario and British
Columbia.
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Mixed messages on Canada's Climate Plan. There have been mixed messages on Canada's Climate Action Plan over the last two weeks. On November 21st,
the federal government announced that it will take steps to phase out coal-fired power plants across the country by 2030, a decision which has the potential to
create $5 billion in health benefits for Canadians if properly implemented. A few days later,
the Government of Alberta announced that it has signed an agreement with three major power generators to ensure the phase-out of coal plants in Alberta by 2030. However, after a promising week of action to accelerate the end of coal power in Canada, the
federal government has approved
the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain and Enbridge Line 3 pipeline projects. These two pipelines are expected to increase Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 23 to 28 megatonnes per year through increased production in the tar sands, which will make it even harder for Canada to meet the GHG reduction targets pledged under the Paris Agreement. Tensions are high as environmental activists mount a case against the federal government for Canadian courts, who will
have the ultimate say on the controversial pipeline project.
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Five Questions with Health Care Without Harm
MacArthur Fellow and Health Care Without Harm Founder Gary Cohen explains how the healthcare sector contributes to public environmental health hazards and what hospitals are doing about it. Read the article here.
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Climat: le Canada reste vulnérable aux grands bouleversements. Réduire les GES ne suffit pas, disent les experts.
Il faut un plan d’adaptation.
Climate: Canada remains vulnerable to upheaval.
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Canada Green Building Council energy benchmarking training to prepare building owners/managers for regulations. In light of the upcoming regulations in Ontario that will require large building owners/managers to implement energy benchmarking, the Canada Green Building Council will be offering training in benchmarking strategies. The courses are designed to prepare private and public sector stakeholders for the Energy and Water Reporting and Benchmarking (EWRB) regulation, which aims to reduce energy consumption by identifying opportunities that can be explored as a result of energy benchmarking. Learn more.
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On Wednesday, Nov. 30 the majority of Waste-Free Ontario Act (Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act and Waste Diversion Transition Act) officially came into force via proclamation by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
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Climate change is advancing at an alarming rate around the world and it is now more important than ever that we act congruently to reduce GHG emissions while planning for resilience to the impacts that are already evident and projected to worsen. However, these crucial pathways are still largely being considered separately. The Low Carbon Resilience report from the Adaptation to Climate Change Team (ACT) points to the co-benefits and synergies we can achieve if we consider adaptation and mitigation simultaneously.
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Researchers hope to remedy hospital malnutrition
Malnutrition is a serious problem in hospitals across Canada - including those in Regina. 6/10 patients at the Pasqua and General hospitals were malnourished when they were admitted, according to a national study led by Dr. Heather Keller.
Read more
leaderpost.com
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Municipal Risk Assessment Tool
Extreme weather events that used to happen every 40 years now occur every 6 years in some regions of the country. IBC is piloting ground-breaking technology - a tool known as MRAT - to help communities reduce flooding caused by sewer backups....
Read more
www.ibc.ca
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CEIT Building Operator Certification (BOC) Training
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Has your health care organisation investigated the benefits to having your facility staff BOC Trained?
The Building Operator Certification (BOC®) program is a competency-based training and certification program offering health care and other facilities’ personnel the improved job skills and knowledge to transform healing environments and workplaces to be more comfortable, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. It is a widely-recognized training program which has graduated more than 14,000 certified professionals in North America.
In Canada, BOC is delivered by the Canadian Institute for Energy Training (CIET), working closely with organisations such as Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), BC Hydro, FortisBC, Efficiency NB, and the Government of Alberta. Savings per course graduate have been estimated to exceed $19,000 CAD annually.
Watch what hospitals have to say about BOC:
https://vimeo.com/118066947 and https://vimeo.com/72232084
BOC brings results: BOC certified operators reduce electricity and fossil fuel consumption in the buildings they manage while reducing electrical demand. On average, the BOC program saves roughly 100,500 kWhs of electricity per certified operator per year.
These savings cover the tuition and labor cost to send an employee for BOC training more than three times over, making BOC a highly cost-effective investment. In addition to electric use savings, BOC-certified operators save on average 14.5 kW in electric demand and 1,400 therms annually.
The Coalition will be offering BOC training in Moose Factory in February 2017. For details contact kent@greenhealthcare.ca
Learn more about BOC at: http://cietcanada.com/energy-efficiency-training-programs/?tierid=56
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The Green Hospital Scorecard survey is now open!
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The Green Hospital Scorecard (GHS) is the only comprehensive
health care
benchmarking tool in Canada measuring energy conservation, water conservation, waste management and recycling, corporate commitment and pollution prevention. Participating hospitals report on their environmental and sustainability initiatives through a questionnaire and
receive a scorecard summarizing their environmental performance relative to their peers.
Participation is FREE. The survey collecting information is now open. Currently the scorecard is only available to hospitals in Ontario. If you are outside of Ontario but are interested in participating, please email
Linda@greenhealthcare.ca.
Contact
Samantha@greenhealthcare.ca if you are interested in participating in the program and have not received a survey link, or could not attend the informational webinars but would like access to the recorded presentation and/or slide decks.
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Congratulations to Sinai Health Systems, winner of the Waste Reduction Week Interhospital Challenge!
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The goal of the Waste Reduction Week (WRW) Interhospital Challenege was to get as many people as possible to take the WRW Quiz, and by playing, learn something about the 3R's along the way. The winner would be the hospital with the greatest proportion of votes to its number of staff.
By the numbers, well over one thousand people took the challenge! Congratulations to Sinai Health Systems (1st place), University Health Network (2nd) and SickKids (3rd).
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