Industry
News
Sustainable Ontario
Development Breaks Ground
The Remington Group Inc. broke
ground in May on Downtown Markham,
North America’s largest LEED®-registered
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design) mixed-use development. Located
in Markham, Ont., the 243-acre community
combines residential, retail and commercial
properties constructed according to green
building standards. Reflecting its commitment to environmentally friendly technologies, The Remington Group has also entered
into an agreement with Markham District
Energy, owned by the Town of Markham,
to heat and cool the development.
Downtown Markham will become
home to 9,500 residents living in approximately 4,000 new condominiums and
townhouses. More than 16,000 people will
work in approximately 4. 2 million sq ft of
office space in the development. Its pedestrian-friendly core will also include retail
amenities, numerous parks, streams and
green spaces within easy walking distance.
Honeywell of Canada has signed on
as the first commercial tenant in a LEED-certified building in Downtown Markham.
New Standard to Define
Green Buildings
A proposed new standard that will
provide minimum guidelines for green
building practices is nearing completion.
Applicable to new commercial buildings
and major renovation projects, it will address
energy efficiency, a building’s impact on
the atmosphere, sustainable sites, water
use efficiency, materials and resources,
and indoor environmental quality.
Proposed Standard 189, Standard for
the Design of High-Performance Green
Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential
Buildings, is being developed by the American
Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) in conjunction with the Illuminating Engineering
Society of North America (IESNA) and the
U.S. Green Building Council. This is the first
such green building standard in the United
States. The proposed standard was released
for public review; comments were accepted
through July 9, 2007.
John Hogan, chair of the Standard 189
Project Committee, notes that the standard
is not a building rating system but rather a
compilation of criteria that must be met
for local building code officials to provide
a certificate of occupancy for a facility.
Energy efficiency will be a large part
of the standard. The goal is to achieve a
minimum of 30 percent reduction in energy
cost (and carbon dioxide equivalent) over
that in ANSI (American National Standards
Institute)/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007,
Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, which provides
minimum energy efficiency design requirements for buildings except low-rise residential
buildings and is the basis for building codes
worldwide.
The standard shows leadership in
renewable power generation on site by
having high-performance green buildings
avoid a total reliance on conventional
energy sources. The committee that wrote
the standard wants building projects to
produce a minimum percentage of their
peak electrical load through on-site generation such as by photovoltaic panels or
equivalent solar water heating systems.
The committee is also looking at
requirements for water-use efficiency, a
construction plan, a transportation management plan and an indoor air quality
management plan, to reduce materials
and energy consumption as well as to
reduce carbon emissions.
Tabreed Inks Deals
With ALDAR
Tabreed has signed two agreements
with ALDAR Properties, a leading Abu Dhabi
real estate developer, to provide cooling
services totaling 1 million tons of cooling
to two projects. The agreements will be
implemented in several phases through
A&T Cool, Tabreed’s joint venture with
ALDAR Properties and will cover ALDAR’s
Yas Island project and the Al Raha Beach
development.
The YAS Island project will be supplied
a total of 600,000 tons from 15 cooling
plants, with the first phase beginning in
January 2009. The Al Raha Beach development will get 400,000 tons from eight
plants beginning in December 2008.
Tabreed Signs $100 Million
Credit Facility
Tabreed has signed a $100 million
revolving credit facility with a group of financiers led by BNP Paribas to fund further
expansion of company operations. The
facility has an initial maturity of one year
and is subject to two 12-month extension
options at each lender’s discretion. The
facility has a margin of 45 basis points
(bps) per annum and a commitment fee
of 13. 5 bps per annum. The extension fee,
where applicable, will be 5 bps flat per
extension.
Gothenburg Fires Up
Large-Scale CHP
Göteborg Energi AB, the local utility in
Gothenburg, Sweden, in December 2006
started up the first large-scale power plant
to be built in Sweden in 20 years. The new
260 MW combined heat and power plant,
built in the Rya dock area of Gothenburg,
will meet around 35 percent of the city’s
district heating demands and 30 percent
of its power requirements. The overall plant
efficiency of 92.5 percent will save the
environment carbon dioxide emissions of
600,000 tons per year. Siemens Power
Generation supplied the turnkey natural
gas-fired power plant, which includes three
45 MW SGT-800 gas turbines and one
141 MW SST-900 steam turbine.
Shift Scheduling Report
Available
Circadian Technologies Inc. has published a complimentary white paper on
how companies can significantly improve
facility performance by involving employees when creating shift schedules. Titled
“Shift Scheduling & Employee Involvement:
The Key to Great Schedules,” the report
can be downloaded at www.circadian.
com/email/ wplandingpage.html.
