The Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) is making a concerted marketing and diversification push to steer more freight off of the highway and onto rail. The North Bay-headquartered Crown agency has been drawing attention in recent months by establishing multimodal yards in Timmins and Cochrane to cater to heavy industrial clients. And in the past year, the…
Natural gas provides almost a quarter of the world’s energy, and deriving this valuable resource from forestry waste, instead of fossil fuels, can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of burning natural gas by 85 per cent. G4 Insights Inc., a Burnaby, B.C.-based firm, has developed a process to convert forest industry residue into renewable natural…
A recent Chatham House report claimed that burning wood for electricity is worse for the climate than using coal. It sparked a backlash from a group of 125 academics in the field who said the research was deeply flawed. Now supporters of the original study have hit back, saying that to avoid dangerous warming the…
The provincial government has announced fire sprinklers will be required on the balconies of all new four-storey wood-frame residential buildings effective July 20. The update to the BC Building Code comes after the Dec. 11 Paddington Station fire that destroyed the top floor of an upscale multi-unit complex in Langley City, which the fire department…
The evolution of Thunder Bay area’s enlightened approach to all things green continues with a new enterprise that is also good business. Converting a variety of waste products into a useful one on a large scale is the goal of Eco Waste Depot which has just received provincial approval to operate a commercial composting facility…
With the province’s new carbon tax expected to cost Calgary Transit at least $3.75 million over the next two years, city bureaucrats may soon study if switching buses to renewable diesel is a good idea. Jeff Brookman, with Calgary-based renewable fuels company Candaxa Energy, spoke to city councillors at a transportation and transit committee meeting…
Canada’s lumber industry is in a stronger position to weather a U.S. trade battle than it was during the last major clash a decade ago, but smaller Quebec and Ontario producers would be particularly vulnerable to duties that may arrive within weeks, industry observers say. B.C. producers such as West Fraser Timber, Canfor and Interfor have hedged their bets, purchasing sawmills in the U.S. primarily…
President Donald Trump’s nominee for United States Trade Representative is vowing to end the long-running softwood-lumber dispute with Canada – whether by cutting a deal or fighting it out in trade court – and take Ottawa to task for not cracking down on counterfeit goods destined for the U.S. In a clear signal of the…
Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre and FPInnovations announced three winners of the initial stage of the “FPInnovations-ARCTIC Forest Inventory Challenge.” Arbonaut Oy, Lim Geomatics Inc. and Object Raku Technology Inc. were selected from a pool of global innovators and will use the funding to further develop their remote-sensing solutions to conduct fast and accurate forest inventories….
Canadian forestry firm Canfor Pulp Products Inc. is kicking off a new multimillion-dollar cleantech project with the help of the federal government. Working with an Australian-based startup company, which has developed a process that uses to convert biomass into biofuel, Canfor plans to turn wood waste from its three Prince George, B.C. pulp mills into…