Federal Environment Minister John Baird is expected to announce new regulations this week that would force industrial polluters in Canada to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases.

The plan will be part of the Harper government’s response to the revamped version of its environment bill, now called the clean air and climate change act. The original clean air act was drastically rewritten by a special Commons committee over the winter.

Baird has declined to say whether he would bring the altered bill before Parliament for a vote but he has repeatedly promised new targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Following Earth Day celebrations on Sunday, Baird told CBC News that attempts to meet Canada’s obligations under the Kyoto Protocol are not realistic. (more…)

Overall, the uniqueness of the photovoltaic amorphous thin film technology lends itself to a wide variety of applications, and numerous advantages including flexibility, increased energy output under some conditions and a thin, lightweight package. Some other advantages in all UNI-SOLAR® solar panels include: (more…)

The major PC manufacturers in Canada are not only fighting to get to your wallet nowadays, but also to convince you they are the most environmentally friendly. Here is how you can take advantage of this new green PC phenomenon.

Millions of new computers are purchased by Canadians annually, and the number is rising, particularly now that laptops are outselling desktops. But many of the buyers are also replacing older PCs, which end up festering in landfills.

The federal government hasn’t tabled any legislation to deal with the issue, so provinces have acted on their own by collaborating with many of the manufacturers to take back obsolete and ageing hardware. There are no concrete numbers on how much is collected in Canada, but all sides agree that the level of recycling is increasing as consumers become more knowledgeable about their options.

Greenpeace International issued a report in August 2006 that ranked leading mobile and PC manufacturers based on their recycling programs and the steps taken to eliminate harmful chemicals. (more…)

With Canada facing an unprecedented demand for environmental professionals, Western’s latest initiative could be just what the labour market ordered.

A new School of Environment and Sustainability could become a reality as early as 2008 if Professor Robert Bailey and Western’s Environmental Education Working Group are successful in convincing the university a need exists.

Formed in 2005 by administration to re-define Western’s profile and activities in undergraduate environmental education, Bailey, Director of Environmental Research, says the group quickly found merit in proposing a new structure for environmental education and research at Western.

The objective would be to showcase strengths of existing environmental scholars and break down barriers between faculties and departments. (more…)

The MIT Smart Cities research team’s car.
Architects and engineers rethink auto technology
‘Easy to drive, stackable vehicle for people to share’
Image: Franco Vairani/MIT Department of Architecture

It is not every day that a concept car re-writes the rules of more than 100 years of motoring. In development for four years by a team of architects and engineers led by William Mitchell, former head of the school of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as part of his Smart Cities research group, a new MIT car is borne of a complete rethink of people’s relationship with their cars in the ever-expanding cities of the future. (more…)

It doesn’t take long to find out who’s king of the road in Freiburg. “Hey! Are you blind?” shouts an imperious cyclist as a pedestrian ambles into a dedicated cycle path. Bikes, trams and buses whiz through the center of this medieval city, but private cars are conspicuously absent.

That’s because for the past 20 years, this university town nestled in the Black Forest in southwestern Germany has reduced the use of cars by laying down a lattice of bike paths, introducing a flat-rate fare for all public transport, and expanding bus and tram lines. Commuters from the suburbs can easily catch a bus, tram or bike from the central train station, so more and more of them leave their cars at home.

The result: between 1982 and 1999, just over a quarter of all journeys were made by bike and 18% by public transportation, up from 15% and 11% respectively; car travel fell during the same period from 29% to 25%. (more…)