The Pulse
Jan. 8, 2024

The Alberta Ecotrust Foundation launched the Emissions-Neutral Building Information Exchange platform (ENBIX) to help the province's construction industry learn how to create emissions-neutral buildings or retrofit existing ones to this standard.

Andrea Linsky, director of emissions-neutral buildings for the Ecotrust, told Taproot that between 40% to 60% of the emissions in Edmonton and Calgary come from their buildings. "And those are the existing buildings," Linsky said. "Those aren't the ones that we are building in the future."

That's partly why the Ecotrust created ENBIX. It built the platform using $3.7 million in funding split between Edmonton ($1.7 million), Calgary ($1.4 million), and the Ecotrust's Climate Innovation Fund, which contributed $600,000. The project is funded until 2027.

The ENBIX platform creates a place for builders and other stakeholders in the construction industry to learn from one another and generate new knowledge. It was inspired by projects like ZEBx in Vancouver, as well as Edmonton and Calgary's climate strategies, which call for such a tool.

The platform includes a resource page, events list, and five programs. Two programs aimed at generating knowledge are the Communities of Practice stream, which is a forum for industry members to solve challenges, and the Industry Research Question Exchange, which is a database of queries to industry and academia for exploration.

"We want to help share the knowledge that you are building or have built over the years, and our team is there to do that," Linsky said. "Most builders don't have the time to sit down and share their story widely about the five or six net-zero homes they've built, for instance. But our team, we have that capacity, so we can sit down and interview people and pick their brains and help publish and share that knowledge."

Linsky said engaging industry leaders is paramount to ENBIX. One such leader is Peter Amerongen, who participated in the Shaping the Exchange engagement. Amerongen is a decades-long veteran in sustainable building practices who works with RëNu Engineering as a consultant. He told Taproot that emissions-neutral retrofits (which are the improvement of a product or structure that do not require razing and rebuilding) are an additional and essential piece of the emissions puzzle.

"I think there's been a trivial amount of retrofit activity," Amerongen said. "We have 10 million buildings to do in Canada. If Alberta were a tenth of the country, that would be a million. We've done a handful."

Still, Amerongen describes Alberta as a "national leader" for new buildings despite the province having a "very small number" of completed net-zero projects. He is less optimistic about the intersection of new structures built below the highest standard and emissions-neutral retrofits.

"It's heartbreaking that we continue to build buildings that are not net-zero because we're going to have to fix them all," Amerongen said. "And the hardest ones to fix are going to be the ones most recently built. It's an emergency that we adopt the national code. The ones that are easiest to retrofit are the ones that have a big maintenance backlog … when you're doing the cost-benefit analysis, it's much easier to show that it's worth the money to upgrade them."

• The city and Edmonton Police Service paused the dismantling of an encampment north of downtown on Jan. 7 after a man's body was discovered inside a tent. EMS found the body while doing wellness checks on the encampment residents following an unrelated propane tank explosion. Police said the death doesn't appear to be criminal, and workers resumed clearing the site later in the day. So far, a total of seven encampments deemed "high-risk" have been dismantled, with an eighth expected to be removed as early as Jan. 8. Workers recently removed two other camps, including one near the Kinnaird Ravine on Jan. 5, and another at 106 Avenue and 99 Street on Jan. 6.
• The city recently updated its encampment policy with new requirements for the removal of high-risk sites, including seeking approval from the deputy city manager of community services, notifying city council, and ensuring sufficient shelter space. Elements of the new policy are similar to those included in a court order issued in December that established conditions for taking down eight sites the city had deemed high-risk, including ensuring adequate shelter space and providing encampment residents advance notice. The temporary order is set to expire on Jan. 11, when the courts will hear arguments related to a lawsuit from the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights challenging Edmonton's overall approach to encampments.
• Encampments removed by city crews and the Edmonton Police Service last week have begun to reappear, prompting criticism from advocates who questioned the effectiveness of the city's and province's approach to supporting vulnerable Edmontonians. Jim Gurnett with the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness noted that two camps near the Herb Jamieson Centre and the Bissell Centre were back within 24 hours. The Alberta NDP has also called on the provincial government to provide details of its plans to provide shelter and eventually permanently house every person displaced by the ongoing encampment removals. With temperatures in the city dropping significantly this week, some encampment residents opted to seek safety in shelters, but others said they feel safer outdoors.
• A city report has identified 11 corridors in downtown Edmonton, including Rice Howard Way, Jasper Avenue, and 104 Street, that could support car-free or shared streets in an effort to increase pedestrian activity and safety perceptions. Jason Syvixay of the Urban Development Institute Edmonton Metro, an advocate for increased downtown vibrancy, criticized the report for lacking clear priorities, timelines, and success metrics. The urban planning committee is set to discuss the report at its Jan. 16 meeting.
• More than 10% of all playground zone tickets issued through photo radar between Oct. 1, 2022 and Sept. 30, 2023 came from one enforcement zone near two south Edmonton schools, according to data obtained by Postmedia. More than 2,000 tickets were issued during the 12-month period, more than were issued in any of the city's 272 enforcement sites. The data showed 3.2 tickets issued per 100 vehicles in the zone, which was the eighth-highest rate of speeding across the city's playground zone enforcement sites.
• The Alberta government is inviting Edmonton residents to review and provide feedback on new draft flood maps for the North Saskatchewan River area until Feb.12. The updated maps, which replace those from 1994-1995 and extensions from 2007, aim to enhance community awareness of flood risks and inform flood planning. Public input is considered a crucial element in finalizing the flood study, and helps increase public awareness of flood risk, the project lead said.
• The latest provincial government data shows that 55 more Albertans have died from COVID-19, bringing the total death toll for the current season to 378, along with an additional 295 hospitalizations, including 20 ICU admissions. The province has recently seen a surge in hospitalizations due to respiratory illnesses, with more than 1,000 admissions during the holidays, primarily due to influenza, COVID-19, and RSV. Influenza hospitalizations have already surpassed the total from the 2023 season. Despite this, flu vaccination rates remain at a near-decade low of 23.5%. The respiratory virus tracking season, which runs from Aug. 27, 2023, to Aug.24, 2024, has seen 3,137 hospitalizations and 193 ICU admissions to date.
• Encore Trucking and Transport, a business off Highway 16 in Sherwood Park, recently unveiled a 13-foot-high sculpture as a tribute to the resilience of Albertans during the COVID-19 pandemic. The artwork, created by Roger Shore and his son Matthew, and inspired by business owner Don Lucas, depicts a family and their horse braving the elements, symbolizing collective struggle and perseverance. Lucas hopes the 25,000-pound concrete statue will inspire pride in passersby who see it.
• Janice Cooke, a professor of Forest Genomics at the University of Alberta, discussed the sharp decline in mountain pine beetle populations in Alberta with CBC's Radio Active, attributing the 98% reduction since 2019 to cold winters, provincial control measures, and forest fires. While the beetles have historically devastated large areas of lodgepole pine forests, their spread into jack pine has not escalated as expected, which researchers are currently looking into.

Here are some events happening today in the Edmonton area.

• Contact Class with Bryan Roberts starting at 7pm at Mile Zero Dance
• Nordic Pole Walking Classes starting at 3pm at the Sherbrooke Community League
• Rock My Business Idea starting at 8am online

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• Jan. 9: Get to Know Alberta Catalyzer starting at 10am online
• Jan. 10: BioEconomy Guild: Northern Alberta Institute of Technology starting at 5pm at Brewsters Unity Square
• Jan. 11: TNT Happy Hour starting at 6pm at Northern Chicken (104 Street)
• Jan. 11: Travel Talk and Wine Tasting starting at 7pm at Vines Riverbend Wine Merchants
• Jan. 12: Chocolate Tasting Exploration starting at 6:30pm at The Makers Keep (Sherwood Park)

Visit the beta version of the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.