Edmonton- University of Alberta

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by 240glt

Like we say, if you want to reduce your ekWh (to reduce consumption or improve your emissions standards) reduce your natural gas use. If you want to save money, reduce your power consumption.

Electric heat is only good where power is cheap. Otherwise it's insanely expensive to heat using electricity

Agreed. The only time I use it is for areas I have no chance of Hydronic or gas heating getting to the spot and in Explosive sites.

[kcantor]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

China alone one if not the largest consumer of fossil fuels in the world was generating 24% of its energy from renewables in 2015, in 2017 it was nearly 37% (sources http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/201..._137006456.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_China). As I mentioned in North America we just don't see the scale of change going on in other parts of the world but it is truly massive.

On the note of Shenzen (heres a link https://qz.com/1169690/shenzhen-in-c...nal-bus-fleet/) with 16000+ Electric buses they have more Electric buses in just one single Chinese city than Canada has public transit buses.

Again I know we have a tendency to be skeptical about how fast things can change but it's clear things are within 2 years we will have hundreds of electric buses and multiples more EV's running just in Canada and we are a laggard compared to countries like China, India, and many European countries who all combined make up nearly half the world population.

you're comparing apples to oranges here... china didn't reduce her consumption of fossil fuels from 76% of her needs to 63%. she increased her consumption of fuels so much that the amount being supplied by fossil fuels dropped from 76% to 63% but china was still consuming more fossil fuel in 2017 than 2015.

you need to be careful how the statistics are applied if any conclusions being drawn are realistic. if your economy isn't growing, the percentage of one fuel vs another is likely to stay pretty stable. if your economy is growing and that growth is met with renewables, the percentage met by consumables will rise and the drop in the percentage met by fossil fuels will look like it has been meaningfully reduced when the fuel being consumed is as great as ever.

for countries like canada that are not experiencing the same kinds of exponential growth it's much more difficult to achieve similar percentage drops and the environmental costs of doing so can sometimes outweigh the gains made (i.e. the use of concrete to move from gas plants to hydro power).

it's the same faulty analysis that used to be used comparing india's percentage of the population using cell phones instead of land lines. they had no land lines to the infrastructure investment was simply made in wireless. canada already had infrastructure so the conversion took exponentially longer.

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[suburbia]

Does anyone have construction updates on the major garden being added to the UAlberta Botanical Gardens? I think it should be ready in a couple months, but don't know if there has been any hick-ups given some of the weather over the last while.

[YEGman]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

...

Anyways lets get off this tangent, Suzuki has dedicated his life to trying to promote people living more sustainably seems like a noble cause to me.

A TV Huckster with a multi-million dollar lifestyle in BC.

[Hardhatdan]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

Yes and no, China investing enough in renewables that even while their demand grew they still moved the needle this far is hugely significant. Its also not as if we can't replicate a lot of these improvements if we subsidize oil and gas less and put that money towards renewables.

At the end of the day we need to be moving away from fossil fuels anyways besides the pollution and Climate Change issues their emissions also cause significant risks to human health, the fact that we still export so much Coal and Oil is unfortunate because with such a developed economy we can certainly develop other industries and at the end of the day oil and moreso coal being burnt anywhere isn't something we should aspire to in the long term.

Anyways lets get off this tangent, Suzuki has dedicated his life to trying to promote people living more sustainably seems like a noble cause to me.

Yea... Long term isn't 25 years, which is close to what the current investment horizon is for major capital projects is.
We need to deal with now and the long term at the same time. If we don't deal with the now, there isn't going to be an economic engine to diversify for the long term or the human capital to do it.
For now, the world needs a increasing of fossil fuels and Canada is one of the if not the most ethical producers and I take pride in that. Over time the shift will happen as technology matures and it catches up with the social shift.

[Landlocked]

Originally Posted by kcantor

...you need to be careful how the statistics are applied if any conclusions being drawn are realistic...

Thanks for that. It's an issue that's rarely raised. Even when the stats favor your argument you should be scrutinizing them.

[Coldrsx]

Hearing that their most recent town hall indicated 'many, many' layoffs.

[Glenco]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Hearing that their most recent town hall indicated 'many, many' layoffs.

Aren’t you glad you voted for the UCP?

[EdmTrekker]

UCP is destroying Public Healthcare and has Alberta in flames on many fronts: Post Secondary, Research, Culture for starters. The UCP directing taxpayers dollars to the declining Oil Industry and once Biden is elected and he will be the pipeline investment is in the toilet. Albertans will see the huge mistake they have made. Jason Kenny was a huge mistake.

[Coldrsx]

Last nights town hall with President Flanagan and Provost Dew:

-much restructuring forthcoming
-economies of scale for faculties to reduce from 18 to ~7-9
-Both academic and administrative changes
-core deliverables will be the key
-cost containment
-33% cut or $216mil over 3 yrs
-occupying owned vs leased space
-~1000 jobs impacted
-seize opportunities for growth

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Last nights town hall with President Flanagan and Provost Dew:

-much restructuring forthcoming
-economies of scale for faculties to reduce from 18 to ~7-9
-Both academic and administrative changes
-core deliverables will be the key
-cost containment
-33% cut or $216mil over 3 yrs
-occupying owned vs leased space
-~1000 jobs impacted
-seize opportunities for growth

Know a couple of people already let go. One just back from Mat leave.

[Coldrsx]

U of A ranks among world’s top universities striving for a sustainable world

University places 64th in latest global ranking of schools making an impact toward achieving UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

April 21, 2021 By Michael Brown

According to the third annual Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Ranking, which lists participating universities by their contribution to a list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030 as outlined by the United Nations, the U of A is the world’s 64th most sustainable university.

The U of A placed in all 17 SDGs, ranking highest in the global goals of Life on Land and Zero Hunger, finishing 14th and 16th, respectively.

https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2021/0...eid=b81cde227f

[Coldrsx]

81st baby!
https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2021/0...versities.html

[Coldrsx]

Reimagine the Ring Houses
Conceptual Proposal for Adaptive Reuse University of Alberta Ring Houses Coalition (RHC) June 2021
• Some possibilities for the Ring Houses in the future—the results of the creative thinking of Edmonton architects, artists, designers, developers, entrepreneurs, academics, community residents (Windsor Park) and Ring House coalition members, facilitated by architect Shafraaz Kaba of Ask* for a Better World.
• The conclusion: The Ring Houses are valuable to any redevelopment planned for the NW quadrant of North campus—the historic anchors in under-utilized space, providing a friendly connection to the community and the river valley.
• This is a starting point for discussion (not as the final word) to for a once-in-a-generation shift suited to the University of Alberta for Tomorrow vision.



https://edmontonheritage.ca/wp-conte...ne-30-2021.pdf

[Coldrsx]

https://www.forgottenedmonton.com/blog/michener-park

It always reminded me of our https://www.miesdetroit.org

[Coldrsx]

Dent/Pharm update by ntt1 on SRC


https://edmonton.skyrisecities.com/f...c.26993/page-6

[Airboy]

Was through the campus yesterday. There is definitely a buzz on campus as students start to come back. Have not seen that many cars or people on campus in over a year.

[Coldrsx]

Can't wait until beer gardens... although unlikely this year

[Coldrsx]

GEC Architecture
Check out the construction progress on the University of Alberta Dentistry Pharmacy building redevelopment! These photos from August give a sneak peek of the new seven-storey addition that complements the original 1922 building. The building is slated for completion this year.


https://www.linkedin.com/company/gec...7OJdcYHw%3D%3D