Sustainability Scholars Program

The City of Vancouver is interested in reducing or minimizing chemical exposure in City operations. This project is aimed at developing an inventory of toxins associated with materials used in internal City operations.This report contributes to larger project that will seek to reduce and minimize chemical exposure across the City of Vancouver.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: lighter footprint, ecological systems, social sustainability

This report is a brief summary of the results obtained after benchmarking 22 of City of New Westminster’s corporate buildings using Energy Star Portfolio Manager. The list of buildings includes community centres, swimming pools, a firehall, a public library, a convention centre, and offices (among others). The building performance data includes energy consumption from December 2010 to Dec 2014.

Partner: City of New Westminster
Keywords: green buildings, sustainable development & green economy

This report is a resource for individuals at Musqueam and UBC who recognize the value of effective, meaningful collaboration, and seek to strengthen the relationship between our communities. The insights in this report were drawn from interviews with individuals from the Musqueam Indian Band and the University of British Columbia with success working collaboratively between the two communities.

Partner: Musqueam & UBC
Keywords: social sustainability, sustainability in education

This document expands on the initial Conversations in Wellbeing Engagement Strategy project. The first document served as an engagement piece to frame the conversation and to get input from those already working to promote wellbeing on UBC campuses. This report reflects the feedback from the initial document. 

Partner: UBC Wellbeing
Keywords: social sustainability, sustainability in education

The City of Surrey has set goals to reduce corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20% before 2020 from 2009 levels. Building energy benchmarking encourages organizations to track energy use and compare it with similar buildings, helping to make energy a more salient issue for building owners and operators and to potentially identify opportunities for savings. This project consisted of benchmarking 44 buildings using Energy Star Portfolio Manager (ESPM) to obtain building energy performance ratings.

Partner: City of Surrey
Keywords: green buildings

 To support the energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions laid out in UBC’s Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP) for residential neighbourhoods on campus, UBC is developing a building energy benchmarking strategy. This report explains one of the first initiatives in the strategy to implement a benchmarking pilot project that focuses on six multi-family rental buildings in UBC’s residential neighbourhood.

Partner: UBC Sustainability & Engineering
Keywords: green buildings

This document combines current knowledge of inclusivity through the engagement of existing community garden guidelines; dialogues hosted by Can You Dig It (CYDI) Possibilities, and community coordinators and gardeners in Vancouver. The aim is to understand inclusivity in the Vancouver context; investigate current attributes of community gardens and their members; and provide assistance to leaders and gardeners in the creation of more welcoming and inclusive gardens. 

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: healthy city, social sustainability, food systems

This report reviews the state of secure bike parking in Vancouver, including a review of the local and regional context, case studies, and best practices. It also provides recommendations for an easyPark pilot bike mobility centre, one of the actions identified in the City of Vancouver’s transportation plan. 

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green transportation, transportation

Emissions from gas vehicles negatively impact the environmental wellbeing of a city. Green initiatives that aim to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by replacing ageing internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) with more environmentally friendly alternatives have been launched in numerous municipalities across Canada. The purpose of this project is to examine the feasibility of replacing the ageing 4-door administrative and detective fleet of Ford Fusions with electric vehicle (EV) alternatives at the Vancouver Police Department. 

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: lighter footprint, transportation