Understanding and Managing Beavers in Vancouver

As a crucial species in the landscape, a primary character in local stories, and a foundational economic resource during colonial times, beavers are a cherished part of Canadian and First Nations’ wildlife and culture. After reaching a population low due to over-harvesting from the fur trade, beavers have now made a strong comeback across North America, including the city of Vancouver. The goal of this report is to improve management of beavers in the city through more informed decision-making.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: access to nature, biodiversity, ecological systems

Ecological Systems
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Jennifer Rae Pierce

Water Quality in False Creek

The purpose of this projects was to determine the long-term spatial and temporal patterns of E. coli and fecal coliform concentrations in False Creek in order to improve our understanding of the sources of E. coli.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: access to nature, water, waste management & recycling

Ecological Systems
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Cassandra Cummings

Water Sub-metering to Promote Water Efficiency

This project explores the potential for using water sub-meters as a method for increasing water efficiency and reducing water wastage in public and private facilities within the City of Vancouver. Water sub-metering refers to the use of secondary meters (in addition to a master meter) to measure water consumption of an individually leased space, piece of equipment or unit.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: clean water, waste management & recycling, water

Natural Resources
Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Chloe Sher

Topsoil Requirements in Vancouver: the Need, the Benefits, and the Next Steps

This report was produced to support the City of Vancouver’s Greenest City 2020 Action Plan. A topsoil requirement is one of the key tools that the City can use to meet its water conservation and rainwater management goals. This report summarizes the need for both improved water conservation and rainwater management in Vancouver; presents the benefits of topsoil for both of these aspects, among others; and puts forth recommended next steps for the City to get started on a topsoil requirement.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: clean water, ecological systems

Ecological Systems
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Jenna Cook

Heat Recovery Ventilation Study in Vancouver Single Family Homes

This project supports Goal 2 (Green Buildings) of the Greenest City Strategy and focusses on determining how heat recovery ventilation (HRV) systems are being installed and operated in single family homes. The study included 18 single family homes across the City of Vancouver where the HRV unit was assessed on its proper installation, operation and cleanliness of filters.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green buildings

Built Environment & Mobility
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Brady Faught

Window Replacement Best Practice Guide for Apartments and Condos

The goal of this project is identifying barriers to window replacements in multiunit residential buildings (MURBs)  and to make recommendations to use high quality windows and best practice installation techniques in existing built rental buildings and condominiums.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green buildings

Built Environment & Mobility
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Sahar Badiei

Shared demonstration sites: Mobilizing under-utilized land for demonstrating innovative and impactful products and services

This project aims to support the commercialization of innovative green products and services through the mobilization of unused or marginal land for the purposes of demonstration. The research was broadly defined at the outset as an exploration of opportunities for the Vancouver Economic Commission and City of Vancouver to support demonstration beyond the limitations of the Green and Digital Demonstration Program. 

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green economy, sustainable development & green economy

Policy, Economics & Governance
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
George Benson

Green Stormwater Infrastructure on City Streets

This research project investigates Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) on city streets in terms of its benefits and challenges, best practices, and lifecycle costs through a municipality survey, literature review, case studies, field studies, and personal interviews. The report summarizes the results of a North American peer municipality survey on GSI. The survey targeted American and Canadian municipalities with GSI or integrated rainwater/stormwater management programs, and was intended to collect lessons learned, best practices, and other technical information.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: healthy city, ecological systems, water

Natural Resources
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Jessica Jin

Improving Sustainability Practices by Repurposing City Construction Waste

The City of Vancouver wants to become the greenest city in the world by 2020. In order to do so the Engineering Division needs to find a way to recycle or repurpose all of their road and utility construction waste. There is approximately 100,000 tonnes of construction waste that is not recycled each year. This project addresses this issue by exploring ways to improve current operations to increase recycling as well as investigating future opportunities for recycling the construction waste. 

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: zero waste, green buildings, waste management & recycling

Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Sydnie Koch

Solar Energy Feasibility Study at Park Board Buildings and Facilities

The purpose of this project is to examine the feasibility of utilizing solar thermal and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems across the Park Board’s real estate in order to reach the 2020 greenhouse gas reduction targets and reduce utility bills. The reports includes a high­level design approach through software calculators used for modelling along with a cost-benefit analysis showing the energy potential, monetary savings, and payback period for each option.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: climate and renewables, green buildings

Built Environment & Mobility
Climate Change & Energy
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Benjamin Medina

Developing Sustainability Opportunities for the Vancouver Police Department: Uniform Disposal

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) currently generates approximately 7000 kg of police uniform waste annually. This report explores available methods for disposing of decommissioned uniforms and evaluates them for security, environmental impact, and cost-effectiveness. The project promotes the City of Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan zero waste goals, and advances the VPD’s Code Green initiatives.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: lighter footprint, sustainable development & green economy, waste management & recycling

Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Alisa Koebel

City of Vancouver Corporate Green Building Policy For New Construction on City-owned and City-managed Properties

This project resulted from a mandate to set sustainability standards for city-owned and operated buildings higher than the standards listed in the Vancouver Building By-Law (VBBL). The intent was for the city to lead by example in matters of ecological sustainability in the built environment. By creating a corporate (city-related) green building policy, the city would be able to test, on a smaller scale, the effectiveness and viability of various requirements that might later be incorporated on a larger scale in the private sector as part of the VBBL.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green buildings

Built Environment & Mobility
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Eric Douglas

An Investigation into the Use of Higher Blends of Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel in the Vancouver Municipal Fleet

The City of Vancouver (City) has put forth ambitious goals to reduce community and operations based carbon emissions through the introduction of a Greenest City Action Plan (GCAP). In order to achieve these goals in the City’s operations, the City of Vancouver has turned to renewable fuels, and recently biodiesel and renewable diesel have garnered specific interest. Currently within the 3.8 million liters of diesel fuel used by the municipal fleet, 5.8% represents bio-derived content from the use of B5 and B20 blends of biodiesel. However, in order to increase fuel emission savings, a transition needs to be made to higher blends of renewable fuels. This report summarizes an investigation into the use of higher blends of biodiesel and renewable diesel in the Vancouver municipal fleet.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: lighter footprint, transportation

Built Environment & Mobility
Climate Change & Energy
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Michael Coulson

Renewable Energy Strategy for City-Owned Buildings

The purpose of this project is to investigate opportunities for renewable energy use in the City’s building portfolio (560 buildings) and develop a long-term strategy (35 years to 2040) for incorporation of renewable energy opportunities and reduction of GHG emissions.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: climate and renewables, green buildings

Built Environment & Mobility
Climate Change & Energy
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Michaela Neuberger

Transit Fare Policy: An International Best Practices Review for Metro Vancouver

This report consists of a review of international best practices in transit fare policies from cities around the world based on academic literature, publicly available transit agency information, and interviews with transit agency stakeholders. The report identifies opportunities and challenges for the Metro Vancouver Region in the following areas: distance and zone based pricing, time of day pricing, differentiation by service type, concession fares, and approaches to policy changes. Lessons are drawn from each case study with a view to informing the City of Vancouver’s ongoing participation in TransLink’s Fare Review process.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green transportation

Built Environment & Mobility
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Peter Lipscombe

Turning Transportation: Challenges and Opportunities Presented to the City of Vancouver by Autonomous Vehicles

This report was prepared to support the “Preparing Vancouver for Autonomous and Driverless Cars” motion from February 2016. This report reviewed a variety of literature and was supplemented by interviews with City of Vancouver staff, researchers from UBC’s Transportation Infrastructure and Public Space Lab, consultants and TransLink staff. This information was used to determine future scenarios, a series of guiding principles for future policies, and immediate actions related to the introduction of autonomous vehicle technology.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green transportation

Built Environment & Mobility
Data & Technology
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Cail Smith

Urban Farming Design Guidelines: A Guide for Class B Urban Farms on City-Owned Land

This report contains design guidelines for Class B urban farms on City of Vancouver-owned land. These guidelines were produced for the Department of Social Planning and the City of Vancouver as an initiative of the Greenest City Scholar Program. It is a living document capable of being updated and edited to fit the needs of both urban farmers and the City of Vancouver.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: lighter footprint, food systems, sustainable development & green economy

Ecological Systems
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Christopher Szymberski

Vancouver Landfill Identity Repositioning Study

The objective of the study was to identify strategic actions for repositioning the Vancouver Landfill as a centre of Zero Waste excellence. The findings are based on 23 internal and external stakeholder interviews, a customer survey, and four case studies on facilities known for their resource recovery or Zero Waste.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: zero waste, waste management & recycling

Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Allison Lasocha

Improving Waste Management in Non-Market Housing: Challenges, Strategies and Recommendations to Get to Zero Waste

The purpose of this project was to provide recommendations on how the City of Vancouver can assist SRO and subsidized housing buildings to divert their waste. The report includes research to identify barriers and issues that impede implementation of zero waste strategies, research on measures that have been or are being implemented by other jurisdictions, an estimate of the amount of solid waste generated from SRO and subsidized housing within the City.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: zero waste, waste management & recycling

Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Andrew Martin

Niche Market Opportunities for Compost Produced at the Vancouver Landfill

The Vancouver Landfill (VLF) Composting Facility closes the loop between collections and processing within City operations, diverts yard waste away from the landfill, and aims to produce high quality yard waste compost. This project supports the City of Vancouver's Zero Waste goal of reducing waste entering the Landfill by 50% of 2008 amounts. 

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: zero waste, waste management & recycling

Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
John Musil

Pages