Let's take a moment to talk about the old proverbial green hat, more commonly know as a green roof. For years green roofs have been thought of as a nice to have but not really cost effective for most buildings. That perception started to change more recently; manifesting in new policies like the Toronto Green Roof Bylaw . Our campus got in on the action a little while back when we changed our building standards to prioritize green roofs as well. This autumn, the first green roof under this design paradigm is set to be installed on the Perez Building. Since the building is a bit older, our engineering assessment found that a green roof isn't appropriate everywhere, but along the north roof the conditions are just right. This works out fairly well since this part of the building is lower than the other roof sections; meaning that occupants will be able to see the roof from their windows. Stunning views of green roofs from an office or classroom window might be considered the c...

The University of Ottawa just became an institutional member of the CaGBC. What does this mean? Well for the most part it means that we are entitled to get cheaper rates for training and certifying our buildings. But if you dig a bit deeper, it means that we are putting our support behind a program that understands how buildings play an immense role in building a better world. As it stands, uOttawa only has one LEED certified building on campus, the FSS Building. But, as we all know, quantity doesn't always tell the whole story. In early 2000, the SITE Building was the latest and greatest thing on campus. The building even won a couple of awards for its environmental design. Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out according to the design once the building was up and running. This wasn't necessarily anyone's fault but it did spur the University to take a harder look at their buildings.  In 2012, a deep energy retrofit of the SITE building succeeded in reducing ...