In the 1959 sci-fi novel Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein introduced, perhaps for the first time, the concept of the powered exoskeleton — a motor-assisted armoured suit that gives its wearer superhuman strength. Since then, exoskeletons have shown up in countless…
This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the original site. After more than three decades of talk about the potential of…
REGINA—Thousands of small-scale geothermal boreholes have been drilled across Canada over the past several years for home heating, but until now, the country has not tapped into the clean source of energy to produce power. That’s set to change as…
Modular building comes into its own as timeline and labour issues squeeze builders
VICTORIA—British Columbia has set aside $1.1 billion over the next decade to upgrade its stock of social housing. With a focus on emissions, the retrofits aim to improve building efficiency and reduce energy use. The province pointed to boiler and…
INUVIK, N.W.T.—A wind turbine project worth tens of millions of dollars has become the first northern Canadian infrastructure job to secure funding under Ottawa’s new Arctic Energy Fund. The Inuvik Wind Generation project will get $30 million from the federal…
VANCOUVER—The foundation for Site C hydroelectric project has been completed. Acciona says the 70-metre high foundation structure is solid enough to support the 1,100-megawatt power plant and spillways. The company leading the construction for contractor Peace River Hydro Partners says…
CALGARY—A hydro power storage project proposed at the site of one of the worst coal mining environmental disasters in Canada has been given regulatory approval. Turning Point Generation, developer of the Canyon Creek Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Project, says the…
A new breed of compact equipment is starting to inch its way onto the job site. This April at Intermat, German manufacturer Wacker Neuson revealed the all-electric EZ17e mini-excavator. One of the first machines of its kind, the EZ17e performs…
The construction industry in Canada is experiencing a transformation. New technologies tailored to the space are creating greater efficiency, but labour gaps are increasing, access to capital is shrinking and a trade war with the U.S. has begun. To adapt…
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C.—The Wood Innovation Research Lab in Prince George, B.C., appears to be nothing more than a modern cedar and black-metal building, but look past the cladding and you’ll find an engineering feat that has earned it the recognition…
A Canadian hyperloop company is threatening to relocate its headquarters to Europe unless it secures political support at home for its technology that would transport goods and passengers through tubes at airplane speeds. “Unfortunately we didn’t get the required support…
The so-called community benefits program aims to give Indigenous Peoples, veterans and recent immigrants a larger stake in Ottawa’s major infrastructure spending plan
HAMILTON, Ont.—The City of Hamilton has approved Waterfront Shores Corporation as the preferred proponent to deliver its $140 million Pier 8 redevelopment project. The project will transform the city’s West Harbour into a 5.24-hectare community with residential, commercial and institutional…
The University of Toronto has unveiled plans to construct a 14-storey wood building on its St. George campus, located in the city’s downtown. Slated for construction at the end of 2019, the tower is expected to be the tallest mass…
The term “innovation” conjures up images of drones, virtual reality, state-of-the-art sensing technology and leading-edge building materials. These products, however, are only enablers—the real innovation is in the changes companies have to make to adopt them. Unlike manufacturers, contractors don’t…
OTTAWA—The Trudeau Liberals have laid out the environmental test that new transit and water systems will have to go through in the hope cities and provinces choose greener construction options. Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi has long talked about applying a…
DARTMOUTH—Nova Scotia-based CarbonCure Technologies has partnered with Airgas, an Air Liquide company, to increase adoption of its CO2 utilization technology in the Gulf Coast of the United States. CarbonCure’s solution injects CO2 sourced from refineries of industrial emitters into wet…
The Cora Group has earned Canada’s first Zero Carbon Building – Design certification for evolv1, a commercial multitenant office building in Waterloo, Ont. Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) presents the certification, which required the building to: model a zero carbon…
Compressed soil, or rammed earth, is the focus of a study out of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Okanagan campus. The use of soil as a construction material may offer a reduction in costs and energy consumption, according to…
