Introducing… The Embodied Carbon Pathfinder!

Remembering Jon Harstone

OPEN Technologies is deeply saddened by the passing of Jon Harstone on January 1st, 2022. Jon was a pillar in the non-profit housing community, dedicating over 25 years of his career to the development of affordable housing in the Greater Toronto area. In 1992, Jon founded St. Clare’s Multifaith Housing Society, which has provided over 400 affordable housing units in Toronto. 

Jon has played an instrumental role in our work for the Canadian Housing and Mortgage Corporation (CMHC) on the Affordable Housing Navigator. His insight and expertise have added tremendous value to our work. As we move forward with the project, we will continue to reflect on Jon’s kindness and passion for this work. 

U.S. prepares to launch the Building Performance Standards Coalition

The Biden-Harris Administration has announced plans to collaborate and partner with states, cities, and industry and labour groups to launch the Building Performance Standards Coalition. Coordinated actions from all levels of government will work to accelerate the progress towards reducing operational emissions in government buildings. 

See the fact sheet for more on this exciting update! 

Join our team! 

OPEN Technologies is hiring! We are currently accepting applications for an Intermediate Developer to join our team of experienced developers and mentors. The Intermediate Developer will work closely with product experts and clients to develop functional requirements. 

We take pride in maintaining a modern technology stack and writing beautiful, functional, maintainable code. All of our products are developed in Clojure. Front-ends are written in Clojurescript with the reagent library wrapping React.js.

See the full posting for more details on how to apply! 
 

New and Notable:

A few news stories, reports, opportunities, and other resources that recently caught our eye:

• Our friends at ZebX have launched the BC Green Building Event Calendar, check it out to see some exciting industry events coming up in 2022. 
• The International Energy Agency has released their first review of Canadian Energy Policy since 2015. (Read More). 
• The City of Victoria is taking action to accelerate affordable housing development through a proposed bylaw, eliminating the requirement for a rezoning application and delegating the authority to issue permits from councilors to city staff. 
• Public Safety Canada has recently commissioned a new report on climate risk: Building a Resilient Canada. Read the summary here. 
• A new report from ACEEE highlights the impacts of deep carbon retrofits, and how they can cut a home’s carbon footprint in half.
• Efficiency Canada’s DiscoverEE Hub is up and running! This exciting new hub is a space for energy efficiency stakeholders to collaborate, partner, and exchange ideas.