EDMONTON, AB (March 22, 2011) TSX, NYSE: STN Stantec Consulting Ltd.’s Atmospheric Environment Group has been awarded accreditation by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for verification of assertions related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Accreditation #0805). The Scope of Accreditation is for verification of emissions and removals at the organizational level for Group 1 – General.
Stantec Consulting Ltd. is one of only 22 companies in North America that are currently ANSI accredited. ANSI’s accreditation under ISO 14065 provides an independent assessment of competence and conformance with internationally recognized environmental standards.
Stantec’s current accreditation is applicable to corporate reporters seeking verification of their GHG inventories and the firm expects to expand its accreditation to scopes that cover other programs and registries associated with ANSI. Accreditation provides confidence to industries, regulators, and investors who rely on GHG assertions or claims that the verifiers are competent, have systems in place to manage impartiality, and can provide the required level of assistance on a consistent basis.
ANSI’s GHG accreditation program is applicable to a broad spectrum of industries that require third-party verification of their GHG assertions to the following programs and registries, among others.
- Pacific Carbon Trust
- American Carbon Registry
- CarbonFix
- Climate Action Reserve
- The Climate Registry
- Verified Carbon Standard
The rigorous accreditation process involved a review of Stantec’s staff qualifications, project experience, quality control systems, and adherence to ISO standards. It also included on-site assessments and a field assessment of a verification of a GHG inventory. “Hundreds of organizations report their GHG emissions to established bodies such as The Climate Registry. We can now easily assist them in meeting stringent third- party verification requirements,” says Dr. Mike Murphy, leader of Stantec’s Atmospheric Environment Group.
Stantec has assembled one of North America’s most experienced climate services teams, comprised of scientists, engineers, planners, business strategists, and environmental market specialists who have worked on hundreds of climate and GHG related projects.
Services include GHG emissions benchmarking, management, planning, and verification; carbon footprint evaluations of facilities, operations and distribution/transportation networks; risk and vulnerability assessments; carbon market analysis and offsets; life cycle and embedded carbon assessment of products and supply chains; climate change policy formulation; and carbon sequestration support.
Stantec provides professional consulting services in planning, engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, project management, and project economics for infrastructure and facilities projects. We support public and private sector clients in a diverse range of markets, at every stage, from initial concept and financial feasibility to project completion and beyond. Our services are offered through approximately 10,500 employees operating out of more than 160 locations in North America.
Related Stories
| Nov 16, 2010
Architecture Billings Index: inquiries for new projects remain extremely high
The new projects inquiry index was 61.7, down slightly from a nearly three-year high mark of 62.3 in September, according to the Architecture Billings Index (ABI). However, the ABI dropped nearly two points in October; the October ABI score was 48.7, down from a reading of 50.4 the previous month. The ABI reflects the approximate nine to 12 month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending.
| Nov 16, 2010
Brazil Olympics spurring green construction
Brazil's green building industry will expand in the coming years, spurred by construction of low-impact venues being built for the 2016 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee requires arenas built for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro meet international standards for low-carbon emissions and energy efficiency. This has boosted local interest in developing real estate with lower environmental impact than existing buildings. The timing couldn’t be better: the Brazilian government is just beginning its long-term infrastructure expansion program.
| Nov 16, 2010
Green building market grows 50% in two years; Green Outlook 2011 report
The U.S. green building market is up 50% from 2008 to 2010—from $42 billion to $55 billion-$71 billion, according to McGraw-Hill Construction's Green Outlook 2011: Green Trends Driving Growth report. Today, a third of all new nonresidential construction is green; in five years, nonresidential green building activity is expected to triple, representing $120 billion to $145 billion in new construction.
| Nov 16, 2010
Calculating office building performance? Yep, there’s an app for that
123 Zero build is a free tool for calculating the performance of a market-ready carbon-neutral office building design. The app estimates the discounted payback for constructing a zero emissions office building in any U.S. location, including the investment needed for photovoltaics to offset annual carbon emissions, payback calculations, estimated first costs for a highly energy efficient building, photovoltaic costs, discount rates, and user-specified fuel escalation rates.
| Nov 16, 2010
CityCenter’s new Harmon Hotel targeted for demolition
MGM Resorts officials want to demolish the unopened 27-story Harmon Hotel—one of the main components of its brand new $8.5 billion CityCenter development in Las Vegas. In 2008, inspectors found structural work on the Harmon didn’t match building plans submitted to the county, with construction issues focused on improperly placed steel reinforcing bar. In January 2009, MGM scrapped the building’s 200 condo units on the upper floors and stopped the tower at 27 stories, focusing on the Harmon having just 400 hotel rooms. With the Lord Norman Foster-designed building mired in litigation, construction has since been halted on the interior, and the blue-glass tower is essentially a 27-story empty shell.
| Nov 16, 2010
Where can your firm beat the recession? Try any of these 10 places
Wondering where condos and rental apartments will be needed? Where companies are looking to rent office space? Where people will need hotel rooms, retail stores, and restaurants? Newsweek compiled a list of the 10 American cities best situated for economic recovery. The cities fall into three basic groups: Texas, the New Silicon Valleys, and the Heartland Honeys. Welcome to the recovery.
| Nov 16, 2010
Landscape architecture challenges Andrés Duany’s Congress for New Urbanism
Andrés Duany, founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, adopted the ideas, vision, and values of the early 20th Century landscape architects/planners John Nolen and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., to launch a movement that led to more than 300 new towns, regional plans, and community revitalization project commissions for his firm. However, now that there’s a societal buyer’s remorse about New Urbanism, Duany is coming up against a movement that sees landscape architecture—not architecture—as the design medium more capable of organizing the city and enhancing the urban experience.
| Nov 16, 2010
Just for fun: Words that architects use
If you regularly use such words as juxtaposition, folly, truncated, and articulation, you may be an architect. Architects tend to use words rarely uttered during normal conversations. In fact, 62% of all the words that come out of an architects mouth could be replaced by a simpler and more widely known word, according to this “report.” Review this list of designer words, and once you manage to work them into daily conversation, you’re on your way to becoming a bonafide architect.
| Nov 16, 2010
NFRC approves technical procedures for attachment product ratings
The NFRC Board of Directors has approved technical procedures for the development of U-factor, solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC), and visible transmittance (VT) ratings for co-planar interior and exterior attachment products. The new procedures, approved by unanimous voice vote last week at NFRC’s Fall Membership Meeting in San Francisco, will add co-planar attachments such as blinds and shades to the group’s existing portfolio of windows, doors, skylights, curtain walls, and window film.
