Features
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Whitehorse Diesel to LNG Conversion – Award of Excellence
Jury Comments: “This is a “first of its kind” project creating a standalone generating station fuelled by liquid natural gas (LNG) to feed into a small hydro grid. The experience gained here can be leveraged for further LNG use across Northern Canada to reduce the reliance on diesel for back-up power, with its associated greenhouse gases. The project also involved the local community and First Nations in the construction.”
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Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture Storage – Award of Excellence
Jury Comments: “Another “first,” this project is a global leader — the first in the world to capture post-combustion carbon from an existing coal-fired power plant at a large commercial scale. It extends the life of the existing plant by 30 years and has the potential to keep coal as an energy option for the future. The challenges of integrating the systems into the existing plant were of a huge magnitude.”
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Capilano Break Head Tank and Energy Recovery Facility – Award of Excellence
Jury Comments: “In this innovative project, the engineers met the challenge of using energy recovery while reducing the downstream water pressure in a potable water supply system. It uses a large energy recovery turbine at the terminus of a 7-km tunnel that carries treated potable water at high pressures. The energy that would otherwise be lost is expected to save Metro Vancouver 9,600 MWh a year.”
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Goldcorp Eleonore Mine – Award of Excellence
Jury Comments: “This major mining infrastructure project in the remote James Bay region of Northern Quebec required
well executed up-front planning and had a very good risk management process. The project involved building the above ground facilities for a gold mine, including the ore processing plant, a work camp for 400, administrative buildings, wastewater treatment plant, and tailings management facilities. There was also good involvement with First Nations.” -
Lower Mattagami River Project – Award of Excellence
Jury Comments: “This was a very large hydroelectricity generating project that added 500 MW to Ontario’s grid and was successfully completed on budget and ahead of schedule. It involved completely replacing the 1931 Smoky Falls generating station and increasing the capacity of four other linked stations downstream. There was an exceptionally strong involvement of local communities and First Nations.
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Coastal Protection, Cotonou, Benin – Award of Excellence
Jury Comments: “This six-year program was to stop erosion of 13 kilometres of shoreline that was causing serious problems folocal residents. The construction of new breakwaters was done with environmental sensitivity and we especially liked how the engineers involved local engineers from the beginning.”
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Webinars
On-line presentations can be a good tool for engaging and recruiting clients, and also for internal training. Here’s
some advice on what works and what doesn’t. -
New Products
ELECTRICAL Rittal Systems has added the LED System Light, the first lighting system designed specifically for industrial enclosures. It shines into every corner with a brilliant 900 to 1200 lumens. The units can be installed into a TS 8 enclosure.…
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Phil Sullivan and poor math scores
Engineering rests on mathematics, but things aren’t looking good for future generations because children are not being taught the basic skills.
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Security at Casinos and Hotels
From the August-September 2016 print issue, p. 32 Mike Prsa, P.Eng., vice president at Mulvey & Banani International in Toronto, has seen a great advance take place in security systems in the last decade. “No longer are security systems simply…
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Situation at the OIQ: Interview with the president
From the August-September 2016 print issue, p. 42 On July 6 the Office des professions du Québec, an arm of the provincial government that oversees professional bodies, placed the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ) under its administration. The order…
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Tax and business implications of opening a branch office
When a firm decides it’s time to expand into a new province or even into the U.S. or overseas, what are the must-know tax risks and implications?
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CCDC issues new documents
The Canadian Construction Documents Committee recently issued two new documents that relate to procurement practices in the industry.
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Critical Protection: Fire Safety and Casinos
In designing upgrades to the fire protection systems for a casino surveillance operations room, WSP evaluated various advanced systems for suppression and detection.
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Next Generation Buildings: Power Over Ethernet
In the emerging era of the Internet-of-Things and IP networks, the use of Power-over-Ethernet is a technology that can simplify a building’s electrical and communications infrastructure.
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School Project: Calgary Board of Education building automation systems retrofit
Over 100 schools in the Calgary Board of Education are having their building automation systems revamped and put under central control, but the buildings are diverse and each requires its own BAS logic.
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STGM Head Office
An architect’s head office in Quebec City is the first commercial building in Quebec to earn LEED Platinum certification. Its sophisticated, minimal style is complemented by its innovative and highly efficient energy systems.
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Centre Vidéotron
Quebec City’s new hockey arena and entertainment venue welcomes visitors into a grand soaring hall banked with immersive technologies. But behind the scenes, the engineering of the building structure and mechanical systems are just as extraordinary.
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Radical problems call for radical change
From the August-September print edition, page 4 They say everyone is either an optimist or a pessimist, and I generally count myself in the latter camp. So when I arrived in the U.K. in June just after the Brexit vote,…
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André Rochette – a story of resourcefulness and optimism
André Rochette, president and CEO of Ecosystem, started a
company in his parents’ basement in Quebec City 20 years ago. -
School Project – Upgrading Calgary Schools’ building automation systems
Over 100 schools in the Calgary Board of Education are having their building automation systems revamped and put under central control, but the buildings are diverse and each requires its own BAS logic.
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Drones and Engineering
Unmanned aerial vehicles open up new vistas for surveying and photographing construction sites. They also can save companies time and manpower.
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New Products
From the June-July 2016 print issue, page 25 STRUCTURAL Legacy Building Solutions’ Solar Ship Brantford off-grid hangar, a joint venture with Canadian Energy and Solar Ship, was awarded the “Game Changer Project of the Year” by CanSIA. Located in Brantford,…
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The Green Drinks Phenomenon
Jim Lord runs Green Drinks Toronto, a casual monthly event where up to 400 people who are interested in sustainability issues might drop by.
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Reinvigorating Chaudiere Falls
Just over a kilometre from Parliament Hill in Ottawa, a new run-of-river hydroelectric generating station is being built underground.
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Pangnirtung Wastewater Treatment Plant, Nunavut
The addition of an MBR system to the sewage treatment plant of a hamlet in Canada’s High Arctic helps to preserve the pristine environment.
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Flood Protection in Manitoba
After doing an
extensive study of
flood prone areas of the
Assiniboine River and Lake Manitoba basins
KGS Group went on to analyze and conceptually design scores of solutions. -
Humbled by the huge responsibility of engineers
From the June-July print issue, page 4. Editorial Comment. Looking at aerial photographs of the 2014 Mount Polley Mine tailings spill, I was shocked by the size of the tailings pond. This one in the Cariboo Region of B.C. was…
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Plants to the Rescue: Sechelt Water Resources Centre
At the Sechelt Water Resources Centre in B.C. innovative technologies save wastewater effluent from being discharged into the ocean.
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Danger is my middle name
Five considerations when signing a contract to consult on a remote international project.