Nous sommes très fiers d’annoncer un nouveau partenaire, l’AQVE.

L’AQVE est un organisme pluridisciplinaire et sans but lucratif dont la mission est de regrouper les intervenants de la vérification environnementale, et promouvoir la pratique de la vérification environnementale. Nous allons offrir des mises à jour environnementales fédérales sur leur site web et les membres de l’AQVE auront accès aux mises à jour québécoises.

En plus, tous les membres de l’AQVE auront droit à un rabais de 25 % sur leur première année d’abonnement à NimonikApp.ca – règlements environnementaux simplifiés.

Contactez-nous pour de plus amples informations ou une démonstration personnelle du site.

Association québécoise de vérification environnementale (AQVE) is a non-profit organisation that groups environmental auditors and verifiers and actively promotes the environmental industry in Canada. As part of our offer, we will be posting Federal environmental updates to their website and will offer Quebec environmental updates to their members through the members-only section of the site.

As part of our offer, we will publish Federal environmental updates on their website and will offer Québec environmental updates to their members through the members-only section of the site. In addition, all AQVE members will have the right to a 25% reduction on their first year membership to NimonikApp.ca – Environmental regulations simplified.

Do not hesitate to contact us for more information or a personal demonstration of our site.

Garbage, or oil? Or both? A Japanese man demonstrates his machine to convert plastic waste back to oil. The video is a little short on technical details (efficiency, size, etc.), but in principle, this is great news.

We are very pleased to announce a new affiliate: the Automotive Association of Canada. They are “The voice and the resource for the automotive aftermarket industry in Canada.” and group thousands of car parts manufacturers and distributors.

As part of our partnership, we will be offering Federal environmental updates on their website and Ontario updates to all of their members. In addition, all AIA Canada members will receive a 25% reduction on their first year subscription to NimonikApp.ca – Environmental regulations simplified.

If you are an AIA member, contact us to find out more.

If you are part of another association and would like to have them become Nimonik affiliates, please let us know.

An Environment Canada report just released demonstrates that pollution from Tar Sands mining operations is even worse than expected. Notably, the release of toxins and heavy metals is increasing faster and faster as development grows and new projects come online. This Globe and Mail article summarize the report well, but suffice to say Tar Sands production in 2009 can be summed up as:

• Arsenic and lead released to tailings ponds has increased 26% in 4 years
• 111 661 tonnes of sulphur dioxide were released (causes acid rain)
• 70 685 tonnes of volatile organic compounds were released (causes smog and harm human organs)
• Produce nearly all of acenapthene which can cause tumours on the ling, skin and bladder.
• Acenapthene production has increased 42 per cent since 2006.
• 322 tonnes of arsenic
• 651 tonnes of lead
• Lots of other lovely substances too.
• and bbout 3.35 million barrels of oil per day.

The average day at my office in downtown Beijing, 2005.

China has just announced the forced shutdown of 2 000 old and inefficient industrial plants (AFP article). Some are government run, others are privately owned. This strong handed move to close polluting plants could only be done in China (or some other autocratic state). But, criticize China for their pollution we might, when they decide to move, they move big and fast. As the famous sinologist, Alain Peyfritte apply stated, “Quand la Chine s’eveillera, le monde tremblera” (When China wakes, the world will tremble).

In 2005, I interned at Danieli, an Italian contractor to steel factories, in Beijing. During my year in China, I visited innumerable steel factories from the most inefficient to the newest plants in China. Even then, there was a strong push to close old factories and replace them with new, clean and efficient plants. Prior to the 2008 Olympics the government shutdown and dismantled the Shogung plant in Beijing, the steel plant was literally inside Beijing – you could take the subway there. That move, along with others helped dramatically reduce pollution in the capital.

Upon my return to China in 2009, I noticed a massive difference in the level of pollution. Yes, it is still very polluted, but it now felt like a major American city on a bad day instead of a large city in a developing country. These 2000 shutdowns matter a great deal and will have a significant impact on pollution in the country. If only the Canada had the courage to enact strong legislation we might not be the largest polluters (per capita) in the world. The chinese shutdowns will also serve as an example and warning to the rest of Chinese industry that Beijing is attacking the green revolution on both sides – developing new technology and killing old practices.