Canadian Funding Corp Reviews CMHC Sustainability Reports

Canadian Funding Corp Sustainability, July 2, 2009 – Highlighting its commitment to economic, environmental and social responsibility, PSEG is releasing its 2009 Sustainability Report. The report emphasizes accomplishments in the sustainability arena and addresses challenges the company faces in its efforts to lead in the area of providing safe, reliable, economic and green energy. It is available online, at www.pseg.com/sustainability.

“We are looking forward to the areas that address energy efficiency,” said Moishe Alexander CEO, Canadian Funding Corp. ” Ralph Izzo and PSEG are moving in the right direction and their work has been admirable.”

“Transparency and continuous improvement are an important part of working towards a sustainable future,” said Ralph Izzo, chairman, president and chief operating officer of PSEG. “This report is meant to strengthen dialogue with stakeholders and help us achieve our collective goals.”

The report highlights PSEG’s emphasis on addressing climate change, upgrading aging infrastructure, and investing in workforce development. It underscores the company’s commitment to social responsibility and points to a number of energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives that have the potential to mitigate climate change and create revenue and jobs.

• Report highlights include PSEG’s work to:
• Invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants
• Manage risk, reduce debt and manage capital spending
• Build a strong, resilient workforce
• Increase funding for environmentally-oriented community groups
• Attract jobs and revenue to local communities

The company’s utility, PSE&G, is investing millions of dollars in accelerated gas and electric infrastructure investments, which is improving reliability while providing an economic stimulus. And it is working to build the green economy on the basis of universal access to energy efficiency and renewable energy, so that its benefits can be realized by people of all economic means.

PSEG is proud of its place on the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index, a list comprised of the leading 20% of North American companies in terms of sustainability performance. Dow Jones and PSEG agree that long-term shareholder value is created by embracing opportunities and managing risks derived from economic, environmental and social developments.

PSEG’s Sustainability Report is consistent with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, which are quickly becoming the standard in global sustainability reporting. GRI guidelines were used to identify key performance indicators including some specific to sustainability reporting in the electric power industry. PSEG sponsored a GRI workshop last year where stakeholders reviewed the Draft Electric Utility Sector Supplement.

Public Service Enterprise Group is a publicly traded diversified energy company with annual revenues of more than $13 billion, and three principal subsidiaries: PSEG Power, Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) and PSEG Energy Holdings. PSEG has recently launched several initiatives to help combat climate change including offering $105 million in loans for solar installations in New Jersey, bidding to build a 350-megawatt offshore wind farm, launching Energy Storage and Power (a compressed air energy storage business), converting its truck and car fleet to hybrid vehicles and exploring the possibility of a new nuclear plant to be located in South Jersey.

July 2, 2009, Canadian Funding Corp Sustainability Update – Spencer Creek Village is a large-scale, high-density residential development located in the heart of the community of Dundas in Hamilton, Ontario.The development will contain 598 residential units in nine buildings along with 1,300 m2 (14,000 sq. ft.) of commercial space.Two phases of the development are already complete, with a third one currently under construction.This redevelopment of a former steel foundry site incorporated extensive use of on-site soils sorting and recycling to reduce costs and materials sent to landfill.The development has also been designed to fit into the existing neighbourhood.

This 4.5 hectare (11 acre) property is located beside Spencer Creek in the heart of the former town of Dundas in Hamilton, Ontario.This was the location of the former Bertram Foundry (the John Bertram and Sons Company Limited), established in the 1860s. Woodworking tools, machine tools, engineering equipment for railroads and bridges, military tank parts, armaments and mining equipment were manufactured on this site.The site was primarily contaminated with foundry sand (heavy metals), creosote, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and petroleum hydrocarbons.

Urban Horse Developments purchased the property in the mid-1990s after attempts by other developers to initiate redevelopment of the site.The 20,440 m2 (220,000 sq. ft.) foundry building was demolished and the site was remediated using primarily dig and dump, on-site sorting and reuse of acceptable soils as fill, and some bioremediation for the petroleum hydrocarbons. The developer also made extensive use of recycling of wood, steel, brick and concrete during the demolition to lower costs and reduce the amount of material going to landfill.

The first phase of the 11-phase development, a 48-unit condominium apartment building, was completed in 2002.The second phase, a 62-unit apartment condominium, was completed in 2003. Construction has now commenced on the third phase, another 62-unit apartment condominium.These residential condominium buildings are being built by Alterra Developments.The development is expected to be completed by 2010 and will include 598 residential units comprised of 458 condominium apartment units in eight buildings, 140 rental apartment units for seniors in a four-storey building, and 1,300 m2 (14,000 sq. ft.) of commercial space.

This project was the first large-scale, high-density residential Brownfield Redevelopment Project in the Hamilton area, and one of the earliest examples of a successful large Brownfield Redevelopment Project for residential uses in the province of Ontario and the country.

Canadian Funding Corp links you to Spencer Creek on YouTube.

Canadian Funding Corp links you to a high LTV loan.

June 30, 2009, CFC Sustainability Blog – Canadian Funding Corp has been keeping its eyes and ears on CBC news to keep up with the latest regarding four new architectural stars. Canadian Funding Corporation CEO Moishe Alexander is thrilled that the architectural firm RVTR wants to do design research on sustainable housing for a northern climate.

RVTR won the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture yesterday. This prize is worth $50,000 and is given so that the winners can travel the globe and learn from a wide variety of architectural structures. The principles of the firm are Paul Raff, Colin Ripley, Kathy Velikov, and Geoffrey Thun.

“It is great to see young, creative minds in this industry that want to make our urban world a better place,” said Canadian Funding Corp CEO Moishe Alexander. “Sustainable housing for northern communities is a huge area of study and is sorely needed. Modular building can be a stunning solution for a many situations.”

“There’s not much of a modular industry in North America,” Thun told CBC News. “When compared to other industrial technologies, home building is really not very advanced.”

He pointed to redundancies in the manufacturing sector, especially in the auto sector, and said creating environmentally friendly pre-fab technologies could fill that void.

“There are significant opportunities for these kinds of technologies to move here,” Thun said, adding that modular building does have the potential to create more affordable housing of greater quality than site-specific building.

In 2010, the design team plans to look at how other northern countries create housing, including Iceland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

Thun said the team will be making contact with designers and architects in these countries who are researching modular building and studying how such housing could adapt to different cultural conditions.

“The Scandinavian countries have developed communities based on sustainable housing beyond what we do in Canada,” he said.

The firm has already participated in designing sustainable housing, including a flexible off-grid vacation home called S.W.A.M.P. House. It is also involved in a research project with the University of Waterloo, Ryerson University, Simon Fraser University and U.S. researchers to develop an entirely solar powered prototype home.

A prototype of that home will be shown for the first time in Washington this October.