Past Projects

The built environment has been identified as an important means for addressing the negative effects of climate change. Buildings are estimated to account for 40% of global energy use and 33% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A promising approach is the development of high-performance green office buildings (HPGBs), that is, office buildings designed with the goal of a net-zero or net-positive impact on the environment (e.g. more energy produced than used; zero non-recyclable waste), and which aim to support human wellbeing and productivity. Despite the promise of HPGBs, their actual performance often does not match design expectations. This performance gap has to do with how the buildings are operated, used, and experienced by those managing and inhabiting them.

Understanding these human factors within HPGBs is critical to achieve their intended contribution to lowering Canada’s environmental footprint and achieve the potential of these building to contribute to the wellbeing of their occupants. Our team and partners seize a unique opportunity to study these human factors in the context of evolv1, Canada’s first net-positive commercial office building. evolv1 is a 110,000 sq. ft. building in Waterloo, Ontario, that models leading-edge practice for the integration of regenerative building system design with the human/social dynamics of building occupants.

Our comprehensive three-year longitudinal mixed-method case study focuses on four key objectives:

1. Explore how a COS develops over time and can be fostered.
2. Understand how the use of and experience in the evolv1 changes over time and how this relates to wellbeing and organizational success.
3. Develop and evaluate a state-of-the art building management and feedback system.
4. Assess the impact and value of evolv1 on and for the local community.

As many organizations are engaged in a war for talent, job seekers are often able to be more selective in their career prospects. As a result, job seekers may be able to look for employment opportunities that better align with their values. For instance, job seekers may be more attracted to organizations that are environmentally conscious. In this mixed-method study we explore to what degree young job seekers are attracted to working in a green-certified building.

In partnership with the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Canada, this research investigates the motivations and barriers for engagement in sustainable energy management practices within commercial office buildings. Improving the sustainability of the commercial real estate sector, particularly existing stock, is seen as a significant step towards reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, even the most efficient, green-certified buildings consistently fail to deliver the emissions and energy-use reductions they promise. This is because buildings are complex systems, and solutions often do not fully account for the dynamic interactions between the physical building features, technology, and human behaviour (including culture).

In order to understand the breadth of motivations and barriers within the commercial real estate sector, interviews are being conducted with approximately 50 private- and public-sector property owners, managers, operators and their tenants. Interview participants have been purposively selected in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Alberta, covering a range of property classes, and gradation of assets under management.

While evidence exists showing youth environmental programs are able to promote program participant leadership, it is not yet known to what degree these participants are able to improve the environmental engagement of members of their social networks. This “ripple effect” was assessed in this study through the context of the Make-A-Difference (MAD) Youth Sustainability Leadership Program in New Zealand.

The program involves a three-day social gathering (hui) and ongoing support for several following years. The ripple effect of environmental engagement is explored using a four-phased, mixed-methods design with 30 participants of the MAD program and six members of their social networks as participants.

Results indicate that MAD participants undergo transformational changes during the program, including developing an identity of a change agent and becoming a member of the MAD community.

The study investigated how to sustain young people’s motivation for environmental action over time through narrative interviews with 11 environmental leaders who attended a conference called IMPACT! Youth Conference for Sustainability Leadership in 2009 or 2011. Drawing upon the literature on life paths to environmental action the interviews incorporated an exercise that asked participants to plot important events in their lives and use the events to graph their engagement over time. The data analyzed included interviews that built upon these engagement graphs drawn by participants during the interviews.

The findings indicated that competency (the knowledge of an issue, skill-development and self-efficacy), identity development and relatedness (sense of community) were highest while participants attended university. Competency and identity development were found to be cumulative, but relatedness fluctuated, directly impacting the level of engagement participants had. Developing a supportive community and finding relatedness appears to be important for facilitating sustained engagement in action.

This project studied the planned development of Bochum University of Applied Science into a leader of sustainability within the European context. We were specifically interested in observing the process of communication and collaboration of the transdisciplinary team and the multiple stakeholders at this university. The role of the CEJRG members in this project was that of a “critical friend” who observe and support the process from the outside.

As the global climate changes, extreme weather events such as heat waves are on the rise and are having a disproportionate impact on socially vulnerable groups. Seniors are among those with the highest risk of negative effects of heat waves, as evidenced by the number of seniors affected by the 2003 European heat wave that killed tens of thousands and the 1995 Chicago heat wave that killed almost 900 elderly residents. In order to mitigate the threats of extreme weather, it is critical to develop and promote resources for coping during these events. However, mobilizing the Canadian public to respond to our changing climate has proven challenging, since perceptions of both general and personal risk associated with these events remains low, even among those most at risk.

Researchers in disaster mitigation suggest that a better understanding of risk perceptions and the factors that influence them is needed in order to improve public responses to threatening events. However, there has been little exploration of either the perceptions of the risks of extreme heat or of the social context of risk and resilience to climate change among seniors. Our study examined risk perceptions and coping practices in seniors in Waterloo Region using qualitative interviews with fifteen residents aged 65 or older, and a survey of more than 200 seniors across the region.

This project was conducted in partnership with PulseEnergy, the largest North American provider for online energy information software. The goal is to develop a better understanding of what motivates small to medium business owners to reduce their energy use and how an effective marketing strategy could be developed.

The study included interviews and surveys with business owners. Funding is provided by MITACS, Pulse Energy, and P&G Centre for Business and Sustainability. Data collection is completed and we are currently writing up the results. Findings suggests that it needs to “make good business sense” to owners to save energy. Most often, this suggestion means that there needs to be clear cost savings to justify the investments.

This research focused on the long-term impacts of a workshop called "Camp Suzuki in the Rouge," which was conducted by our partner, the David Suzuki Foundation (DSF). The main purpose of the workshop is to mentor and support community leaders in engaging their own communities to use the park. With our research study we explored how this workshop is impacting the long-term environmental and community engagement behaviours of participants. We also wanted to understand how the community they are trying to engage is impacted by their engagement efforts. We used a complex mixed-methods, longitudinal design to assess the impact on both the participants and the community members.

The narrative approach can be defined as an individual or group of individuals sharing their lived experiences through narratives or stories as a form of education and insight into specific areas of investigation. Although the narrative approach has been understudied, research has shown that it can have a profound impact on those who witness individuals’ sharing their lived experiences.

As part of the advanced undergraduate Psychology, Environment and Action course offered at Wilfrid Laurier University, students heard a personal story from environmental activist Ada Lockridge, who has experienced a series of environmental injustices as a resident of the Aamjwinaang reserve in the middle of “Chemical Valley” in Sarnia, which is home to 40% of Canada’s petro-chemical industry.

This study investigated the effectiveness of this narrative approach and its ability to facilitate students’ learning and understanding of environmental justice, as well as motivate them to learn about environmental issues and take actions toward change. Ten semi-structured, qualitative interviews have been conducted with students from the course.

Despite claims by both retailers and consumers that there is an interest in “buying green,” there is a disconnect between retailers and consumers regarding the offering of sustainable products in stores. Consumers assert they have trouble finding sustainable products because of confusion at the point of purchase (i.e. lack of information and awareness of product availability) and, in some cases, difficulty locating retailers who sell these products.

In this study, led by MySustainableCanada, Tania Del Matto from My Sustainable Canada, Jennifer Lynes from the University of Waterloo, and Manuel Riemer were trying to determine how marketing mix strategies are used by retailers to influence consumer purchases towards energy and water efficient products over conventional products and what potential barriers and incentives exist for consumers at the point of purchase when attempting to purchase these products.

This multi-method study collected data in two ways: an information review of secondary data sources and covert observation (e.g. mystery shopping) of the shopping experience at retail stores in Ontario. A total of 240 mystery shopping instances in 38 retail stores in two regions were conducted.

In determining the underlying causes of the current environmental crisis, researchers increasingly point to the link between environmental degradation and other societal issues such as social injustices and the trend toward individualism and decline of community.

In searching for pathways to change, we are developing a research program to systematically study attempts in creating alternative communities and to understand their successes and challenges in developing communities that are environmentally sustainable and socially just. The planned empirical study can only be accomplished with a cross-disciplinary approach that builds on the strengths and unique perspectives of community members, policy makers and scholars from a variety of disciplines

The goal of this research pilot was to work towards a better understanding of the vulnerability of those experiencing homelessness in the urban centers of Waterloo Region. This case study was achieved using three objectives:

1. To assess the current vulnerability of the target group, the urban homeless of Waterloo Region, to climate change.
2. To identify future changes in the target group’s vulnerability given what we know from climate and air quality science.
3. To reduce the vulnerability of the target group.

The research was conducted by a team of researchers and students in collaboration with Waterloo Region Department of Social Planning. The outcome of the research included not only insights on the pilot case study, but the development of new tools and methodologies to assess and reduce the vulnerability of marginalized populations in developed economies. Forty-eight qualitative interviews with people experiencing homelessness in Waterloo Region have been conducted.

This study was a phenomenological inquiry into the experience of environmental justice and injustice in a community of people experiencing homelessness. People who have experienced homelessness are a highly understudied population in environmental justice scholarship, despite the fact that due to their unique life situation, they experience the effects of global climate change, pollution, littering, and other environmental issues in a way that cannot be equated with the experiences of other people in low socio-economic brackets.

This study explored their understandings of these injustices, as well as their experiences with attempts to address them: Do they understand their personal environment as a justice issue? Do they feel represented by the people making decisions on environmental issues that affect them? Is political engagement in environment issues something that appeals to them, and what barriers exist to their engagement?