Vancouver leads North America in certified ultra-efficient buildings, says new report

Vancouver contains more certifiedgreen buildingsthan any other cityin North America, according to a new report from aclean-energythink tank.

The PembinaInstitute's studyexaminesthe internationally recognized'passive house' certification.

To be certified, a building must meet certain energy usage, insulationand airtightness requirements.

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The concept is simple: Buildings that arewell-insulated andwell-sealedheatpassivelybecause farless warmth escapes the structure. That means maintaining comfortable temperaturesrequiresless energy, and less energy drawn for heatingmeans feweremissionsin the atmosphere.

Of the more than2,000 passive house units in North America mostly single family homes, but also individual condo or apartment units 600 are found in Vancouver.

In July, city council passed the Zero Emissions Building Plan, which calls for a 90 per cent reduction in emissions from new structuresby 2025 compared to 2007 levels and zero emissions from new buildings by 2030.

One of the directivescontributingto that goal is the Green Rezoning Policy, which states that developers wantingto rezone their property for a large commercial or multi-unit residential project must meet either passive house standards or theLEED Gold standard.

Sean Pander is the manager of the City of Vancouver's Green Building Program. He was glad to see Vancouver's focus on environmentally friendly construction reflected in the study, and says by simplifying current regulation, the citycan see even more success.

"We think we can achieve more than a 50 per cent reduction [in carbon emissions] for rezoned buildings than what we're already achieving, without adding any construction or operations cost."

Recommendations on how that can be achieved will be in front ofcouncil on Wednesday.

One Vancouver buildingalready well on its way to massive energy savings isThe Heightson the city's East Side. Thesix-storey, 85-unit apartment aims to be the largest structure in Canada, to be passive-house certified, and Pembinaexpects it to come in 80 per cent below conventional building energy usage.

Its planned green features includeinsulation much thicker than on conventional buildings, high performancesealed windowsand a ventilation system that recovers and reuses heat.

Those areall common additions topassive house structures, but in contrast with Pander's view, Pembina's study found they come with added cost.

Building green carries costs

On multi-unitresidential buildings like The Heights, Pembina projects those advanced features will add almost seven per cent to construction costs. On a single family detachedhome, they project buildingexpensestwo to eight per cent higher than usual.

But one Pembinaanalyst expects those costs to lessen with time.

"As industry capacity develops and more builders get on board, we can expect the added cost of building to near-zero emission standards to fall or even disappear. Factor in lower bills for energy and maintenance, and green buildings will increasingly become an affordable housing option," said Dylan Heeremain a statement.