RC110 JanFeb 2024 - Magazine - Page 34
LEGAL
Building energy codes, which are a subset of building codes, set minimum energy
efficiency standards for a range of building types and seek to improve the energy
performance of building components that directly affect energy use.
The City of Vancouver
has plans to transition
to zero emissions
buildings in all new
construction by 2030.
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RENEW CANADA – JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024
ready by 2032. Similar to B.C.’s Energy Step Code, the
NECB includes four energy performance tiers, where the
highest tier is consistent with an NZEr standard. While
building codes have traditionally set minimum standards
for construction, tiered building codes take a di昀昀erent approach to energy e昀케ciency by o昀昀ering a progressive series
of performance-based targets that start with a base building code. The energy performance of the building increases as it moves through incrementally more stringent tiers
towards the NZEr standard. Tiered codes provide 昀氀exibility by enabling provinces and municipalities to choose
the appropriate tier that will help achieve their emission
reduction objectives.
Next stop: Zero carbon buildings
The next evolution of green buildings is the zero carbon
building (also referred to as a zero emission building). A
zero carbon building is a highly energy-e昀케cient building
that minimizes GHG emissions from building materials
and operations, and which uses energy from renewable
sources for any remaining energy needs. The European
Union (EU) is one of the 昀椀rst jurisdictions to mandate zero
emission buildings. Under the EU Energy Performance of
Buildings Directive, all new publicly owned, occupied or
operated buildings must be zero emission from January 1,
2026 and all other new buildings must be zero emission by
January 1, 2028. All existing buildings in the EU must be
zero emission by 2050. The Canada Green Building Council’s (CAGBC) Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) standards are
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A net zero energy building (NZE) is a building with
signi昀椀cantly reduced energy needs and which produces
su昀케cient renewable energy on-site (or near-site) to meet
its own demand. A net zero energy ready (NZEr) building
is designed and constructed in the same way as an NZE
building, but an NZEr building does not yet have on- or
near-site renewable energy systems in place to meet its remaining energy needs. A building constructed to an NZEr
standard will be able to achieve net zero emissions without any further changes to the building or its equipment.
In March 2022, the National Research Council introduced Canada’s 昀椀rst national NZEr model building codes.
Known as the 2020 Model Codes, the updated codes take
a tiered approach to reducing energy waste in buildings
and call for all new buildings to be built to NZEr standards by 2030. The 2020 Model Codes include the National
Energy Code for Buildings (NECB) for large buildings and
the National Building Code (NBC) for low-rise residential
buildings. Existing buildings will be covered under the
Alterations to Existing Buildings Code, which is expected
to be published by the end of 2024. Under the Construction
Codes Reconciliation Agreement, provinces and territories
agreed to harmonize their building codes with national
regulations and are required to implement the 2020 Model
Codes within 24 months of their release (by March 31,
2024).
To date, B.C. is the only province that has committed to
its own NZEr code—the Energy Step Code introduced in
2017—which require new buildings to be net zero energy
