The review of proposed government legislation and regulations is an important role Passive House Canada plays in helping to bring high-performance building standards to Canada. Your support of PHC ensures we can continue to speak on your behalf.
Proposed code changes will not allow Canada to achieve its emission goals
In a recent submission to the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes, Passive House Canada told the federal organization that its proposed changes are inconsistent with Canada’s international commitments, the promise contained in Canada’s building strategy and the demands of Canadians.
In PHC’s submission, CEO Chris Ballard wrote “By any measure, the changes proposed to NECB 2017 and NBC 2015 fail to deliver the outcomes described in our national buildings’ strategy, will prevent Canada from meeting its international commitments and do not provide Canadians with the affordable, comfortable, resilient, healthy and efficient buildings they require.”
By continuing to rely on the practices and standards that have given us our legacy of inefficient, costly and uncomfortable buildings with an endemic performance gap, Ballard said, adding the Commission’s proposal fails to achieve its purpose.
The PHC submission specifically highlighted practices like the reference building approach to energy modelling that are globally discredited, increase modelling costs and inhibit design innovation without delivering the efficiency required, as a major contributor to the performance gap pervasive in industry today.
In the submission, Ballard said “Delivering affordable, comfortable, healthy and efficient buildings requires the adoption of new concepts such as the treated or useful or net floor area for calculating energy use intensity, specific modelling guidelines, testing standards and quality assurance processes. The proposed changes disregard such requirements.”
The full submission can be found on the PHC website here.
