Non-profit Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC) is partnering with federal agency Natural Resources Canada to educate building code officials on higher standards and aid Ontario's social housing and Indigenous communities with retrofits.

The multiyear efforts will focus on new construction under the Codes Acceleration Project, and existing low-rise multiresidential buildings for the EnergySPRING program.

“The new building code, as it progresses, is requiring greater and greater energy efficiency, so new technologies are going to start coming into play like heat pumps and solar PV (photovoltaics),” Mike Singleton, executive director of Toronto-based SBC, said about the Codes Acceleration Project in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada. The technologies will be demonstrated to building code officials to help properties achieve higher tiers.

The EnergySPRING program, which adapts the Dutch Energiesprong model for Canada, is part of the Canadian government’s $35.5-million Greener Neighbourhoods Pilot Program.

The initiative is part of an array of efforts by the Canadian government “helping to meet our climate change objectives . . . If we can get energy codes officials up to speed, comfortable with technologies and the designs, then that’s breaking a potential barrier,” Singleton explained.

Fostering sustainable building education

SBC, which has the mandate of promoting high-performance buildings, organizes workshops for professionals in the buildings sector to collaborate on improving energy and environmental performance.

This mission will be extended for the Codes Acceleration Project. SBC will demonstrate the energy-improving technologies in virtual workshops for regional building officials who implement the tiers of the National Energy Code. It will apply to single-family homes and commercial buildings.

As building energy requirements ramp up approximately every five years, Singleton said it is crucial to stay prepared. By 2030, he anticipates buildings will need to be 40 to 50 per cent better on energy performance compared to today.

For the EnergySPRING program, the objective is to help prepare the Ontario market to perform deep energy retrofits on building envelopes, windows and mechanical systems, he said. “These are really major undertakings where we’re looking to demonstrate 50 per cent reduction in energy use.”

EnergySPRING is a concept that industrializes retrofits, Singleton explained. Rather than one-off custom installations that progress home by home, it develops an easily replicable process to scale-up retrofits, thus improving the economics by engaging the private sector.

“The more you do, the economics improve and you drive the price down,” he said.

SBC is engaging in market development to achieve this. It is collaborating with social housing providers to undertake retrofits for townhouses and will run workshops demonstrating how to achieve energy efficiency targets to housing providers.

As federal funding for housing projects are contingent on energy savings, SBC can prepare the marketplace for the obligation.

Teaching the industry about greener buildings

SBC subcontracts experts from companies, academia and self-employed individuals for the workshops it holds for a fee. Those companies include engineering firms WSP, RDH Building Science and Stantec, Singleton disclosed. It has helped real estate developers like Tridel, Minto and Oxford Properties, he added.

A future area SBC plans to address is be condo retrofits. The non-profit has created a course for condo boards to guide members through the changes. Additionally, an annual conference is expected to be held in 2025 after a long break.

Decarbonization is a rapidly accelerating trend in the sector, Singleton said, with electrification replacing natural gas-powered equipment.

He also warned about the aging trades workforce, which will mean new prospects must replace the retiring cohort.