Lessons from Canada’s Passive House revolution

Lessons from Canada’s Passive House revolution 2018 South Pacific Passive House Conference — Melbourne, Australia

by Karen Tam Wu1 | May 2018

Summary In my presentation, I describe the state of the Passive House market in North America, and highlight the rapid growth of Passive House projects in the Canadian province of British Columbia (B.C.) over the last two years. I recommend strategies to accelerate the uptake of the Passive House standard, in particular its adoption as policy, drawing on examples from metropolitan cities and rural towns in B.C. Furthermore, I examine the role of advocacy organizations in shaping policy, using the Pembina Institute as a case study. Our research and engagement has supported the integration of Passive House as a pathway to meeting the City of Vancouver’s Zero Emissions Building Plan and Province of B.C.’s net-zero energy ready target.

Introduction The Pembina Institute is a non-profit Canadian think-tank with more than 30 years of experience at the nexus between energy and the environment. We advance clean energy and climate change solutions through innovative research, engagement, and advocacy.

The Institute has offices across the country — in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and Ottawa. Our staff has an extensive track record of working with all levels of government (including indigenous communities), industry trades and professionals, energy producers, utilities, financial institutions, environmental organizations, academics, media, and grassroots groups.

One of our programs focuses on Buildings and Urban Solutions. As policy architects and advocates, we advance low-carbon building policies. Our work has resulted in the increased uptake of energy-efficiency requirements and Passive House design in the province of British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada.

Karen Tam Wu is acting B.C. director at the Pembina Institute, Canada’s leading clean energy think-tank, and coauthor of Accelerating Market Transformation for High-Performance Building Enclosures, an in-depth report on Passive House. Learn more: www.pembina.org.

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Canadian roots While we credit Wolfgang Feist for the rise of Passive House design in Darmstadt, Germany, its origins date back over 40 years to the Saskatchewan Conservation House, built in 1977 in the Canadian city of Regina by a team from the National Research Council and Saskatchewan Research Council. The team who led this building project also invented the blower door test (which was, coincidentally, also independently invented by another team in New Jersey). Feist and his team visited Canada to see the Saskatchewan Conservation House first hand. They returned home to Germany to develop the Passive House building standard, and the rest is Passivhaus history.

Building support for solutions Before examining the growth of Passive House in North America and British Columbia, specifically, let’s look at the work that the Pembina Institute undertook to create the support necessary to advance building policy.

In 2010, the Pembina Institute worked together with municipalities across B.C. to call for provincial building codes to incorporate efficiency standards for new construction, for existing buildings to be required to meet minimum energy performance standards, and for all homes and buildings to meet some of their energy demand through renewable energy generated onsite or in the community (i.e. net-zero).

In 2012, the City of Vancouver launched its Greenest City Action Plan. B.C.’s largest city identified that buildings were responsible for 55% of carbon pollution (largely due to space heating). Key actions the city identified to reduce greenhouse gas emissions were to update the building bylaw to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions for new and existing buildings, and to provide price signals in permit fees for new construction to reward energy efficiency and lower emissions.

In 2014, the Pembina Institute partnered with municipalities to bring forward resolutions (that were adopted) to improve efficiency in buildings at the convention of Union of B.C. Municipalities. In absence of any pathway to net-zero construction in B.C. (despite others in the Pacific Northwest, specifically California and Washington), local governments were calling for an opt-in regulation — or step code — whereby local governments could voluntarily adopt a higher requirement for energy efficiency than required provincially. We also pushed for home energy labelling and benchmarking, because you can’t manage what you can’t measure.

In 2015, the Pembina Institute organized one of our signature thought leader forums looking at pathways to net-zero buildings in B.C. This proved to be an important inflection point for us.

We had spent the past five years, working with municipalities to call for more coordinated

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provincewide action. We brought together 80 people, representing local and provincial governments (including senior decision-makers), industry professionals and trades, developers, utilities, and academics. At a thought leader forum, we put forward a policy solution, and ask those in the room — the thought leaders — to discuss the solutions on the table, allowing us to test alignment and build support. In 2015, we tested the idea of whether B.C. needed to move to net-zero ready construction by 2030, and we tested whether it was a one-leap approach or a multi-stepped approach. We took our inspiration from the Brussels example of a government’s ambitious and accelerated approach to passive house construction. At the forum, the alignment was palpable. Stakeholders in the room agreed we needed to move to net-zero ready by 2030, and the path to get there became secondary. We’d like to think it was here that the seeds of the opt-in step code really started to germinate in B.C.

Opportunity knocks Around this time, the B.C. government finally committed to refreshing its out-of-date Climate Action Plan. Armed with feedback from our thought leader forum, we knew exactly what we wanted to ask for when it came to low-carbon buildings, and we now had the perfect policy window. The Energy Efficiency Working Group was also struck. This provincial working group — developers, local governments, utilities, and building sector consultants — was tasked with developing recommendations to establish better-than-code energy-efficiency requirements.

This was the beginning of the discussions that led to B.C.’s Energy Step Code, enacted in 2017.

Not only was 2015 a pivotal year for our buildings work at the Pembina Institute; the political winds started shifting dramatically in Canada. Changes of government in the province of Alberta and federally meant the path to climate action suddenly looked promising again. We really turned on the outreach and engagement side of our work in this time; we needed to make a public case for the need for low-carbon buildings. We partnered with the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and the Urban Development Institute Pacific Region (representing over 650 members in the development industry in B.C.) to draft a joint letter to the government. Our Call for Action on Energy and Climate in the Building Sector garnered over 100 signatories from the building trades and professional sectors.

We also launched our Green Buildings Map in 2015, and we updated it in 2017. Between 2015 and 2017, the green building jobs tracked by the map grew from 20,000-plus to more than 30,000 (Figure 1). We wanted to show that the building sector is an example of a thriving sector in a low-carbon economy, with benefits across the province. We also wanted to highlight that the manufacturing sector already exists in B.C. (We have prefab, door, window, and mineral wool insulation manufacturers.) With the right policies in place and with certainty as to where building codes are heading, manufacturers can tool up for future markets. (Interestingly, we also found that when the level of incentives or rebates decreased for retrofits, the number of

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associated jobs was reflected this change. Between 2015 and 2017, we saw a 30% drop in job numbers associated with the retrofit industry.)

Figure 1. Green Buildings Map, 2017 edition www.pembina.org/pub/bc-green-buildings-2017

2016 is when the shift to low-carbon and Passive House buildings really started to be noticed in North America, particularly B.C. We were in the middle of a Passive House revolution, but we were so deep in the trenches, we didn’t even know it.

Meanwhile, the City of Vancouver realized that, in order to meet its goal of being 100% renewable by 2050, it had to take a leap from carbon neutral by 2020 to zero-emissions.

Inspired by the Brussels experience, the city was leaning heavily toward Passive House as the path to meet the goal of zero-emissions buildings.

The city needed some research done, and contracted the Pembina Institute to research market trends on high-performance building envelopes, and with a focus on Passive House. Our 184page report, Accelerating Market Transformation for High-Performance Building Enclosures, was based on extensive interviews with Passive House practitioners and literature reviews. Our research found that a market transformation was indeed underway, as indicated by the growing number and size of projects, the growing ranks of trained professionals and trades people, and the increased inclusion of Passive House principles in subnational construction policies.

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Trends in North America There has been a steady growth in the number of Passive House projects in North America over the past eight years (Figure 2). More importantly, projects are growing in size and sophistication. Alongside the nimble early adopters working on custom projects, we now see larger construction companies investing time and resources to develop Passive House solutions that can compete in the multi-unit residential market.

Figure 2. Growth in certified Passive House buildings in North America www.pembina.org/pub/passive-house-report

Once the projects currently on the books are completed, the number of Passive House units in North America will have grown six-fold, from 500 in 2015 to over 3,000 units. Even if some of these projects do not succeed in meeting all certification criteria, this is a significant growth in demand for high-performance product and services.

This growth in number of units is mostly due to the rapid emergence of larger Passive House multi-unit residential buildings. These larger projects provide a large number of “mainstream” trades people, contractors, and professionals with experience on Passive House construction sites — a key factor in reducing construction costs.

The number of professionals and trades workers receiving formal training in Passive House construction techniques is another indicator of market transformation. Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS), Passive House Canada, and the Passive House Institute (through the Passive House Academy) provide training and certification programs for professionals and trades and Pembina Institute

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support networks for practitioners. Demand and capacity for training has steadily increased in the last five years. As a result, there are currently over 1,600 professionals and trades workers trained in Passive House construction in North America, with hundreds of new certifications expected in the next year.

What may matter even more than the total figure, is who is getting training. Talking with Passive House trainers in Canada, we hear that classrooms are increasingly filled with staff of large construction companies, major consultancies, and local governments. Conventional trade institutions are now incorporating high-performance construction principles in their curriculum, providing a base for the next generation.

The community of practitioners is also becoming more widely distributed across North America. The East Coast of the U.S. has a large body of practice, along with California and the Pacific Northwest. In Canada, most practitioners are on the West Coast, followed by Ontario and QuĂŠbec. However, the spread of Passive House practice goes beyond these hot spots, as there are now certified Passive House trades workers or professionals registered in most states and provinces (Figure 3). There are also over 25 chapters of Passive House Alliance U.S. and the North American Passive House Network providing facilitated and peer-led support to their more than 1,500 members.

Figure 3. Growth in certified Passive House designers and trades in U.S. and Canada www.pembina.org/pub/passive-house-report

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The Vancouver explosion Vancouver has become a hotspot for Passive House activity. The city made concerted efforts to remove barriers to Passive House by providing certified projects with floor space exclusions for thick walls, height and set-back relaxations, and an alternate compliance path to meet rezoning requirements for increased density. The city also trained permit reviewers and inspection staff in Passive House to reduce possible barriers to innovative designs and streamline processing.

The City of Vancouver’s Zero Emissions Building Plan charts a course for a 90% reduction in emissions from new buildings by 2025, and achieving zero emissions for all new buildings by 2030. The plan sets a course for all new multi-family buildings six storeys and under to be built to near Passive House levels of performance by 2020 (i.e. requiring a thermal energy demand intensity no greater than 15 kWh/m2/year). An intermediary target of 25 kWh/m2/year was adopted (alongside a prescriptive compliance option) in the latest revision to the building bylaw, which came into force in March 2018. As a result, emissions from low-rise multi-family buildings will be reduced by 40% to 55%.

Homeowners and renters will see energy savings of $2.8 million (CAD) over the next five years, and the net cost of ownership (including mortgage and energy payments) for new owners will be realized from day one. The city has also committed to build all new city-owned projects to the Passive House standard (unless deemed unviable).

Here are some of Vancouver’s Passive House highlights:

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In 2016, there were 20-plus Passive House projects, totaling more than 600 units, under development (a quarter of North America’s total). Today, we have 34 projects totalling 1,000 units, or 1.2 million square feet, under development.

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The Heights, Canada’s biggest Passive House with 85 units (for now), opened its doors around the corner from my home three months ago (Figure 4).

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The next biggest Passive House is being built nearby: Spire Landing will have six storeys and 95 units.

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A downtown project at 1400 Alberni Street, once complete in 2022, will be the tallest Passive House in the world, at 43 and 48 storeys, with 443 units.

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Canada’s first Passive House fire hall is expected to be completed in 2019, will also be net-zero carbon, and net zero energy.

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Figure 4. Passive House tour at The Heights Photo: Stephen Hui, Pembina Institute

Local governments step up Vancouver is the only city in B.C. (and one of the few in Canada) that can set its own energyefficiency requirements in its building code. Other municipalities across B.C. need to adhere to the provincial building code, but could require additional energy-efficiency through bylaws. As both a way to harmonize requirements across the province but still give local governments flexibility, B.C.’s Energy Step Code was developed. This is North America’s first multi-tiered energy stretch code. The Energy Step Code was developed over a year and a half through a multi-stakeholder process that included engineers, architects, builders, developers, utilities, local governments and provincial officials.

In 2016, the B.C. government released its revised climate plan. While generally lacking in ambition and insufficient to meet the province’s legislated carbon reduction targets, the plan did contain some promising building policies. (I credit my team at the Pembina Institute for influencing this part of the climate plan, as well as working to build industry support for the pieces that did make it into the plan.) This includes a commitment for all new construction to be net-zero ready by 2032, the establishment of incentives for high-performance new construction, as well as increased support for training and capacity building. The plan also confirmed political support for the Energy Step Code.

This opt-in, performance-based standard will provide a unified framework for local government to incent or require energy performance beyond code minimum. It includes four performance steps, the first step requiring energy modelling and air-tightness testing (but no additional Pembina Institute

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performance gains beyond base code), and the last step requiring performance levels matching the international Passive House standard (i.e. a thermal energy demand intensity no greater 15 kWh/m2/year).

The Energy Step Code thus provides a four-step roadmap between current building practice and the net-zero ready goal. It also confirms a consensus towards an “envelope-first” approach, and sets Passive House levels of performance as the desired end goal. The Energy Step Code will allow leading municipalities to devise policies and incentives to move both the bulk and the leading edge of the market transformation bell curve, to prepare the industry not just for the next code cycle but also for the more profound changes needed for high-performance construction to become the norm by 2030.

For the lower tiers (Steps 1 to 3) of the Step Code, many builders are now able to construct to these standards at little to no additional cost, without impacting the market price paid by consumers. A study completed last summer shows that constructing homes and apartment buildings to Step 3 in most parts of the province would result in 20% energy savings and less than 1.5% incremental construction costs — an amount easily offset by energy bill savings. In fact, some regions of the province (the warmer climates of the southern interior) could even see savings on construction alone if they adopted Step 2 or 3 as their base requirement.

For more ambitious builders, the costs of very high-performance buildings are falling rapidly.

The highest tiers (Steps 4 and 5) of the Step Code typically cost no more than 5% extra for construction, and reduced heating bills offset these costs. Municipalities offering incentives for these higher tiers can drive innovation at the highest levels of performance, helping to bring the costs down over time. These high-performance buildings (including projects built to the Passive House standard) are already popping up all around the province.

The federal government is looking at the Energy Step Code as a model that it could develop for other provinces to adopt, and Ontario is also considering a stepped approach to net-zero ready building requirements.

Passive House across B.C. The burgeoning Passive House know-how in Vancouver is spreading to the rest of B.C. The suburban City of North Vancouver, wanting to demonstrate leadership on building performance, referenced the Energy Step Code (Step 5) or Passive House as a condition for a redevelopment — before the code took effect. Architects from Vancouver are designing Passive House buildings for rural areas, and a Passive House practitioner offered courses at a deep discount in the northwest corner of the province. Innovations include modular Passive House homes, which have been built and shipped to First Nations communities. We’re now seeing other archetypes pioneered beyond residential (e.g. a Passive House church and library).

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Rethinking and reframing We’ve seen impressive growth in Passive House and ultra energy-efficient buildings over the past three years. What have we learned?

We spent a lot of time talking about energy efficiency and energy use intensity, but we realized that we needed to broaden and redefine what we’re talking about. Many people don’t really factor in energy use when it comes to making choices about their homes. But when you talk about the other benefits of energy efficiency, that starts to resonate. So in making the case for energy-efficient buildings, we began talking more and more about the other benefits: higher quality construction, improved air quality, more comfortable and soundproof homes, and buildings that are cheaper to heat and maintain and are also good for the environment (Figure 5).

Figure 5. The many benefits of energy efficient homes and buildings www.pembina.org/efficiency

We also realized that we need to cut to the chase, and talk about carbon pollution and emissions intensity. After all, that’s what brought us here in the first place — the massive opportunity reduce emissions from the building sector. So we started talking about low-carbon buildings — because as a well-known Passive House practitioner in B.C. kept reminding us, any building could in theory be net-zero if you had a big-enough roof area for a massive solar array.

Buoyed with confidence in the credibility and support we built within the building sector in B.C., we looked to the next frontier: the opportunity to reduce emissions from existing

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buildings (Figure 6). We held another one of our thought leader forums at the end of 2016 to explore options to accelerate deep energy retrofits.

GHG emissions from buildings (Mt)

8 7

Business as usual

6 Net-zero ready policy

5 4 50% 2030

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Net-zero ready policy + Retrofit strategy

2 1 0

80%-100% 2050 2015

2020

2025

2030

2035

2040

2045

2050

Figure 6. Emissions from B.C. buildings and various policy options www.pembina.org/pub/affordable-retrofits-workshop

Out of this dialogue, we embarked on an initiative inspired by another European example — Energiesprong. Focusing on social housing as a beachhead market, this approach aggregates similar archetypes to create a big enough contract for a large company or consortium of companies to bid on and provide an industrial approach to retrofitting en masse. This allows economies of scale to significantly bring down the costs associated with designing and building the solution.

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Conclusion Our experience shows how research and advocacy organizations can play an important role in shaping policy to advance the uptake of Passive House, energy-efficient, and low-carbon buildings. Our analytical, convening, and engagement activities contributed to the integration of Passive House as a pathway to fulfilling B.C.’s net-zero ready target and Vancouver’s Zero Emissions Building Plan. While international, federal, provincial, and local commitments and policies are all factors in this space, municipal leadership has proved particularly catalytic to accelerating change at the provincial and national levels. In addition to our work to ensure progress towards low-carbon new buildings continues, the Pembina Institute is now zeroing in on the opportunity to tackle the carbon pollution of existing buildings though deep energy retrofits.

Learn more Read the Pembina Institute’s in-depth Passive House report, Accelerating Market Transformation for High-Performance Building Enclosures, at www.pembina.org/pub/passive-house-report.

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