■ Building Green The passive house building standard requires the envelope to have a maximum heating and cooling demand of 15 kWh per sq. metre per year.
CASE STUDY:
A Vancouver-based firehall will be used as a demonstration project to develop new zero emission building standards for future city projects. By Bruce Nagy
The original No. 17 Firehall was built in 1955.
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Plumbing & HVAC – September 2021
Vancouver is arguably one of the most overachieving cities in Canada, where they are consistently looking to push boundaries. Apart from the 44 per cent chance of rain on any given morning, the crazy cost of real estate, and the Canucks; Vancouver is just about perfect. (Sorry to any Canuck fans out there). In the last few years, one of Vancouver’s (and B.C.’s) focus has been on setting an example when it comes to environmental policy and green buildings. While Ottawa grapples with selling its carbon tax to some provinces, B.C. has had one in place since 2008 and has managed a steady GDP growth ever since. In 2015, Vancouver created a new policy targeting 100 per cent renewable energy and then in 2016 added rules requiring new
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