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Making the Shift: Passive-‐House Standards in Canada

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Making the Shift: Passive-‐House Standards in Canada Fall 08 Making the Shift: Passive-House Standards in Canada Foundation 3E Awards Milan Nevajda – M.U.P Candidate 2013, McGill School of Urban Planning Daniel Schwirtz – M.U.P Candidate 2013, McGill School of Urban Planning David Singh – M.U.P Candidate 2013, McGill School of Urban Planning Project Supervisor: Ray ToMalty M cGill School of Urban Planning Making the Shift: Passive-House Standards in Canada Milan Nevajda · Daniel Schwirtz · David Singh Table of Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 2 Urban Energy Context ............................................................................................................ 2 Current Situation and Problems ......................................................................................... 4 Project Details .......................................................................................................................... 8 Energy Benefits ........................................................................................................................ 9 Other Environmental Benefits ......................................................................................... 18 Social Benefits ........................................................................................................................ 18 Political Analysis .................................................................................................................. 22 Transferability and Scalability ........................................................................................ 23 Main Actors ............................................................................................................................. 26 Costs .......................................................................................................................................... 26 Project Assumptions and Risks ....................................................................................... 26 Steps and Time Line ............................................................................................................. 29 Lead Agency ............................................................................................................................ 30 Stakeholders .......................................................................................................................... 30 Policy Changes ....................................................................................................................... 33 Tracking ................................................................................................................................... 35 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 36 Citations ................................................................................................................................... 37 Appendix I – Interviews ...................................................................................................... 41 Appendix II – Tables ............................................................................................................ 43 1 Making the Shift: Passive-House Standards in Canada Milan Nevajda · Daniel Schwirtz · David Singh Introduction In 2005, the City of Ottawa adopted the Green Building Policy for the Construction of Corporate Buildings (GBP), which mandates that all new municipal building must be built to a LEED building efficiency standard. Although this was a positive step towards reducing building energy consumption, more can and should be done to reach this goal. In contrast, several European countries have adopted standards that go far beyond what even LEED Platinum buildings attain. One such program, from Germany, is called the Passive House (PH) standard which limits energy use in buildings to a mere 15 kWh/m2 for heating purposes, and a maximum 120 kWh/m2 for total energy demand annually. The first phase of our project is to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing a PH standard as a baseline for all new municipal buildings in the City of Ottawa. These new municipal buildings would then act as an example to show that ambitious energy efficiency standards are feasible. It is the ultimate goal of this proposal to build capacity and momentum in efficient construction that can eventually be rolled out to the private (commercial and residential) market. The subsequent report outlines the need for more progressive energy efficiency standards, how PH standards work, potential energy savings that can be realized in the municipal buildings sector by switching from LEED to PH standards, and a feasibility and implementation analysis. Our analysis considers a wide range of potential costs and benefits associated with adopting such a standard. Furthermore, we present a sensitivity study to illustrate a meaningful range of outcomes that can result from our recommended policy changes. Urban Energy Context Municipal buildings fit in the commercial and institutional buildings sector, a group that together consumes over 31% of the secondary energy generated in Canada; institutional buildings alone represent 14% of total secondary energy demand (NRCAN, 2010). A community energy conservation and reduction plan that does not consider built structures would be ignoring the single largest factor driving energy consumption in Canada. Furthermore, buildings can remain operational for generations, which increases the ecological and energy-related consequences of poor construction. In other words, energy- guzzling buildings not only increase our reliance on, and demand for, energy, but they also commit us to a legacy of energy inefficiency. Buildings consume energy in a number of forms as needed by the processes inside. In Canada, the vast majority of energy demand in municipal buildings is for space heating (47% according to Statistics Canada), and this is acquired from a composite of energy sources that include electricity, natural gas, propane, and other heating oils (Harvey, 2010a ). Electrical energy use stems from the need to power electrical equipment (computers and their peripherals, as well as lighting), while space-heating requirements largely dictate the use of natural gas (for boilers) and other heating fuels (figure 1). 2 Making the Shift: Passive-House Standards in Canada Milan Nevajda · Daniel Schwirtz · David Singh Figure 1 - Commercial/Instutional Energy Use by End-Use, 2008 (percentage) Source: Statistics Canada, 2010 Lighting Auxiliary 11% Auxiliary Equipment motors 19% 9% Water Heating 8% Space Cooling 5% Space Heating 47% Streetlighting 1% Table 1 – Energy Intensity of Institutional Buildings in Ontario (GJ/m2/annum) Building Type GJ/m2/a kWh/m2/a * Accommodation 0.64 177.78 Office 1.05 291.67 Non-Food Service 0.63 175.00 Warehouses 0.35 97.22 Administration 0.93 258.33 Education 0.38 105.56 Health Care 0.96 266.67 Public Assembly 0.56 155.56 AVERAGE 0.6875 191.97 * Conversion factor: GJ/kWh = 0.0036 The National Capital Region has nearly 1,300 buildings in active use, and the City of Ottawa controls the largest share of these buildings (1,001 in fact). Table 1 presents the average energy intensity of operating commercial and institutional buildings in Ontario based on use (condensed to types relevant to the institutional sector). In light of these figures, the PH standard represents at least a 60% decrease in energy intensity. The excess energy consumed presently is equivalent to throwing energy away. Our proposal, to drastically improve the efficiency of municipal corporation buildings, will bring a higher standard to bear on municipal buildings. This in turn will reduce total heating/cooling demand, improve the indoor environment, and build capacity within the construction sector to promote better construction in the future. 3 Making the Shift: Passive-House Standards in Canada Milan Nevajda · Daniel Schwirtz · David Singh Current Situation and Problems Currently, neither PH standards nor similarly ambitious energy efficiency programs have been implemented in Canada on a meaningful scale. LEED certification has become the pre- eminent standard in North America despite mounting evidence questioning actual energy savings achieved by implementing this standard. One report, in particular, from the Canadian Institute of Research in Construction found that, on average, LEED certified buildings in the US used 18-39% less energy than a typical building (Newsham, Mancicni, & Birt). However, it was also shown that 28-35% of LEED certified buildings actually used more energy than the benchmark (Newsham, Mancicni, & Birt), raising questions about the correlation between LEED certification and tangible energy savings. Although the City of Ottawa is taking steps in the right direction with the Green Building Policy for the Construction of Corporate Buildings, the LEED certification system is simply not ambitious enough nor effective enough to achieve the energy reductions that can and should be strived for. Our goal is to be among the first projects to demonstrate that PH-grade standards can be achieved in Canada. In demonstrating the feasibility of this type of model, we aim to provide the City of Ottawa with a convincing report that would either modify the “Green Building Policy for the Construction of Corporate Buildings” or lead to the creation of a new policy which moves away
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