The Times They Are A Changin’
The BC Energy Plan and how it will affect the housing industry
Did you know that our Provincial government has an Energy Action Plan in place that will soon begin to have a significant impact on the housing industry in our province? The winds of change are a blowin’ and the plan will set out a path that will help our province achieve specific energy reduction targets by certain dates, to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our power needs in the future.
The Energy Plan, as it is known, is quite aggressive in its mandate- it has to be; the Greenhouse Gas Reductions Target Act, which became law in 2007, requires that our province reduce our current greenhouse gas emissions (2007 levels) by 33% by 2020, and by a whopping 80% by 2050. So far, since the legislation was passed almost 5 years ago, our province’s total energy consumption has gone up, not down.
The housing sector is one of the key areas that the Provincial government has identified where energy savings can be found, both in new construction and in existing homes; since they are well aware that operating our buildings uses up around 17% of our society’s total energy needs. While I am all for energy efficiency and improving the performance of our dwellings, there are some big changes ahead that will have a dramatic impact on the way houses are built, and, possibly, bought and sold, in this province.
The latest edition of the BC Building Code will be released later this year (its publication has already been delayed over a year) and it will contain a host of new energy efficiency standards that we haven’t seen the likes of before. What this means for the home buyer and building industry, is that the typical wood frame construction house that we all know will no longer be up to snuff, from an efficiency perspective, and will not meet the requirements of the new BCBC.
As an example, R20 batt insulation, which has been used in the walls of virtually all new houses built in the past 25 years, will no longer be acceptable, on its own, and will require addition types of insulation when used in wall systems. All new homes will also require energy audits and blower door tests, to confirm they meet the code’s efficiency requirements. The “air tightness” of all new buildings, referred to as air changes per hour (AC/hr), will be required to be substantially better than in all but the most efficient houses built today. As of yet, nobody has worked out exactly how these new changes will be accomplished, but I think it’s safe to say we will be seeing a lot more spray foam insulation, as well as heat recovery systems, used in our homes in the near future.
The Energy Plan describes changes that may impact owners of existing homes, as well. Pilot projects will be undertaken to assign energy performance labeling to homes, similar to the Energy Star program required for appliances and furnaces, with eventual expansion to all of BC in mind. Under this system, no home without an energy rating could be bought or sold and owners of homes below a specified energy rating would be encouraged to make energy upgrade repairs. The ultimate goal will be for all homes in the province to have energy rating of 80 or higher, which is a lofty ambition, since a new home, built to 2011 standards, will have an energy rating in the 65- 68 range. There are many older homes, in the 50 plus age bracket that will probably cost less to tear down and rebuild than to upgrade to that sort of energy efficiency level.
I have no doubt that there will be a lot of resistance to the changes that are coming. Personally, I support the direction the BC Energy Plan is leading us. It’s hard to argue that, as a society, we don’t have some pretty big changes to make and, in spite of the growing pains we will all have to suffer, I see tremendous opportunities in the greening of the housing industry. You can learn more about the BC Energy Plan by clicking here.
