Net Zero Energy – Ready or Not
January 12, 2016
MARK WESSEL, ONTARIO HOME BUILDERS MAGAZINE.
In the spring of 2014, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) posted on its website that “with the R-2000 level fast becoming the code-built energy requirement for homes in many jurisdictions, there is a need to take energy efficiency to the next level and make net-zero-energy homes a reality.”
In hindsight, the announcement could very well have been the tipping point in Canada for net-zero construction (a home that produces as much energy as it consumes), as not long after, NRCan funded a project with Owens Corning to build 25 net-zero-energy (NZE) homes.
“We had been conducting research on net-zero-energy housing for over a decade and the concept had been around for longer than that,” observes Mark Carver of NRCan. “But it’s a concept that had existed predominantly in other countries that weren’t as challenging weather-wise. So our inspiration came from builders here in Canada who wanted to apply the net-zero-energy concept in our cold climate.”