Page 37 - Green Builder May-June 2017 Issue

The Heights complements Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan
and its zero-emissions building plan, according to Kennedy.
Vancouver’s zero-emissions building plan encompasses a variety of
projects including houses, office buildings and apartment towers. The
initiative largely targets emissions from space heating; The Heights
project is especially energy efficient in this area.
The Heights’ air-sealed nature significantly reduces airflow in and
out of the project through gaps and cracks in the building envelope.
A blower door test was used to measure the air changes per hour in
The Heights to ensure it complies with the Passive House standard.
“If I were to test an old house, I would probably get 10 or 12
air changes an hour [using a blower door test],” says Kennedy. “If I
constructed a well-built modern house, I would probably get 5 air
changes an hour. A passive house has 0.6 air changes an hour, which
is a whole order of magnitude tighter.”
Very tightly constructed buildings need proper ventilation to CREDIT: ZEHNDER GROUP
promote indoor air quality, however. The units’ ComfoAir 550 heat
recovery ventilators provide a continuous stream of fresh, filtered
air. These balanced ventilation systems supply and exhaust equal Nothing in the air. Zehnder’s ComfoAir 550 heat recovery
amounts of air throughout the project for optimum comfort and ventilators provide a continuous stream of fresh, filtered air for
healthy home air. each of The Heights’ residences.
Structures like The Heights will place Vancouver well on its way “With lower energy and maintenance bills, green buildings should
to being carbon-free by 2030, if not sooner, according to Karen Tam become an affordable and increasingly attractive option.” GB
Wu, director of the buildings and urban solutions program at the
Pembina Institute. That’s actually good news for any builder involved Source link: Pembina Institute: Accelerating Market
in green projects. “Near-zero-emission homes and buildings will be Transformation for High-Performance Building Enclosures
commonplace in Vancouver and elsewhere within 10 years,” Wu says. www.pembina.org/pub/passive-house-report

CREDIT: CORNERSTONE ARCHITECTURE

The start of something big. As Vancouver accelerates toward a 2030 no-emissions goal, projects like The Heights will become more
common and attractive to builders, investors and residents.

www.greenbuildermedia.com May/June 2017 GREEN BUILDER 35

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