1. Zachary May A/Director, Policy and Codes Development
Good afternoon. My name is _________ and I am the _________________ with _______________.
It’s my pleasure to introduce you today to the BC Energy Step Code.
The BC Energy Step Code is a provincial standard enacted in April that provides a consistent approach to building that go beyond the energy-efficient requirements of the BC Building Code.
In addition to supporting energy efficiency, this new standard also serves as a policy pathway to meeting the province’s target that all new construction should be net-zero ready by 2032.
Today I’m going to walk you through how it came to be, how it works, how a local government might use it, and also share a few examples of real-world projects that would meet the various levels of performance.
May 18, 2017
Zachary May A/Director, Policy and Codes Development
Building and Safety Standards Branch

2. Two Provincial Initiatives Set the Stage
Building Act
Consistency, Competency & Innovation
December 2017 marks the end of local building requirements in bylaws.
Climate Leadership Plan
Establishes a target that all new construction will be net-zero ready by 2032.
Two provincial initiatives gave rise to the BC Energy Step Code.
Over the past decade many local governments have adopted policies, bylaws, and incentive programs that target building energy efficiency. Each of them measures energy efficiency in a different way, which created headaches for the development industry.
To improve consistency across the province, Section 5 of the Building Act will make bylaws that reference technical building requirements — including energy efficiency standards — unenforceable, effective December 15, 2017.
The BC Energy Step Code provides an alternative method of enforcing energy efficiency standards.British Columbia local governments interested in better-than-code building energy efficiency may reference the BC Energy Step Code in their policies and bylaws as of December 15, That said, but will not be required to do so.
The exception to this is the City of Vancouver, which has its own high performance building strategy, which is closely aligned with the BC Energy Step Code.
So the new requirements of the Building Act was a prime driver. The other was the Climate Leadership Plan.
That plan, released last summer, set a target that all new construction in the province will need to be “net zero ready” by Similarly, the federal Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth & Climate Change references model net zero energy codes will be available to provinces by 2030.
The BC Energy Step Code is really our roadmap to a future in which all construction is built to the highest possible level of performance. It charts a course to that net zero target.

3. Energy Step Code – Overview
Local Government Approaches to Energy Efficiency
Energy Step Code – Overview
Eliminating the Patchwork:
Local government adopted a wide range of programs and approaches to address building energy efficiency.
Development industry struggled to stay on top of these requirements.
BC Energy Step Code offers a common standard for achieving building energy goals.
In 2007 or in the years that followed, almost all B.C. local governments signed on to the Climate Action Charter. Signatory governments commit to a range of actions, including “creating more energy efficient communities.”
Many of them subsequently adopted policies, bylaws, and incentive programs that target building energy efficiency. You can see a few of them represented here.
These programs each define efficiency using different metrics, which created a patchwork of compliance requirements. This was especially challenging in areas such as Metro Vancouver and the Capital Regional District, where adjacent municipalities often had different rules and requirements.
The development industry struggled to keep track of the various standards, and where they apply.
The Energy Step Code provides an alternative method of enforcing energy efficiency standards under the Building Act.
British Columbia local governments interested in better-than-code building energy efficiency may reference the BC Energy Step Code in their policies and bylaws as of December 15, 2017, but will not be required to do so. Builders may be required to build to a given “step” if a local government has adopted step code requirements.
In communities and regions where the BC Energy Step Code is not required outright, local governments may offer incentives to encourage builders to build to a given step.

4. Energy Efficiency Working Group
| PROVINCIAL GOV.
| BUILDERS & DEVELOPERS
| LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
| TRADES &
PROFESSIONALS
In response, in 2014 the province convened an Energy Efficiency Working Group, comprised of builders, developers, governments, utilities, professional associations, and others.
Government asked the group to develop recommendations for a consistent way to measure energy performance in new buildings. While some net zero buildings are already being constructed in BC, the practice is not widespread.
Over the course of three years, the working group came up with a “high performance staircase” that would get everyone on the same page with a set of measurable performance benchmarks, that builders must meet in communities that adopt it
The idea is that communities would gradually increase the ambition, and climb the staircase, and along the way move the building industry towards net zero.
Eventually, they named the mechanism the BC Energy Step Code.
| NGOs
| UTILITIES

5. A Focus on Performance
Over the past decade, significant advances in building science have yielded new approaches that allow for more energy efficient and low emission buildings that remain cost-effective to build.
The BC Energy Step Code is designed to bring these new practices into the broader market, reducing energy demand across the board.
Local governments can choose to require or incentivize builders to meet one or more steps of the BC Energy Step Code, as an alternative to the prescriptive requirements set out in the BC Building Code.
Over time, the building industry will integrate these techniques into all new buildings, and high performance materials and products will become increasingly available and cost-effective.
The BC Energy Step Code is performance based. It establishes measurable performance-based energy-efficiency requirements for new construction.
To demonstrate compliance, a builder must prove to building officials that his or her building meets or exceeds a set of defined metrics.
The standard uses the same metrics for each step, with progressively more demanding targets all the way up to the highest step, which represents a net zero ready level of performance.

6. The Energy Step Code Council
| PROVINCIAL GOV.
| NGOS
| TRADES & PROFESSIONALS
| LOCAL GOV.
| BUILDERS & DEVELOPERS
| UTILITIES
The Energy Step Code Council
Serves as a “bridge” between local governments, the province, and the building, development, and design sectors, to ensure local governments adopt steps of the BC Energy Step Code in an orderly fashion.
The Energy Efficiency Working Group that developed the BC Energy Step Code is now overseeing its implementation under a new name, the Energy Step Code Council.
It is comprised of builders, developers, governments, utilities, professional associations, and others; a representative of the Province of British Columbia’s Building and Safety Standards Branch serves as chair.
The Council serves as a “bridge” between local governments and the building, development, and design sectors, to ensure local governments adopt steps of the BC Energy Step Code in an orderly fashion.
It is mandated to:
Support the creation and dissemination of training and capacity building opportunities for local governments, industry, and other stakeholders
Develop clear communications for various audiences on what the BC Energy Step Code is, and how to implement it across the province;
Provide advice and clarification on technical aspects of the BC Energy Step Code;
Profile incentives and financing mechanisms; and
Seek to resolve implementation issues as they arise, through multi-stakeholder deliberation.

7. Part 9 | Step 1: Enhanced Compliance
So how does it work?
We’re going to use the example of Part 9 Buildings – which are houses and small buildings up to three stories.
There are five performance steps on the Part 9 staircase. Other sections of the BC Building Code have different numbers of steps.
We will start at the bottom with the next few slides, and work our way up to the highest step, which is a net zero level of performance.
We classify Step 1 as “enhanced compliance”
It simply entails demonstrating, through performance testing, that a building meets the minimum energy-efficiency performance requirements of the BC Building Code.
It ensures a quality, well-sealed building envelope.
We felt this step was necessary because we know that there have been compliance challenges out there.
For example, one study in 2011 indicated that a third of new buildings in BC may not actually meet the current code on energy efficiency.

8. Part 9 | Steps 2 and 3: The Lower Steps
The next two steps actually require higher performance level than the base building code.
As you can see on the right, the bar indicates that these buildings are 10 to 20 percent more efficient than those built to the baseline requirements of the BC Building Code.
 There are already many examples of Part 9 buildings in BC that perform at this level, as a result of industry leadership and local government policy.
We refer to these first three steps collectively as the “Lower Steps.”
Building professionals can achieve the lower steps using current building designs and practices, in combination with established best practices in building envelopes and systems.
MODUS and Brantwood Consulting recently prepared a study of industry capacity for the Community Energy Association and BC Hydro, to better understand the current state of market readiness in the province.
That research is still underway, but preliminary findings suggest that industry can deliver on these lower steps for Part 9 (Housing and Small Buildings) in many regions, but will require continued training to meet all building needs across the province.
Communities may wish to tie incentives to these Lower Steps, but unlike the Upper Steps they can also require the Lower Steps at a community-wide scale.

9. Part 9 | Step 4: The Threshold to the Upper Steps
Step four marks the threshold of the Upper Steps, again for Part 9 buildings.
As you can see, a Step 4 building will perform at least 40 percent better than one built to the baseline requirements of the BC Building Code.
Achieving the Upper Steps may require more substantial changes in building design, layout, framing techniques, system selection and materials.
These techniques and materials will be more costly and challenging without additional training and experience.

10. Part 9 | Step 5: Net Zero Ready New Construction
Finally, at the top of the staircase we have Step 5, which represents net zero ready building, the most energy-efficient building that can be built today.
These upper steps may require the use of more advanced building practices and expertise, and energy efficient building components that are not yet widely available.
For this reason—and until the market matures and these practices become more common—buildings built to these steps will carry higher design and construction costs.
The Energy Step Code Council is encouraging governments to demonstrate leadership by building public buildings to these steps, this helps build familiarity with these materials and techniques.
The Province of British Columbia asks that during the transition period -- between today and local governments only adopt the Upper Steps in conjunction with appropriate incentives or a significant increase in the value of the property.
Additionally, Upper Steps may not be required as a municipality-wide requirement across a jurisdiction.

11. Existing Program Equivalencies
This slide shows how the various steps align with existing programs that builders may already be familiar with.
A reminder again, local government bylaws that reference technical building standards will be unenforceable as of December 15, 2017.
We’re encouraging local governments to update those bylaws to instead reference the BC Energy Step Code.
For homes, most of these standards convert very easily, as the BC Energy Step Code is based on these commonly used energy efficiency performance programs. 

12. Part 3: High Performance Large + Complex Buildings
I have kept this presentation largely focused on Part 9 but the BC Energy Step Code also covers Part 3 Low Rise Residential and Part 3 Commercial.
Here is how the steps work, with performance expressed as percentage above code.
Note there are only four steps in Part 3 Low Rise Residential, where there were 5 steps in Part 9.
Note that Steps 1 and 2 are lower steps, and steps 3 and 4 are upper steps.
Finally, on the Part 3 side, energy Use Intensity tables are not available for all building types, for all parts of the province. But they are in the works and expected this year.

13. Performance Compliance
To meet the requirements of a given step of the BC Energy Step Code, a builder needs to prove to building officials that the building meets or exceeds a set of defined metrics.
The measurement and verification requirements include:
Energy modelling: Prior to construction, builders must commission an energy model for their proposed building. This is already common practice for high-efficiency buildings in BC, and is already an optional compliance path for meeting the energy efficiency requirements in the existing BC Building Code.
Airtightness testing: An energy advisor must complete a blower door test for all steps and all building types after construction and before occupancy.
While a blower door test is required pre-construction, it may also be helpful at a mid-point inspection to ensure any leaks in the envelop are repaired before drywall is in place.
Again, this approach eliminates the prescriptive energy-related requirements of the BC Building Code. Instead of prescribing what builders and developers need to do to, it tells them the level of performance they need to reach, and puts the ball in their court on how to do it.
Energy modeling
Air-Tightness Testing
No Prescriptive Requirements

14. Energy Step Code – Overview
What Does the BC Energy Step Code Measure?
Energy Step Code – Overview
Performance Requirements For:
Building envelope
Again, the BC Energy Step Code is rooted in a performance approach.
This approach establishes a set of metrics that must be demonstrated through energy modelling and airtightness testing to reach compliance.
It allows for more innovation, enabling the market to develop the most cost-effective methods and materials to meet the end target, while providing certainty to building owners and governments that new buildings are designed and built to meet their objectives.
This echoes the approach already taken by many green building programs, including Built Green, EnergyStar, R-2000, Net Zero Energy, and Passive House.
The approach focuses first on performance requirements for building envelope…

15. Energy Step Code – Overview
What Does the BC Energy Step Code Measure?
Energy Step Code – Overview
Performance Requirements For:
Building envelope
Equipment and systems
It also sets requirements for equipment and systems, such as ventilation equipment, heating and cooling, and boilers…

16. Energy Step Code – Overview
What Does the BC Energy Step Code Measure?
Energy Step Code – Overview
Performance Requirements For:
Building envelope
Equipment and systems
Post-construction testing
Airtightness
The third pillar is modelling at the front end of the process and measuring once construction is complete, using a blower door test, to confirm air tightness.

17. Energy Step Code – Overview
Building Envelope Efficiency Metrics
Energy Step Code – Overview
Losses
Air tightness
Insulation
Gains
Solar gain
People and equipment
Units of heat energy required for constant temperature after losses and gains (ignores equipment efficiency).
Let’s look a little closer at what we mean by “building envelope”
Envelope refers to the physical barrier separating a building’s heated or cooled interior from the outside world.
It includes the walls, roof, floors, windows, skylights, and doors.
A high-quality building envelope minimizes the amount of air that flows between indoors and outdoors, which can save a lot of energy.
The key elements of a high quality building envelope include Insulation that keeps the air in the building at a comfortable temperature. Windows that are well insulated positioned to make optimal use of the sun’s energy. And minimal or eliminated thermal bridges.
A thermal bridge is a spot in the wall that transfers heat more quickly than the rest of the wall - for example, a metal-framed wall has a thermal bridge at each stud because metal transfers more heat than the insulation between the studs. With appropriate training and materials, builders can learn to build building envelopes that reduce or eliminate these bridges, reducing energy consumption.
Metrics measured include:
Thermal Energy Demand Intensity (TEDI): The amount of energy needed to maintain a stable interior temperature, taking into account heat loss through the envelope and passive gains.
Peak Thermal Load (PTL): The maximum amount of energy needed to heat (or cool) a building on the coldest (or hottest) day of the year.

18. Energy Step Code – Overview
Equipment Efficiency Metrics
Energy Step Code – Overview
Energy Use
Heat
Water heating
Ventilation
Lights and plug loads (large buildings only)
An energy efficient building will minimize the energy needed to run all of the heating, cooling, ventilation, and hot water equipment and systems.
That said, there still significant opportunities to reduce energy use with efficient equipment.
These include very high efficiency furnaces, boilers, and heat pumps, cooling systems, ventilation systems, and hot water systems—either very high efficiency tanks and boilers, to on-demand systems
Equipment and Systems Metrics include:
Percent better than EnerGuide Reference House: What percent less energy the new home will require compared to the reference house.
Mechanical Energy Use Intensity: The amount of energy needed for space heating and cooling, ventilation, and domestic hot water, per unit of area, over the course of a year
Total Energy Use Intensity: The anticipated amount of total energy needed for a building, per unit of area, over the course of a year. It includes plug loads—appliances, lighting, entertainment systems, and so on—and process loads, namely heating, cooling, fans, and other mechanical systems.
Energy Use

19. Geographic Availability
Part 9 Targets:
Province Wide
Part 3 Targets:
Lower Mainland and Southern Vancouver Island
Province may add or adjust targets in future
The Step Code has targets for part 9 residential for all climate zones in province.
The coverage is not quite as complete for Part 3.
In the case of complex buildings, local governments may reference the BC Energy Step Code in South Coast and Okanagan climates (Zone 4).
Further, the province may add to, or adjust, these targets at a future date.

20. Alignment With Energy Efficiency Incentive Programs
Sample Programs:
City of North Vancouver
City of Richmond
City of Surrey
Sparwood District Municipality
District of Invermere
City of Kimberley
Township of Langley
District of Saanich
This slide is just to demonstrate that local governments across the province are already running programs that require energy efficiency performance levels that are roughly equivalent to the steps of the BC Energy Step Code.
Whistler and New Westminster have an energy advisor incentive, the City of North Vancouver has linked a net zero level of performance to a major pre-zoned local area plan in the Moodyville neighborhood.
And there are others in between.
Resort Municipality of Whistler
City of New Westminster

21. Putting into Practice: Possible Implementation Approaches
The BC Energy Step Code’s flexible framework allows each local government to select appropriate steps, policy mechanisms, scale, and level of incentive to achieve multiple community objectives, including energy efficiency in new buildings.
Local governments can use the regulation in a way that aligns with their current and future planning regime, policies, and programs.
For example, Local Government A may be new to requiring energy efficiency in buildings. Perhaps there is limited local industry capacity, but there is interest in preparing for future changes in the BC Building Code as the province moves towards net-zero energy ready buildings by 2032.
A second example, in the central column, is a regional approach in which all Local Governments in a region decide to raise the bar together and maintain a consistent development culture across their jurisdictions. This approach sends a clear message to the region’s industry, and communicates future intentions.
Local Government C may have more experience with high-performance buildings and more industry capacity to deliver them, and may be ready to take a more ambitious, multi-faceted approach. Here are some of the tools they might use to do so.

22. Completed or Underway:
Research and Support Resources
| LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
| NGOs
| TRADES & PROFESSIONALS
| PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
| BUILDERS & DEVELOPERS
| UTILITIES
Completed or Underway:
Resource hub: energystepcode.ca
Training and capacity assessment
Costing study
Local government readiness survey
Peer network for local government staff
Webinars and presentations
The Energy Step Code Council is overseeing a number of resources being produced to inform and assist local governments with roll-out.
Here’s a short list of resources either in the works or recently completed. The Council will make these available as they are completed.
More functionality will come down the line, such as a searchable index of energy advisors.