Building carbon free is possible

The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) recently announced that 10 projects have been certified under the council’s Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) Standard.

The fact that the projects certified range from existing office buildings to schools to warehouses suggests that any type of building — regardless of age — can be converted into a zero emissions structure.

The ZCB Standard was created two years ago as a guide for crafting zero emission buildings while also helping the country meet its international targets for carbon reduction by the year 2030.

Green building has evolved in recent years, with carbon emerging as a key performance metric when assessing the environmental impact of specific projects.

Of specific note is Mohawk College’s the Joyce Centre for Partnership and Innovation as it’s the first building to receive both the ZCB-Design and ZCB-Performance certifications.

While 10 projects have now been certified, over 20 have now been registered under the ZCB Standard. To achieve ZCB certification, projects must be designed according to zero carbon building requirements and Performance certification is achieved once the project has demonstrated zero carbon emissions over a full year of operation.