Contractor will be “happy to see” Net Zero Energy homebuilding made mandatory

Last week, John Bleasby posted an article reminding us all that the Federal Liberals have pledged to make Net Zero Energy (NZE) home building mandatory in Canada by 2030.

Some will view this with cynicism. Others, like Guelph, ON homebuilder Ben Polley of Evolve Builders Group applaud it…

Here’s what Ben posted…

“While this might mean that our own company will see our competitive edge eroded over time, I am happy to see  this. At Evolve Builders, we presently succeed, in part, by being among the few builders and renovators who automatically seek to bring their projects to (or near) NZE or Passive House standards.

Housings costs grew by a proportionately larger percentage over the last few decades due to the increase in footprint and, further, in normalizing what once were upgrade items (remember when granite was considered a high-end countertop?).

Said differently, ego has been a bigger driver of costs than the higher price of more energy-efficient homes will be. And the latter, done carefully, can approach cash flow neutral to the owner when the extra outlay is paid for out of reductions in ordinary utility bills. So is it really more expensive? Higher price – yes; higher cost – not so much.

From my way of thinking – and that of our clients – we can do the planet and the next generation some good, reduce our own dependence on/cost of utilities… and still have our granite.

And by the way, while we are debating when we will get to this standard, the EU long ago beat us to it. In fewer than 15 years (I believe) the EU last year moved to having all new residential construction reach the Passive House level. So it will be cheaper and easier for us in Canada to integrate (these standards) because the technologies and strategies already exist.

Of course, because we were laggards it means that we haven’t nurtured a domestic industry in creating these next generation products. But  that is another discussion.