Getting Net-Zero Energy Ready

Raising the efficiency bar for new builds Imagine if every new house in Canada was so efficient that it could actually power and heat itself. This isn't a sci-fi fantasy - it's an attainable reality. In fact, over the past three years, a number of leading construction companies partnered with Natural Resources Canada and other organizations to build 23 net-zero energy ready homes in three provinces - demonstrating that this is doable.

In September 2016, the final homes were finished and put on the market, and all of the net-zero communities are already sold out.12 This innovation isn't just for homes. In 2015, Canada's first net-zero energy commercial office building opened its doors in Edmonton.13 The city of Varennes, Quebec built the country's first net-zero institutional building, a library, in 2014.14

Now that we know net-zero energy ready is possible, how do we get this innovation to scale for all new builds? The answer: set the energy efficiency bar much higher. The aspirational goal is for these buildings to ultimately offset their own energy use with the renewable energy they generate. To get there, buildings must eventually become at least twice as efficient as the average home or office is today. That's an ambitious target, and an achievable one: especially if we start inching the bar up now.