Conference Paper

Proceedings of SimBuild Conference 2024

Reference-Building Equivalent Energy Performance Targets for Canada’s Housing Energy Code

Sara Gilani, Alex Ferguson, Sara Azimi
CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada, Canada

Abstract: Canada’s National Building Code (NBC) requires builders to use the reference-building approach for its performance compliance path. It is well understood that the reference-building approach does not recognize the benefit of architectural form in the design of energy efficient buildings. In 2022, the Canadian Board for Harmonized Construction Codes established a task group for developing an alternate absolute performance compliance path in the NBC. This group was faced with the challenge of setting absolute energy performance targets that are consistent with the code's current energy efficiency requirements. This paper developed a methodology for determining energy performance targets that align with the reference-building targets of the NBC’s performance path. It then evaluated potential design outcomes associated with the proposed absolute energy performance targets, expecting that houses with a wall-to-floor area ratio of less than 1.0 and window-to-floor area ratio of less than 0.2 will show a better energy performance under the proposed absolute performance compliance path than the NBC’s existing reference-building performance compliance path. The proposed absolute energy performance targets for tiers 3 and 4 are in good agreement with the British Columbia (BC) Energy Step Code, however the proposed targets for tier 5 are more stringent than the BC Energy Step Code.
Keywords: Code compliance, Performance path, Tiered energy code, Reference building, Energy use intensity
Pages: 27 - 35
Paper: