Government institutions are increasingly recognizing the role the Passive House standard can play in effectively reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and are beginning to introduce it into their requirements and codes for all types of new buildings. British Columbia is leading the way.
Experiments conducted by RDH Building Science, National Research Council Canada (NRC), and a manufacturer of insulation materials have confirmed the presence of gaps between boards of insulation will cause a reduction in its R-value.
Climate change is already having an effect on communities across Canada. Some are facing increased droughts; others, more intense storms. Weather-related emergencies like heat waves, flooding, and forest fires are on the rise.
Insulating concrete forms (ICFs) are a method of construction using components manufactured from expanded polystyrene (EPS). The forms are stacked, steel-reinforced, and then filled with concrete. When completed, ICF walls provide a solid monolithic structure.
Today’s high-performance building market is driven by increasingly stringent energy codes and a growing demand for greater building efficiency, sustainability, and affordability.
Continuous insulation (ci) has been a part of some Canadian code requirements since 2011, but the concept can still be confusing for design and construction professionals.
Unvented attics have been designed and constructed for some 30 years. They are referred to by various names, including conditioned attics, semi-conditioned attics, indirectly conditioned attics, hot roofs, and compact roofs.
Energy efficiency, green construction, increased insulation, net-zero—all these terms imply the same expectation: to improve the performance of buildings and minimize their impact on the environment by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, conserving natural resources, and maximizing the service life of all building systems—all while maintaining comfortable and functional buildings.
With an increased focus on careful stewardship of resources and rapidly rising utility costs, it is now mandatory for new and remediated buildings to be more energy-efficient. This tends to be easier said than done. There are numerous challenges that must be addressed during the design and construction phases of such a project.
Insulation manufacturers have devised numerous ways to improve the thermal performance of their products, from adding specialized particles to polystyrene to refining vacuum insulated panels (VIPs) and phase-change materials to aerogels. Unfortunately, none of this matters when these high-performance products are installed ineffectively.
