Energy & Climate

We guide design teams through the Passive House certification process by providing input on design strategies, components, and systems; modeling the building using the Passive House software, and documenting all aspects required for certification.

We work with owners/developers and design teams to design buildings that will achieve net zero or near net zero energy or carbon performance. This includes early stage concept design to set an energy budget and evaluate/select key enclosure, mechanical, and electrical systems, through to detailed modeling and construction services to see the project through.

One of the main goals of our energy performance services is to inform the design in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability aspects. This can include providing early stage concept design input, completing model iterations to assess the impact of potential design strategies, comparing energy savings against costs, and modeling potential cost savings measures to optimize the design while ensuring performance requirements are met.

We use whole building energy modeling to meet LEED energy prerequisites and credits, in addition to helping the team incorporate energy conservation strategies into the design to get LEED points. We can also manage the entire LEED certification process including advising the team on requirements and documenting credits for certification.

We use whole building energy modeling to ensure code requirements are met, in addition to advising design teams on requirements. This could be for a variety of code requirements, eg. BCBC, VBBL, OBC SB-10, BC Energy Step Code, Toronto Green Standard, etc.

Our services in this category can vary widely. They typically include assisting with the development of building codes and by-laws at all levels of government, demand side management programs led by utilities, and other research to answer questions for various organizations.

We work on behalf of the International Passive House Institute to review submissions for Passive House certification and award certificates to projects that meet all of the certification requirements.

Measurement and verification (M&V) is the process of quantifying savings delivered by energy conservation measures. We complete M&V studies for a variety of project types, including verifying whole building savings for new buildings, and verifying system-level savings as part of utility demand side management projects or to test new products.

We can conduct various levels of energy assessments to understand how energy is used at a building and to identify opportunities for energy and GHG reductions. This could range from high-level calculations to detailed assessments that include full building energy modeling.