Net Zero Energy Building

The Province of British Columbia is leading efforts to reduce carbon emissions by 2050 from buildings through their Net Zero/Smart Buildings initiative. This is intended to achieve an 80% reduction in operational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the Province’s entire building portfolio. Since the current energy use required to operate and occupy large buildings results in significant annual GHG emissions, the Province of British Columbia is looking towards net zero energy buildings.

The new Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) office space was renovated as a pilot project to study and evaluate available technologies and strategies to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions for achieving Provincial energy and GHG reduction targets.

The project combines elements of efficient mechanical and electrical systems, optimized building design, and integrated renewable energy systems. The building’s conversion from a disused retail facility demonstrates the ability to achieve high levels of environmental performance from existing structures, a critical step towards the greening of British Columbia’s building stock. The project was a successful first demonstration of Net Zero building construction completed by the Province of British Columbia and serves as an important benchmark for future Net Zero Energy facilities. TWD provided all designs of efficient mechanical and electrical systems with optimized building envelope design, and integrated renewable energy systems. Mechanical systems used heat pump and recovery technology, combined with optimized digital control systems.

Primary heating and cooling provided by ground-source (geothermal) heat-pump system, and enthalpy wheel heat recovery ventilation. Electrical design includes a best-practice lighting design entirely based on LED lamps with personal lighting and daylight controls. A rooftop solar photovoltaic system of 100 kW peak capacity supplies as much energy as the building requires each year. Mismatches between energy supply and demand are offset through BC Hydro’s net metering program. The building also includes EV charging stations.