Dedicated to high-performance building
PASSIVE HOUSE
Member Canada Green Building Council
SABMag is a proud member and official media partner of the Canada Green Building Council.
VISIT www.sabmagazine.com PUBLISHER Don Griffith 800-520-6281, ext. 1, dgriffith@sabmagazine.com EDITOR Jim Taggart, FRAIC 604-874-0195, architext@telus.net SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Patricia Abbas 416-438-7609, pabbas@sabmagazine.com GRAPHIC DESIGN Carine De Pauw carinedp6@gmail.com SUBSCRIPTIONS/CHANGE OF ADDRESS Lyse Cadieux, lcadieux@sabmagazine.com
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Putting together this issue devoted to Passive House projects has been both informative and thought-provoking. To date, most of the buzz around Passive House has focused on its promise of 80-90% reductions in operating energy and related carbon emissions compared to basic code-compliant structures; and to the enhanced indoor environmental quality that results from temperature stabilization, the constant supply of fresh, filtered air and the reduction in noise that comes from the tightly sealed building envelope. What becomes apparent from the research, however, is that the great majority of Passive House projects built thus far in Canada have been owner-operated rental or supportive housing facilities. For what appear to be single-digit premiums in construction cost, these buildings are future-proofing residents and owners alike against the ongoing escalation of energy prices. As Chris Beaton, Executive Director of the Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre observes in his Viewpoint piece, for some low-income residents, high winter heating bills can mean the difference between making ends meet or not. Equally importantly, the rigorous standards of design and construction required for the successful delivery of high-performance buildings, such as those built to the PH standard, demand an INTEGRATED design and delivery process in which the client, consultants and contractors are all involved. As industry capacity and momentum build around Passive House, we will surely witness a paradigm shift by which the successful delivery and life cycle performance of these buildings becomes not only a collaborative endeavour, but also a collective responsibility. photo: Roy Grogan
The prosaic virtues of life cycle affordability, reliability and durability, all critical to long-term sustainability and resilience, have at times been outdazzled by the seductive allure of green ‘bling.’ There is no better time than now to give up the self-indulgent search for novelty and replace it with a universal commitment to quality, inclusivity and affordability. Jim Taggart, FRAIC Editor
Environmental savings for this issue:
77 Trees
275,795 litres water
4,022 kg waste
9,805 kg CO2 SABMag - FALL 2018
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