Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/423872
She also points to the LBC, which is regarded as a stringent rating system. Its building certification program consists of seven performance categories called Petals – place, water, energy, health and happiness, materials, equity and beauty. The Living Building energy Petal is awarded on a net-zero basis. But, as Mike Szabo, also a principal at Diamond Schmitt, points out, "For most commercial office projects, this [rating system] is not economically viable with most clients." Still, as Szabo highlights, the head office for the LBC is located in the Bullitt Center, a net-zero energy, five-floor office block in Seattle, which includes speculative leasing space. The innovative building incorporates a range of sustainability technologies and measures, all of which are already being used elsewhere around the world, but brought under one roof at the Bullitt. Okanagan College's new trades facility in Kelowna is a net-zero project that is targeting LBC Petal recognition, but not full certification. It will use solar PV as an energy source as well as capture waste heat from a wastewater treatment plant. "The Okanagan climate helps. It's hot in the day and cool at night, making net zero quite achievable," Siber says. The design ensures the avoidance of direct sunlight streaming into the building, which has no air conditioning, but instead relies on natural ventilation. The operable windows work with sensors in the building automation system. Although it is early days for LBC-rated projects, principals and others at Diamond Schmitt believe that it will catch on and be used widely. Ten years ago, when some design professionals forecast that LEED certification would one day be a requirement for many projects, others reacted with disbelief. "Now, LEED has gone from the marginal to the mainstream. LBC is where LEED was 10 to 15 years ago," says Sarah Low, an associate at Diamond Schmitt. CEI Architecture worked on another project at the aforementioned Okanagan College – the Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies. The facility is targeting the stringent standards of the LBC and LEED Platinum. "The facility is highly adapted to the desert-like conditions of Penticton, B.C. and designed to achieve net-zero energy and water consumption, through highly efficient design features that reduce demand, along with energy generation methods," says CEI's Bevanda. "It sources energy through geothermal and solar sources, with vacuum tube solar panels, one of the largest photovoltaic arrays in Western Canada, Solatubes for daylighting, sun-tracking light pipes, a green roof, ultra-efficient building envelope, and more." In fact, CEI firmly believes that architects have a profound ability to create a positive impact through its designs, processes and practices. "Regardless of whether or not a client pursues LEED certification, we incorporate passive energy conserving and capturing design features wherever possible, to reduce energy, electricity and water demands. "Our approach sets out to reduce site impact, maximize water efficiency, optimize energy and atmosphere factors, reduce construction waste, and enhance indoor air quality," says Bevanda. Other green projects that CEI have worked on include the Surrey Memorial Hospital Critical Care Tower (with Parkin Architects) in Surrey, B.C. – whose building's energy consumption will be reduced by 47 per cent when compared to a standard design through enhanced building commissioning practices – and Glenmore Landfill Administration Building, Kelowna, B.C., which is an outstanding case study in site-specific sustainable design, with wood as a prominent structural building material. "The facility includes change rooms on the lower level, and office space and a training suite on the upper floor. A visitors' area offers information on the landfill, educating school groups and the general public on the work undertaken at the site, including the impact of smart environmental practices such as recycling," says Bevanda. "The design aimed to reduce the energy use of the building by more than 40 per cent over current standard building practices, and was constructed to minimize impact on the local ecology." CEI has worked with LEED, the LBC, Green Globes and other systems, but its approach is focused more on practical, proven and cost-effective sustainable solutions, and less on the certification system. There is no doubt that today energy performance and sustainability are occupying an increasingly central role in building design practices for both engineers and architects. With that in mind, the relatively new field of energy modelling seems likely to become a greater priority. Experts have said that some elements like thermal mass and natural ventilation are difficult to model but have a large impact on an actual building's energy performance. Better energy modelling would seem poised to make a difference. Legislation could also hugely support the push to energy efficiency and sustainability, says Randy Smith, a principal at Williams Engineering Canada Inc. "If the government of Canada said that all non-commercial vehicles must be electric, it would happen. We have the technologies, everything except perhaps batteries, and we're close there," he says. For good energy performance and sustainability, Smith says, some products december 2014 /17 Green building design R E B A T E Efficient commercial boilers UP TO