Simplifying the building design improves energy efficiency, makes airtightness easier, and saves time and cost. 

A 200 amp electrical panel sufficed for all the case study homes.

All homes, with the exception of some garden suites, used heat pumps as a highly efficient and cost-saving way to provide heating.

The early planning of energy systems, equipment locations, duct and pipe routing, and an airtightness strategy made these projects achieve high performance.

The embodied emissions invested in upgrading the home through a deep energy retrofit or a full reconstruction can be paid back in 5 years or less by the energy savings of a new high-efficiency home.

Concrete is the highest emitter and when possible, avoiding or reducing its use provides very high embodied emissions savings (in this case ~8 tonnes of CO2e)

40-80% reduction in embodied emissions can be easily achieved with simple material substitutions.

20 years of continued use for this home = the embodied emissions of 4 new net-zero homes.

BC Energy Step Code & Zero Carbon: Step 5 & Zero Carbon Performance

GHG: 108.4 kgCO2e/year

GHGi: 1.24 kgCO2e/m2/year

Embodied Carbon: 13,866 kgCO2e

Embodied Carbon Intensity: 118 kgCO2e/m2

Monthly energy bills: $86/month