The presentation on these guidelines would cover minimum qualifications, professional practice, roles and responsibilities, and quality assurance for projects that involve whole building energy modelling in new and existing buildings.
Engineers and Geoscientists BC is represented in the BC Energy Step Code Council and local governments have started to reference Step Code requirements within their jurisdictions. The second presentation will cover the BC Energy Step Code updates, state of play in the adoption of the Step Code, applicable resources, training available, and local government programs and procedures related to the implementation of the Step Code.
City of Vancouver has made Energy Efficiency Updates to the Vancouver Building Bylaw and Rezoning Policy. This includes aligning the energy requirements for high-rise residential and commercial buildings with Step 2 of the Step Code, effective June 3, 2019, and with the Green Buildings Policy for Rezonings and Step 3, effective June 1, 2021. In addition to bylaw and policy-related updates, this presentation will provide an overview of the version 2.0 of City of Vancouver’s Energy Modelling Guidelines has been released where a number of updates including infiltration requirements have been made.
In addition to these presentations, this session will draw from case studies to showcase innovative and practical solutions to achieve low-energy buildings, with a limited number of Passive House and BC Energy Step Code compliant buildings that are complete or in construction. The focus of the presentation will be on energy modelling of Part 3 buildings under the new BC Energy Step Code, and how building design is involved in meeting the new requirements. The presentation will cover the basic Step Code requirements, focusing on Part 3 buildings in Climate Zone 4.
Energy modellers, building enclosure engineers, architects, mechanical/electrical building professionals, code consultants, and building officials
The audience will have these key takeaways by attending this session:
- New building code, bylaw, and energy efficiency related policy provisions,
- Building performance objectives,
- Balancing energy efficiency and environmental objectives,
- Emerging air-leakage testing requirements,
- Professional practice requirements,
- Project planning, management, and best practices, and
- Business and strategic planning.
City of Vancouver
Patrick Enright is the Green Building Engineer with the City of Vancouver’s Sustainability Group, where he works on green building policy for new large (Part 3) buildings. Current priorities include the implementation of the Zero Emissions Building Plan, with the first step being the recent update of the Green Building Policy for Rezonings. Patrick is a professional engineer with years of experience in the building industry, including a number of years in Vancouver with a well-known mechanical engineering firm in design and energy modelling. His time there included projects such as the Sinclair Centre Redevelopment, the Southeast False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility reviews, and the UBC Centre for Sports Medicine.
EnerSys Analytics Inc.
Curt Hepting, P.Eng., has experience providing engineering direction and support on a variety of projects involving building science. Projects include energy analyses and simulations, spreadsheet, and database applications development, load research, and codes evaluation, and the development of custom computer software tools. Mr. Hepting has a Bachelor of Science degree in architectural engineering from the University of Colorado where he specialized in building energy efficiency. He has written dozens of professional reports and manuals for clients and has authored several professional papers on the topic of building energy analysis and methods. Mr. Hepting is a registered professional engineer in British Columbia and in the State of Colorado and is a LEED Accredited Professional. He was an author of the Joint professional Practice Guidelines – Whole Building Energy Modelling Services.
Focal Engineering
Susan MacDougall is a leader in the field of energy modelling for building performance in British Columbia. She is an energy modeller, mechanical engineer, and project manager with over 13 years of experience in the building industry spanning a variety of project types, technologies, and energy codes and standards.
Susan has been involved in Step Code consultations since she 2015 when she volunteered on the Energy Efficiency Working Group representing the provincial energy modelling association, IBPSA BC, of which she has been Chair for 4 years. She currently sits on the Technical Subcommittee that advises the Step Code Council. Susan was a reviewer for the Professional Practice Guidelines produced by AIBC and Engineers and Geoscientists BC and is an elected Councillor for the engineering association. She is part of the Passive House Canada team as an instructor.
Engineers and Geoscientists BC
In his role as a Practice Advisor at Engineers and Geoscientists BC, Harshan Radhakrishnan, P.Eng., supports government relations programs as they relate to areas of climate action, adaptation, management of potable water, sustainability, and energy efficiency. This includes providing professional practice and ethics guidance to the association, the public and members/licensees on matters related to the professional and ethical practice of engineering and geoscience in BC, and through Engineers Canada, nationally. Mr. Radhakrishnan also provides staff support to Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s climate change advisory group, sustainability committee, and other designated committees, including the BC Energy Step Code Council and has project managed the development of Joint professional Practice Guidelines – Whole Building Energy Modelling Services.