INNOVATION November-December 2016

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• A maximum space heating demand of 15 kWh/m²a, or maximum heating load of 10 W/m²; • A pressurisation test result @ 50 Pa of no more than 0.6 air changes per hour (both over-pressure and under-pressure); • A maximum total primary energy demand of 120 kWh/m²a.). “As professional engineers, we have personal responsibility to do our part in the effort to contain climate change,” says Equilibrium Consulting Inc.’s Robert Malczy, P.Eng., Struct.Eng., the project’s structural engineer. “This project provided the opportunity to do that. We need to take time from our busy schedules to reflect on the real environmental impact of our designs and look for ideas like passive houses that have a major impact on the amount of energy our buildings consume.” The house is also designed to be universally accessible, accommodating the functional needs of children, adults and seniors with or without activity limitations or disabilities. Construction The Fort St. John Passive House provides 176.05 m 2 (1,897 ft 2 ) of internal living space, with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, and 1 flex room. Construction began in January 2013. The prefabricated thermal envelope panels were built in Williams Lake, BC, arrived onsite in March, and were erected in 10 days. The windows were installed, and the thermal envelope was taped and sealed that spring. Construction progress then suffered delays, mostly due to staff turnover and attrition. Drywalling was completed the following spring. The home’s energy-efficient features include an ultra- insulated building envelope, a heat-recovery ventilator with 90 percent efficiency, air tightness, net-zero energy readiness, air conditioning, uniform temperature throughout, metal roofing, high-efficiency windows, energy-monitoring equipment, and a rooftop solar electric array with the roof ’s remaining southern portion pre-wired for future solar expansion. The mechanical system consists of a direct-ducted ventilation system with heat-recovery ventilator and a combination of baseboards for backup heat and air conditioning for cooling. A hybrid electric heat pump provides domestic hot water. This home is 100 percent electric, using hydro-electric power. An onsite monitoring system provides data on energy production and use, broken down by outlet or appliance. Data The Fort St. John Passive House is North America’s northern- most passive house. This past year, the 2.82-kWp solar photovoltaic system on the roof produced about 3,100 kWh, 34 percent of the homes required energy for its two residents. Adjusting the angle of the panels would improve performance by helping prevent snow buildup on the panels in winter, as would providing easier access to facilitate manual clearing of snow from the panels. Despite this, in December 2016, when the average temperature was –11.7 o C, the house consumed just 1,156 kW for heat. Consumption for the year totalled 3,729 kW, well below

Building costs for BC's northern-most passive house compare favourably with those of other houses in the Fort St. John area.

When designing and constructing its passive house, the city applied the current, most stringent energy-efficiency standard for buildings, the Passive House Standard. For a building to be certified as a passive house, it must meet the following main criteria:

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