How we're making buildings cleaner

Courtesy of The Government of BC Website

How we’re making buildings cleaner

B.C. is improving regulations and providing incentives to ensure new and existing buildings are energy efficient and use cleaner energy.

New construction

By 2032, all new buildings in B.C. will be designed to be net-zero energy-ready, which will reduce building energy demand by up to 80%, with an interim step of a 20% reduction by 2022 in the BC Building Code.
The BC Energy Step Code provides a path for builders and local governments to prepare for and reach the 2032 standard earlier.
The Province will support local governments to set carbon pollution performance standards for new buildings via a provincial opt-in regulation.
The CleanBC Building Innovation Fund supports research, demonstration and development of low carbon building materials, construction methods and building components to make them more affordable and accessible to British Columbians.
BC Housing’s Mobilizing Building Adaptation and Resilience (MBAR) Project helps building owners and professionals plan, design and construct buildings are safe, comfortable and resilient to heavier rainfall, hotter summers and other climate change impacts.
The Pacific Climate Impact Consortium provides future-shifted weather files that can be used to plan and design new buildings to help reduce the impacts and risks of climate change.

Building improvements

The Clean BC Better Homes and Better Buildings programs provide rebates and support for homeowners and businesses to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in new and existing buildings.
The CleanBC Better Homes Low-Interest Financing Program provides loans with interest rates as low as 0% for switching from fossil fuel heating systems to heat pumps.
B.C. regularly update its Energy Efficiency Standards Regulation to improve products that use or control energy. A 2021 update increased standards for computer monitors, gas boilers and residential windows.
As part of the StrongerBC economic recovery plan, B.C. will develop a Property Assessment Clean Energy (PACE) tool to help people and businesses conserve energy and reduce power bills.
B.C. is developing an Existing Buildings Renewal Strategy. The strategy will consider regulatory options to ensure existing buildings are more energy efficient, lower carbon and resilient to events like earthquakes, wildfires, heat waves, and floods.

New energy efficiency standards for building upgrades, will be adopted into the BC Building code by 2024, in collaboration with Codes Canada.

Clean government

For the past 10 years the Carbon Neutral Government program has ensured B.C.’s public sector organizations are carbon neutral through a combination of energy efficiency, increased use of renewable energy and carbon offsets.
The CleanBC Government Buildings Program is retrofitting government facilities to make them more energy efficient and cut greenhouse gas emissions. B.C. aims to have all new government facilities using 100% clean energy starting in 2022.