Better Builder Magazine, Issue 48 / Winter 2023

PUBLICATION
NUMBER
42408014 ISSUE 48 | WINTER 2023
TRCA’s Archetype Houses
Bridging Research and Housing
When Policies Collide
Brush Up with BuildABILITY
Partners in High Performance
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BETTERBUILDER.CA | ISSUE 48 | WINTER 2023
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
2
Back to the Futureproofing
by John Godden
THE BADA TEST
3
Code Harmonization,
Green Building Standards
and Fairness
Where does research end and
attainable housing begin?
by Lou Bada
INDUSTRY EXPERT
5
Great Cooke!
A tribute to a great contributor
by Marc Huminilowycz
INDUSTRY NEWS
9
by Dave Henderson
SITE SPECIFIC
13
Ready, Willing and Able
to Build Better
BuildABILITY helps builders
brush up
by Alex Newman
SITE SPECIFIC
22
Partners in High Performance
BUILDER NEWS
26
Advances in XPS
Insulation – Part II
by Tyler Simpson
INDUSTRY NEWS
28
Future-Ready
FROM THE GROUND UP
31
Getting to 500 Net Zero
by Doug Tarry
5
1
31
ISSUE 48 | WINTER 2023
Images internally supplied unless otherwise credited.
FEATURE STORY
16
Back to the Future
Nearly two decades later, the TRCA’s Archetype Houses have
mostly stood the test of time when it comes to futureproofing.
by Rob Blackstien
22
Cover: JMortonPhoto.com and
OtoGodfrey.com; Wikimedia
Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed
16
28

Back to the
Futureproofing
T
he new year is a time of reflection. In our seventh futureproofing issue, we look
back into the past and ponder the future. And we’re taking our inspiration from
– you guessed it – the popular movie Back to the Future.
In this 1985 sci-fi film, Marty McFly is accidentally transported back 30 years to
1955. Through trial and error, he recognizes the differences between past and present
and uses them to his advantage (I’m thinking of the Chuck Berry scene). To get back
to 1985, the “flux capacitor” requires 1.21 “jigowatts” of electricity and allows the
DeLorean time machine to travel when the car reaches 88 miles per hour. But, in 1955,
the only way Marty can harness enough power is to capture a lightning storm with the
clock tower as a grounding rod.
Marty’s dilemma is not unlike today, where we don’t have enough power or
energy to project ourselves into the future. Paul DeBerardis discussed this in the
autumn 2023 issue (see “The Myths of Powering Our Net Zero Future,” page 9). But if
we identify our mistakes, we can correct them and improve our approach to current
challenges. In this issue’s feature, we revisit the Archetype Houses at the Kortright
Centre for Conservation. A review of the project shows us, over the last 15 years,
which technologies we can harness to help us travel into the future. Cost-benefit
analyses, the law of diminishing marginal returns, and embodied carbon were all
considerations when choosing technologies.
Marty also gets help from his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown, the brilliant inventor who
perfects time travel. This issue celebrates three visionaries who have impacted the
future:
• Gord Cooke, who is stepping down from his 10-year role as a contributor to spend
time with his grandchildren (page 5). Thanks, Gord.
• Michael Lio, who provides valuable training and education on building science
and the workings of the Building Code (page 13).
• Doug Tarry, who has just completed his 500th Net Zero home (page 31). Congrats,
Doug.
In Gord’s place, we welcome a new contributor: Dave Henderson. Dave is the
Senior Manager, Technical Services at the Residential Construction Council of
Ontario (RESCON), and he comes out swinging against municipalities’ so-called
green building policies on page 9.
Finally, on page 3, Lou Bada completes the science motif with another famous
reference: Dr. Frankenstein. In our pursuit of affordable low-carbon housing, Lou
cautions us to not create any monsters (we’re looking at you, additional embodied
carbon).
We often think of sci-fi as pure entertainment – but its lessons are real. This marks
my 40th year in business and 39 years since the construction of my first R-2000 home.
When builders tell me they have been building houses the same trusted way for 40
years, my favourite challenge to them has always been this: maybe it’s time to try
something new.
Let’s learn our lessons from the past and get back to the futureproofing. BB
publisher’snote / JOHN GODDEN
2
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problematic. Finally, today we have
interested parties clamouring for “net
zero–ready,” carbon counting and “zero
carbon” housing sooner rather than
later. Well, there’s one way to get to zero
carbon – by not building anything,
because no one can afford it.
W
hen we think about green
building standards, do we
have a purpose looking
for a process or do we have a process
looking for a purpose? Do we have
evidence-based policy or policy-based
evidence?
“Net zero carbon” building doesn’t
actually exist and is a shell game of
carbon offsets. When is a reasonable
timeline to reach a necessary and
realistic low-carbon building
industry? In an era of historic housing
shortages and an affordability crisis
with skyrocketing costs for wages
and materials, labour shortages,
eye-watering red tape, egregious
taxes, out-of-control inflation and
financing costs, where does additional
bureaucratic, experimental and
theoretical research fit in? How do
we achieve housing that is attainable
for most people? Is this the time to
experiment with housing?
After many years of cuts, scrapes
and concussions in the homebuilding
industry, I can still be floored and
quite frankly disheartened by
what I see and hear. It’s like Mary
Shelley’s Frankenstein: a story
where we try to create life and
end up with an uncontrollable
monster. The path to hell is paved
with good intentions, it seems.
Moreso, it’s disturbing that many
people (researchers, bureaucrats,
policy makers, activists and others)
who have never built a new home
development project (outside of a few
experimental discovery homes) can
be so patronizing and condescending
or just plain naïve when it comes to
sustainable building practices for our
industry. But I digress.
Our experience with sustainability
programs, labels and research has
been long and varied. It has also
greatly deteriorated over time. We had
voluntary EnerGuide labelling and
incentivized Energy Star labelling
in Vaughan, where the program was
reasonable and incentives meaningful.
Then, we had mandatory Energy
Star labelling in Caledon, which
were without incentives yet still had
some rational requirements. Then, in
Oakville, we fought to use the HERS
scale to achieve equivalency to Energy
Star. Recently, we had Energy Star
version 17.1, which is expensive and
3
thebadatest / LOU BADA
Code Harmonization,
Green Building Standards and Fairness
Where does research end and attainable housing begin?
In an era of historic
housing shortages
and an affordability
crisis … where does
additional bureaucratic,
experimental
and theoretical
research fit in?
Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein and Dwight Frye as his assistant Fritz prepare to bring their
monster to life in a scene from the 1931 movie version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

4
carbon homes, and what is a reasonable
timeline?
RESCON asked for a legal opinion
from one of the foremost experts in
municipal and planning law, Leo
Longo. He was asked to review the
National Building Code’s, NRCan’s
and some municipalities’ reliance on
single-sourced programs (Energy Star,
Net Zero Ready, etc.) and associated
modelling tools (that is, EnerGuide/
HOT2000) as opposed to recognized
and independent non-proprietary
standards (for example, ASHRAE 90.2).
Longo’s expert legal opinion is that
single-sourced proprietary programs
run afoul of the Competition Act, are
unfair and hurt the consumer.
A site study of a recently built,
so-called Net Zero Ready home in
Milton showed that, when measured
against the HOT2000 modelling, the
home consumed 37% more energy than
predicted. Proponents will say that the
builder and consultants did something
wrong. Hogwash. Why let the facts get
in the way of a good story?
The answer as to how we build
sustainably is that we use non-
proprietary standards and not half-
baked programs and aspirational
research. Let the established process
work for revisiting the Building
Code in cycles for rational, constant
improvement based on evidence. Keep
municipal planning departments
in their lane, because they inflict
enough damage. That’s fair.
Ask yourself: why are new homes
taxed at 31% while there are govern
ment grants for heat pumps for
exist
ing homeowners? And why are
there carbon tax reductions for homes
heating oil only in Eastern Canada?
The answer: Government programs
and policy, the same reason we are in
this mess in the first place.
As for when we should target
mandating low-carbon buildings, let’s
not forget the lessons of Frankenstein.
There needs to be a moral underpin
ning to scientific research. Housing is
a necessity and unattainable housing
has serious social consequences. It
is social infrastructure. The net zero
target of the Canadian government is
2050. We can get there earlier, but not
by creating a monster. BB
Lou Bada is vice-
president of low-rise
construction at Starlane
Home Corporation
and on the board of
directors for the Residential Construction
Council of Ontario (RESCON).
The latest iteration of research from
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) is
the Cost Benefit Analysis Tool (CBAT).
It is problematic from what I’ve seen,
to say the least. Some municipal
planning departments believe that, by
using this shiny new object, they have
done a cost-benefit analysis. Good
intentions! Frankenstein’s monster.
The good people at NRCan want to
help us change how we build our
homes to reach a zero carbon target
with CBAT and programs. I guess it’s
a way to make a living. Somehow, for
our industry, Canada’s 2050 net zero
target is not good enough. Maybe
we can get there quicker, but not
tomorrow.
On the subject of NRCan research,
over a decade ago, our company
participated in the LEEP/TAP
initiative for a discovery home in
Stouffville, Ontario. At that time, we
went through a cost-benefit analysis
with materials and technologies that
were available, off-the-shelf, reliable
and repeatable. We ended up with
a HERS 46 rated home that used a
hydronic combination heating system
and the best mechanical systems
available at the time. We received
financial help from suppliers and
sponsors, and consulting costs were
covered by NRCan. The home still did
cost more, but it was understood to be
something that could be developed
in the future as labour and suppliers
grew into it. Today, we could build that
home with a heat pump and make a
rational case for a next step in building
sustainable homes. What happened to
that research?
So, how do we get to building low-
The answer as to how
we build sustainably
is that we use non-
proprietary standards
and not half-baked
programs and
aspirational research.

BETTERBUILDER.CA | ISSUE 48 | WINTER 2023 5
Great Cooke!
industryexpert / MARC HUMINILOW YCZ
Gord Cooke of Building
Knowledge Canada, winner
of the Clean 50 Lifetime
Achievement Award.
W
hen he started his home
energy efficiency journey
back in 1983, working with
Canadian ventilation company vänEE
promoting its industry-first heat
recovery ventilator (HRV), professional
engineer Gord Cooke was given some
valuable advice from the company’s
founder: “Our job is to help build better
houses.”
That credo has guided Cooke ever
since. Highly regarded in the home
building industry as a trainer, author
and industry consultant, he has spent
the past 25 years helping builders
and HVAC contractors implement
innovative building science technol
ogies to build better homes.
Cooke is president of Building
Knowledge Canada, the country’s
leading building science advisor for
professional builders and renovators.
Building Knowledge Canada offers
a suite of services including Energy
Star and Net Zero Home evaluation
and compliance, energy and building
code compliance modelling, carbon
reduction strategies and Builder 360º.
He’s also a partner at Construction
Instruction, a company that provides
builders with tools to apply building
science principles, while integrating
cost-effective and practical solutions to
building better homes.
In 2022, he was awarded the
prestigious Clean 50 Lifetime Achieve
ment Award, which recognizes leaders
from across Canada who have done the
most to advance climate action and
develop climate solutions.
A tribute to a
great contributor

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Cooke has educated and mentored
hundreds of builders, HVAC designers
and energy raters across Canada and
the U.S. with recipes for improving
home energy efficiency, airtightness
and indoor air quality. “Forty years
ago, HRVs and other energy efficiency
technologies were fledgling industries,
and most builders simply didn’t know
how to apply them,” says Cooke, who, in
his early days, conducted blower door
tests on R-2000 homes being built.
In addition to regularly consulting
with builders on their projects (see
“Partners in High Performance” in this
issue), Cooke and Building Knowledge
Canada offer training sessions for
building professionals that focus on
what he describes as “changes that
need to be made.” As Cooke explains,
“we’re helping builders understand
why it’s important to test their homes
for energy efficiency. The biggest
challenge for builders these days is
the ever-increasing expectations of
homeowners, who demand more of
their homes. You just can’t sell a $1
million house like 30 years ago.”
According to Cooke, training the
building industry is not easy because
there could be 10 to 12 independent
contractors involved in a project.
He believes that the most effective
approach is hands-on, interactive
training, citing an ideal example of
Construction Instruction’s Colorado
Experience Center, where builders
are given solutions to improve build
quality, make fewer mistakes and stand
out from the competition, including
testing 12 different wall sections to
discover how they work.
“Our mission has been to support
builders by providing them with the
advanced building science education,
services and tools they need so that
they can do what they do best – deliver
homes that Canadians love to live
in,” says Cooke. “With the science
and the products, we’re really close
to completing our mission – only 1.5
steps away from achieving zero energy,
which we need to do. I tell builders that,
if they don’t take these steps now, they
will need to renovate within the next
20 years to meet the building efficiency
targets of Canada’s 2030 Emissions
Reduction Plan.”
“We’re encouraging our builders
now to build one step further, beyond
code, and we’re teaching them how
to do it,” he adds. “A typical backlash
is the cost, to which we reply that
builders often spend more money than
they have to. We try to make energy
efficiency solutions simple, offering
three basic things they can do to make
it easy on themselves, their product
manufacturers and their homeowners.”
Cooke is very proud of Ontario’s
building industry and believes that
home builders have more than carried
their weight when it comes to energy
efficiency. “As I travel, I meet amaz-
ing builders who are doing a great job
building better in a complicated indus-
try,” he says. “In Canada, Ontario and
B.C. lead the way. A house built to code
here in 2020 uses half the energy of a
home built 20 years ago. Some places
in the U.S. are ahead of us, requiring all
“I tell builders that, if
they don’t take these
steps now, they will
need to renovate
within the next 20
years to meet the
building efficiency
targets of Canada’s
2030 Emissions
Reduction Plan.”

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new homes to be tested for airtight-
ness, but as a country, we have always
been ahead of the curve.” As to the
future of the homebuilding industry,
Cooke believes that Canada is only
a short 10 years away from all new
homes being net zero.
Cooke is no stranger to Better
Builder Magazine. Over the past 10
years, he has written no fewer than 42
articles as an industry expert, offering
builders valuable advice gleaned from
40 years of knowledge and experience.
Now, he has decided to put down his
pen and dedicate more time to other
endeavours – and his grandchildren.
Does this mean that Cooke is
retiring?
“Not a chance. There’s too much
still to do,” he says. “I have focused
my entire career on energy efficiency,
helping builders, training and
writing articles in Better Builder as
incremental steps to building better
homes. This experience has set me up
for the next 10 years. The real goal now
is reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
I see 2030 as a highly important date.
As an industry, we need to do what
ever we can to support government
initiatives to lower carbon by helping
builders contribute to a greener future
for generations to come.”
Gord will be greatly missed as a key
source of information and guidance
for Better Builder readers. We at Better
Builder are indebted to his tireless
efforts over nights and weekends to
generously provide his knowledge and
guidance to all. Congratulations on
your many accomplishments, Gord –
Canada’s finest Cooke! We wish you
continued success in the next chapter
of your energy efficiency journey. BB
Marc Huminilowycz is a
senior writer. He lives and
works in a low-energy
home built in 2000. As
such, he brings first-hand
experience to his writing on technology
and residential housing and has published
numerous articles on the subject.
7

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H
ow annoyed do you get when
someone cuts the line in front
of you? As polite Canadians,
we tend to just let it happen, but it still
annoys us to no end.
This is what has been happening
with municipal green “standards”
for a very long time. These so-called
standards are overblown municipal
bylaws that stand on very shaky
legislative ground – so let’s agree to
drop the word “standards” in favour
of something with less of a regulatory
definition. Perhaps municipal green
“programs” is more appropriate.
The Ontario Building Code is the
regulatory building standard to which
all buildings must be constructed.
Municipal green programs get
enacted using bylaws and are foisted
upon developers using questionable
elements of the Planning Act. Even
though they are an attempt by
municipal councils to achieve a
positive development outcome, all
these programs really do is overstep
the Building Code.
The first municipality to cross this
line was East Gwillimbury back in the
early 2000s, when the local planning
department withheld subdivision
agreements unless developers agreed
that homes would be built to Energy
Star for New Homes performance
levels. Now, 20 years later, multiple
municipalities have jumped on the
bandwagon, usually to satisfy various
council declarations (the latest popu
lar one being climate emergency).
But every time a municipality does
a side run around the Building Code,
it causes inconsistency in building
requirements and ultimately drives
up the cost of construction. Every
time. Has it ended up saving new
homebuyers money in the end? That’s a
very hard question to answer.
The challenge is that all municipal
green building programs are
performance-based and, because
they are developed by planners and
not technical building subject matter
experts, they reference performance
programs that have evolved out of
software modelling. We have been
using various software modelling tools
for decades and one would assume
we’ve got it all figured out. Have we?
Modelling tools utilize typical
assumptions to generate an archetype
home to which the planned home
design is compared. This establishes
the expected energy consumption
model for the home. But we build
homes for people, not models. How
someone actually uses the home
once they take possession is usually
completely different than what was
predicted. Very little data has been
accumulated on actual energy and
water usage in high-performance
housing, and what little data has
been collected is discouraging,
demonstrating homeowners tend to
use far more than the model predicted.
So what? Some improvement is
better than no improvement, right? If
buildings produce 12% of our national
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, then
we need to do something. Agreed.
But should it be at the cost of creating
shelter? New housing is a small
fraction of this.
For years, we’ve been pushing the
energy efficiency – and more recently,
the climate change policy – bucket
further along with little regard to the
cost increase to new buildings and
measurement of actual benefits. Also,
9
industrynews / DAVE HENDERSON
Even though [municipal
green programs]
are an attempt by
municipal councils
to achieve a positive
development outcome,
all these programs
really do is overstep
the Building Code.
SESAME
/
ISTOCKPHOTO

10
very little effort has been focused
on existing buildings and their
contribution to the overall national
GHG emissions pie. So, as the cost for
new building construction increases,
the resale market has ratcheted up
in response to the point that we are
now deeply immersed in a housing
affordability catastrophe. Are high-
performance building standards to
blame? Not entirely, no. But during
times of economic prosperity, political
and social policy take a front seat in
building standards development,
whereas affordability tends to get
overshadowed.
For all the challenges and possible
faults in the system, Building Code
development has at least held out a cost/
benefit lens on proposed regulatory
changes. The inherent problem with
Code changes is that the result is usual
ly
akin to “death by a thousand cuts” in
terms of construction cost increases.
Every Code and standard change, no
matter how big or small, results in
more costs being added to the system.
Some are more tangible (like bricks and
mortar) while others (like training and
education) are less obvious.
Municipal green programs bypass
the critical lens of Building Code
regulatory development in favour of
solving the climate emergency. That
begs the question: when does climate
policy trump affordability, especially
when Ontario has one of the highest
performance levels as a baseline in
North America?
The answer lies in every municipal
ity where gold-plated, way-over-Code
requirements have been implemented.
The granddaddy of all of these require
ments is the Toronto Green Standard.
Between super-inflated land costs,
nosebleed-worthy development charges,
fees and taxes, as well as construction
requirements that make the rest of the
country look like it is building mud huts,
Toronto has quickly become one of
the most expensive cities in the world.
Affordability has been an afterthought,
and only now that housing costs and
rents have gone through the strato
sphere are we starting to take notice.
This isn’t new. When policies collide
or contradict one another, there will
be consequences. And you’d think
we’ve learned from our mistakes, but
apparently not! Mississauga, Caledon

and Durham Region have all recently
held public consultations on the
implementation of municipal green
silliness, all seemingly trying to outdo
one another. Mississauga is following
the footsteps of the Toronto Green
Standard playbook to compete for
most unaffordable city in which to
build and live. Caledon is doing its
very best to ensure no development
will ever happen within its borders
by implementing restrictions so
intimidating that landowners would
be better off growing potatoes.
And Durham Region is proposing
a voluntary program shooting for
performance levels that would make
a Passive House builder think twice.
Yet no one – not one single person in
any of these consultations – has uttered
the word “affordable” in any of the
deliberations.
But climate change is an emergency,
and Canadians need to do something.
Agreed. We do. While well intentioned,
municipal councillors fail to recognize
that climate change is a national – not
municipal – issue. We have a national
climate strategy, and the National
Building Code feeds into that strategy.
Like the process or not, there is a
process in place. This process is being
supported by subject matter experts
from across Canada and recognizes
that slow and steady wins the race. For
Canadians who feel the need to move
faster or do more, there are innovative
builders across the country ready,
willing and able to provide.
Building codes in Canada have
traditionally been the base-level
requirements to ensure policy
objectives and public safety are met.
Some disagree with this stance and
want to see consumer choice removed
in favour of gold-plated standards, just
like municipal green programs. If we
are unable to resolve this conflict, the
dream of homeownership in Canada
may remain just that: a dream. BB
Dave Henderson is
the Senior Manager,
Technical Services
at the Residential
Construction Council
of Ontario (RESCON).
11

T
oday, homes can be safer,
healthier, more comfortable,
more energy efficient and more
affordable than ever before. And
that’s what buildABILITY aims to do
in its work with developers, builders,
policymakers, architects, planners
and manufacturers.
In 2008, president Michael Lio
started the firm and rolled out an
education program with a wide variety
of courses that explain construction
challenges and the strategies to
support solutions.
Lio, who is a professional engineer
at Lio and Associates Engineering,
has been involved in sustainable
housing and consumer issues since
the early 1980s. After studying
engineering in university, Lio worked
with consumer-oriented organizations
such as the Consumer Association
of Canada and the Consumer
Council of Canada (CCC). He also
represented the consumer interest on
various boards including at Tarion
Warranty Corporation and the Home
Construction Regulatory Authority
(HCRA). As the executive director of the
CCC, he researched customer service
best practices for builders: “We’d look
at the entire marketplace, and closely
investigated multiple consumer issues
like insurance, food, telecom.”
Lio sees the same kind of multi-
issue overlap in the building industry
and has approached his role at build
ABILITY in a similar fashion. In the
past, his technical expertise has
influenced changes to the Ontario
Building Code, the Energy Star for New
Homes program, the EnerGuide Rating
System and the R-2000 Program. He
helps builders and developers navigate
requirements from the Ontario
Building Code, Tarion’s Construction
Performance Guidelines and municipal
sustainability rules.
A major focus of Lio’s work has
been on education, teaching in
the architecture programs at the
13
Ready, Willing and
Able to Build Better
BuildABILITY helps builders brush up
sitespecific / ALEX NEWMAN
“My practice is about
helping builders better
serve their customers
… at its heart, you’re
not building houses –
you’re building dreams.”
Michael Lio speaking on risk
management for builders.

14
University of Toronto and Toronto
Metropolitan University (formerly
Ryerson University) for almost three
decades. “My practice is all about
helping builders better serve their
customers,” Lio says. “Because at its
heart, you’re not building houses –
you’re building dreams.”
He believes most builders are
aware of the energy and consumption
issues, but that a more urgent
aspect needs to be understood. “The
industry’s reputation is not great,” he
says. “The JD Power data suggests that
only one in three homeowners are
satisfied with interactions with their
builder – which means two-thirds are
not. How do you stay in business when
your reputation is in danger?”
Basically, builders need to do a
better job. And buildABILITY can
educate them to achieve that. “We
have tons of courses,” Lio says. “We
train design and construction staff, we
offer a building science course, Tarion
warranty courses, workshops on the
PDI [pre-delivery inspection]. We have
intro courses for new staff who don’t
know the industry at all, [including]
a House Construction 101 course that
builds terminology and shows the
construction process.”
There’s something tailored for each
person in the business. The courses are
“not just on the green stuff, but the parts
of your business that touch customers
every day,” Lio says. “The receptionist,
for example, should know enough about
the company and the industry to act as
triage when I call, so they can direct me
to the right person. If they can’t, that
reflects badly on the builder.”
The buildABILITY courses include:
• A 10-day Part 9 building code
course that covers the requirements
from “soup to nuts.” This in-person
course takes participants through
hundreds of exercises, pushing
them in situational problems and
equipping them to come up with
solutions. This course offers study
groups so that participants can
help each other, communicating
through a WhatsApp network. A
teaching assistant is available to
answer additional questions, as are
supplemental and online modules
that review lectures.
• A four-day customer service and
Tarion warranty course that goes
through best practices from a cus-
tomer point of view. Participants
will figure out solutions to vari-
ous situations by beefing up their
emotional intelligence, Lio says.
They are trained in difficult con-
versations, practicing how to work
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“Lack of proper training is a pressing issue.
Staff with little information, education and
understanding of the industry are expected to
negotiate with customers. There’s significant
training that needs to be put into place.”

consultatively with customers and
build better social connections.
• All HCRA (Home Construction
Regulatory Authority) competency
courses offered to those who may
want to become licensed builders.
Most, says Lio, are real estate
agents who have a house or a site
they’re interested in developing.
BuildABILITY is also available
any time for advice. Lio says they get
calls almost daily from builders who
need help working through a Tarion
conciliation report. “We start by
looking at how they got to that point,”
he says. “It’s often an internal issue.
We will work with their leadership
team to help understand how the
company got into trouble. From there,
we can help them take charge, monitor
behaviour and performance, and then
fix the problem.”
The problem he sees most often is
the chronic shortage of skilled trades.
The builder’s construction staff is
expected to supervise and often correct
deficient work. They need to know all of
the Code and Tarion rules because they
can’t depend on the trades.
“Lack of proper training is a
pressing issue,” Lio says. “Staff with
little information, education and
understanding of the industry are
expected to negotiate with customers.
There’s significant training that needs
to be put into place.”
Now is one of the best times to train
staff. “With higher interest rates, the
market isn’t on fire, and there’s a bit of
a lull in building. This is the time to do
the work of training. That way, you’ll be
ready for the next onslaught.”
Often, training isn’t about hard-core
technical skills. “A lot of this is about
developing soft skills,” Lio says. “When
dealing with customers, you need to
have the heart of hospitality. You’re in
business because of them.” BB
Alex Newman is a writer,
editor and researcher at
alexnewmanwriter.com.
15
Homeowners, contractors, and builders rely on
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What it’s made of
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ROCKWOOL Comfortboard®
An exterior non-structural insulation
sheathing that provides a continuous layer of
insulation around the building envelope.

16
featurestory / ROB BLACKSTIEN
A
s we explore futureproofing,
we’d be remiss not to highlight
one of the most notable
examples of prescient thinking in
sustainable building, one with its roots
nearly two decades old – a veritable
eternity in this sector.
Imagine a semi-detached
demonstration home conceived in 2006
that, upon completion in 2008, scored a
HERS 41 – meaning that, 15 years later,
it still rates as 28% better than Code.
BACKTO
THE
FUTURE
Nearly two decades later, the
TRCA’s Archetype Houses have
mostly stood the test of time
when it comes to futureproofing.

That’s serious futureproofing,
and it’s exactly what the Toronto
and Region Conservation Authority
(TRCA) accomplished with its semi-
detached Archetype Houses. And
while there were some expected
missteps along the way, much of the
technology chosen to be in this project
really stands the test of time.
But first, a little history is in order –
so let’s hop into the Wayback Machine
and set the dial for 2005...
That fall, the TRCA – in conjunction
with the Design Exchange – launched
the Archetype Sustainable House
Design Competition, challenging
architects, engineers, designers and
graduate students “to design a viable,
sustainable single-family dwelling that
would serve as a model or ‘archetype’
for future housing developments
in the Greater Toronto Area and
beyond,” explains David Nixon, the
TRCA’s program manager, sustainable
technologies.
June 2006: Choosing from 17 entries,
the competition judging panel selects
the Building Blocks Partnership
as the winning entry – a modular,
prefabricated construction design,
with building blocks (sections) that
Nixon says could be assembled on site,
meaning it could easily be duplicated
on a production level.
Summer 2008: Over the course
of three months, two identical semi-
detached houses were constructed
at the Living City Campus at the
Kortright Centre for Conservation in
Vaughan, Ont., by BILD members,
with an assist from a variety of manu
facturers, including ROCKWOOL,
Venmar and Mitsubishi. House A
featured technology that was readily
available at the time, while House B
highlighted technologies expected to
be mainstream 15 years down the road.
On the mechanical side, that
formula has been maintained since.
“The way I’ve done it is if it’s in the
marketplace – if the consumer can
buy it now – it goes in House A,” Nixon
explains. However, if the product
can’t be purchased yet because it’s not
distributed here, then it’s earmarked
for House B.
The fascinating part about the
TRCA taking the lead for this project
is that, historically, it tends to be the
agency that prohibits builders from
creating homes on wetlands. But in this
instance, Nixon says, it was trying to be
proactive and come up with a model for
how best to build.
At the time, the Toronto Home
Builders’ Association (THBA) was
morphing into BILD, so there was an
opportunity to create a bridge to the
building community, he explains.
Unfortunately, despite the best of
intentions, the effort failed for a variety
of reasons, which we’ll cover shortly.
And while that disconnect continues,
the TRCA remains hopeful that it can
develop closer ties with the building
industry and that homebuilders
will be able to leverage the wealth
of knowledge and research that the
Archetype Houses have provided over
the years. Ideally, builders will be able
to benefit from the resources available
to them at the Kortright Centre for
Conservation.
While this initiative hasn’t been
all roses and sunshine, it has yielded
amazing successes in sustainable
housing innovations. Among the
Archetype Houses’ greatest hits are:
Air source heat pumps
Nixon says that when he gets asked
what one piece of technology in the
house really matters, the answer he’s
had for about a decade is air source
heat pumps (ASHPs). In the 2010s, he
was trying to figure out integrations
around ASHPs that are just becoming
common in today’s market. In fact,
Nixon says they’re currently testing
five dual-fuel heat pumps in the home,
along with a combination natural gas
boiler which provides back-up heat
17
Lindvest Archetype House
tour. From left, Rula Alsaigh
(Lindvest), Larry Brydon (SBC),
Zoran Popovic (Lindvest) and
David Nixon (TRCA).

18
when it’s really cold outside. This
system, coupled with the heat pumps,
is called combination hybrid heat. In
addition, the combi natural gas boiler
provides domestic hot water to the
home so that it only needs a single gas
appliance. In keeping with the Back
to the Future theme, combination
hybrid heat acts as the flux capacitor
in the Archetype Houses. “If we did
anything, it was to move that along,”
because now, you’ll see several articles
per week about how everyone needs
an ASHP, he says.
Photovoltaics
As a solar energy pioneer, Nixon has
great interest in the sustainability
potential of photovoltaics (PVs), so
they were featured prominently in
the Archetype Houses. For instance,
he says one of their domestic hot
water systems is integrated with
solar, a ground source heat pump
desuperheater and an ASHP. A
building-integrated PV system
(BIPV) was also built into the steel
roof of one house, which taught them
a valuable lesson that the flashing
contractor needs to know what they’re
doing when trying to integrate these
materials. The initial flashing did not
go well, resulting in leaking, so it had
to be redone. Experience has taught
them that “every time we introduce a
new building material [for example,
PV modules as a roof], we have risk,”
Nixon explains.
Building envelope
The envelope from the original
2008 build is another success story
that builders can lever
age today. In
fact, it’s so effective in eliminating
hot and cold spots that Nixon says
there’s only a 1 °C difference at any
given place in the homes. “The
energy distribution system and the
envelope work very well together
to provide even comfort from the
basement all the way to the third
floor,” he explains. The envelope
consists of 2x6s on 24-inch centres
with Roxul batt fibre insulation
(R-22), open-cell blown-in foam and
closed-cell blown-in foam – yes, that’s
three different cavity insulations
employed – and the whole thing was
covered with a three-inch continuous
exterior insulation and finish (EIFS)
system by Dryvit.
Advanced framing
Nixon says they used structural
insulated panels (SIPs) by Insulspan
for the roof, which seems like “a very
expensive way of insulating a roof,”
but because of the rigid insulation
system in the attic, no supporting wall
is required. The upshot? A 900-square-
foot floorplate that seems much larger,
thanks to the open concept that allows
you to see from anywhere within the
semi-detached home’s three exterior
walls. The other big benefit of using this
technique, he says, is that it takes three
or four days out of the building cycle
“because as soon as the roof goes on, all
House B demonstrated new technologies in 2008. These
included energy recovery ventilators, solar thermal hot water,
and combination heating with an indirect storage tank.

the other trades can move in.” Using
a standard roof, Nixon says, would
involve sheathing, flashing, shingling,
insulating and then drywalling.
While the successes were plentiful
for House B, there were also some
Betamax moments. After all, Nixon
says, “we’re looking at bleeding
edge technology, so sometimes
you get blood on the floor.” Here’s
one instance when bandages were
required:
Durisol blocks
Using this product for the foundation
offered two key benefits: it was a
waste product that would be landfill
otherwise, and it featured much lower
embodied carbon than concrete, Nixon
explains. However, given that these
blocks were used below grade, to avoid
moisture problems they backfilled the
foundation with three-quarter-inch
clear stone. The volume of the backfill
stone was more than what would have
been used to make a conventional
concrete foundation, which “defeats the
purpose.” The other issue was that the
stone was piled to the surface, so when
it rained heavily, it acted like a great big
bathtub. The Durisol blocks didn’t leak,
but the interface between them and a
19
House A newly retrofitted iFlow integrated combination
heating system being set up by heating tech from STEP
HVAC. For the house, this is the “flex capacitor.”
Goodman multi-stage furnace
coupled with three season air
source heat pump. See adjacent.
Original Viessmann
right sized boiler for
hot water heating.
The compressor traffic jam behind houses A and B.
Goodman three season air source heat pump (left side).
Mitsubishi cold climate heat pump outdoor unit (right side).
concrete slab did. The upshot was that
a new problem was introduced around
drainage, and they didn’t get the
carbon savings they wanted because
they had to use lots of gravel anyway.
Nixon says many valuable lessons
were learned along the way, not
the least of which is that, as more
mechanical systems and advanced
techniques are introduced into houses,
the residential homebuilding sector
needs to take a page out of the ICI
playbook. Specifically, builders need
to employ an engineer to design all
these elements to work together and a

20
commissioning agent to ensure that
everything is integrated according to
plan.
“In the residential sector, that’s
not how it works [right now],” he
says. Residential builders could
become more aware of the gap in the
skills required to leverage building
technology to its greatest potential,
Nixon explains.
He says all trades need to know
what the other trades are doing from
both an integration and functionality
standpoint. For instance, with a tight
envelope, a central vacuum contractor
could unwittingly depressurize the
house and throw off the pressure
balance. Silo mentality isn't going to
cut it anymore.
“The industry has to adopt [the
idea of the] ‘house as a system’
and understand that, as a builder,
you have to have the knowledge to
oversee all of your contractors and
make sure that they’re playing as a
team, not as guys who blow holes
through each other’s work.”
The TRCA’s outreach programs
related to the Archetype Houses most-

ly focus on the public and students,
consisting of various presentations
and webinars, published results on
its STEP (Sustainable Technology
Evaluation Program) website and the
www.smarterhomeheating.ca web
portal. Tours of both the homes, the
Innovation Trail, the Sustainable
Living Centre and an off-grid
cottage are available. Collectively,
technologies showcased here
include solar domestic hot water,
photovoltaics, ground source heat
pumps, radiant flooring, forced
air, heat recovery ventilators,
daylighting, passive solar design,
wind, composting toilet, passive heat,
biomass, landscape design elements,
building-integrated photovoltaics
(BIPV) in the roof system, solar air,
energy recovery ventilators (ERVs),
drain water heat recovery (DWHR),
multiple ASHPs and greywater
recycling systems.
As alluded to above, there’s a lot of
room for improvement in the rela-
tionship between the TRCA and the
building community. Nixon concedes
the TRCA “is generally considered an
adversary to the builders” – but to their
credit, they recognized the need to work
together and “not just be a thorn in their
side.” That’s what the Archetype Houses
and Innovation Park was all about.
And indeed, BILD members got
on board with the construction, and
a few were even ready to lease space
at Innovation Park, but when the
development fee structure changed and
the TRCA’s slice of the pie got larger,
“all the developers were very upset with
that,” Nixon explains.
That’s when the industry ended its
involvement in the Archetype Houses.
“Even the builders that had been
closely involved in the house kind of
walked away, going ‘oh, if that’s your
idea of co-operating with us, we’re not
interested, thank you very much.’”
But Nixon maintains that the
TRCA can be more than simply an
“inconvenience.” He believes the
industry can not only benefit from the
existing information and research,
but also an ongoing relationship. “It’s
not just what we’ve done – it’s what we
could do,” he says.
Nixon invites the industry to visit
the TRCA website to see what materials
they’ve already tested and to let them
know what your challenges are and
what you’d be interested in researching.
“It would be great to have a con
nection with the building community
so that they could start driving the
bus,” he says. BB
Rob Blackstien is a
Toronto-based freelance
writer. Pen-Ultimate.ca
Kortright Centre for Conservation
Rated by Clearsphere Consulting
Rating conducted April 11, 2009
This rating is available for homes built by leading edge builders who
have chosen to advance beyond current energy efﬁciency programs
and have taken the next step on the path to full sustainability.
110 100
IECC
2004
OBC 06
75
90 80 10
NET ZERO
ENERGY
20
30
40
50
BUILDERS’
CHALLENGE 50
60
70
This house is rated using the Home Energy Rating System (HERS), property of RESNET of Oceanside, CA.
The Green is 50 Builders’ Challenge is a Pilot Program sponsored by CRESNET and delivered by Clearsphere.
This home meets the
Green is 50
Builders’
Challenge
YOUR HOME IS:
Built by: Archetype House A
Conditioned ﬂoor area: 3,300 square feet
Estimated annual energy usage:
Natural gas consumption: 1,845 m³
Greenhouse gas emissions: 8.43 tonnes
Estimated average
monthly energy bill: $70
15 years later, this semi-
detached demonstration
home still rates as 28%
better than Code. It
stood the test of time.

22
sitespecific / MARC HUMINILOW YCZ
The company, in business for 51
years, has been building all of its
homes to what it calls “Energy Star
Plus” standard since 2006. Along its
illustrious learning journey on the
path to sustainability, Terra View
built a LEED Platinum home in 2009,
an Energy Star “Built Green” model
home that was later replicated in a
Guelph development, and its first Net
Zero home for a customer in 2019. In
one of its developments, all homes
are built Net Zero Ready, with full Net
Zero as an option.
This year, one of Terra View’s
homes, the Avonlea model, received the
Canadian Home Builders’ Association
(CHBA) award for best production
Net Zero home, and the company was
awarded Green Builder of the Year by
the Guelph & District Home Builders’
Association for the fourth year in a
row. Also in 2023, Terra View was
recognized for the quality of its homes
and its superior customer service
with the Avid Ratings Benchmark
Award. This honour recognizes U.S.
and Canadian builders who score
among the top 25% of Avid’s nationwide
databases on the New Home Move-In
Experience survey.
Partners in
High Performance
G
uelph-based builder Terra View Custom Homes knows a thing or two about
crafting homes that go the extra mile in energy efficiency, sustainability,
quality and customer satisfaction.
The Terra View Custom
Homes team celebrates the
solar top-off of the first Net
Zero home in Hart Village,
Guelph’s first Net Zero Ready
community, October 2019.

24
Whether it’s Energy Star, Net Zero
or Zero Carbon, most green builders
would agree that a major component
of an energy-efficient home is a tight,
well-insulated building envelope.
To help the company achieve these
levels and beyond, Terra View has
been using Owens Corning Canada
for its exterior insulation product
requirements “since day one,”
according to the company’s president,
Dave Brix.
“It started with Owens Corning’s
famous one-inch rigid foam pink
board, and we switched about eight
years ago to their FOAMULAR®
NGX™ insulation for our Net Zero
Ready homes,” says Brix. “Owens
Corning helped us detail the exterior
air barrier for the product, which
is GREENGUARD Gold certified
for indoor air quality. With an
outstanding thermal resistance of
R-10, a strong compressive strength
of 20 psi and exceptional moisture
resistance, the product offers 20%
recycled content, less off-gassing and
lower environmental impact. And it’s
reasonably priced, so it doesn’t blow
the budget.”
Terra View has been working with
Gord Cooke of Building Knowledge
Canada since 2006 – a relationship
that included building a home
for Cooke’s son using CodeBord®
insulation (see “Great Cooke!” in this
issue). Combining Owens Corning®
FOAMULAR® NGX™ CodeBord® XPS
insulation with PINK NEXT GEN™
Fiberglas® batt insulation in the wall
cavities, the exterior walls in Terra
View’s homes boast an impressive
R-value of 32.
According to Brix, Terra View is
currently positioning the energy-
saving performance of its Net Zero-
Ready homes as 80% better than the
National Building Code. “As we always
have, we’re going above and beyond,”
he says. “Owens Corning products,
combined with insulated foundation
walls and the AeroBarrier® air sealing
system, help us to get there. One air
change per hour (ACH) is typical for
our homes.”
With such a tight building envelope,
the quality of the indoor air is para
mount. “Our LEED project opened my
eyes to indoor air quality – so much so
that we’ve been using zero VOC (volatile
organic compounds) paints exclusively
for the past 10 years,” Brix adds.
What’s the next step in Terra View’s
sustainability journey? According
to Brix, it’s zero carbon. “This is a
complicated term because it involves
not only energy and emissions, but also
the embodied carbon that comes from
manufacturing, transportation and
disposal,” he says.
At this time, Terra View’s Nima
model home offers zero carbon
emissions with full solar, a cold climate
heat pump, a heat pump hot water
heater and no gas supply at all. “We
would love to switch to all-electric
right now, but our buyers may not
accept it,” says Brix, adding that many
people still associate electric heating
with old, inefficient baseboard heaters.
“That said, we are offering all-electric
as an option. It’s a simple swap-out
of mechanicals. This is really how we
would like to go moving forward.”
“With the role that the residential
building industry is expected to play
in the federal government’s 2030
Emissions Reduction Plan, we’re trying
to convince our homebuyers to install
solar panels now,” Brix adds. “But it’s
a $30,000 investment that can be a
stretch for our typical buyers.”
“That’s where banks come in.
Banks don’t look at carrying charges
like they should,” says Brix. “A quality-
built Net Zero Ready home comes
with low to zero utility fees, reduced
maintenance costs and climate
resiliency. That’s why we’re pushing
banks to help out by offering ‘green
mortgages’ with preferential rates and
terms, and increased loan amounts,
to people who have chosen to reduce
their energy consumption with a high-
performance home.” BB
Marc Huminilowycz
is a senior writer. He
lives and works in
a low-energy home
built in 2000. As
such, he brings first-hand experience
to his writing on technology and
residential housing and has published
With such a tight building envelope, the quality
of the indoor air is para
mount. “Our LEED
project opened my eyes to indoor air quality
– so much so that we’ve been using zero VOC
paints exclusively for the past 10 years.”

26
buildernews / TYLER SIMPSON
XPS manufacturers have been
telling builders about their new
formulation of XPS insulation, which
is supposed to be significantly better
for the environment. However, is the
new formulation any better? And what
is the difference between the two
formulations?
The old formulation of XPS is
manufactured with HFC-134a,
whereas the new formulation is
manufactured without HFC-134a
or consists of a blend that limits
the amount of HFC-134a. In terms
of which product you will get, it all
depends where the project is located.
As of January 1, 2021, Environment
and Climate Change Canada prohibits
any individual to manufacture
a foam product that contains a
hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) blowing
agent. In the U.S., the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) stated in 2015
that the use of HFC-134a would end
January 1, 2021, but it later retracted
that mandate in favour of Proposed
Rule 23 –Protection of Stratospheric
Ozone: New and Revised Listings
for the Significant New Alternatives
Policy (SNAP) Program. The EPA will
accept the use of HFC-134a in three
specific blends. It should be noted
that only one XPS manufacturer was
leading the charge against the revision,
while other XPS manufacturers
noted they were able to comply with
producing a product without HFC-
134a. In summary, any XPS product
manufactured and sold in Canada
cannot contain HFC-134a, while
certain states allow XPS to use a blend
of HFC-134a while other states require
XPS insulation that is HFC-134a free.
So how much better is the new
XPS formulation than the old one,
and are there alternative rigid foam
insulation board products that
represent a lower environmental
impact? Often, individuals looking
to build sustainable houses select
expanded polystyrene (EPS) because
its blowing agent, pentane, has a very
low global warming potential (GWP).
To enhance the thermal resistance of
EPS, graphite can be infused into the
rigid foam insulation to achieve an
R-value of 5 (RSI 0.88) at a thickness of
1.06" (26.93 mm). This graphite-infused
rigid foam insulation board is referred
to as GPS. Since EPS and GPS both
trap tiny pockets of air to achieve their
thermal resistance (as opposed to a
gas that leaks out over time, like XPS
insulation), EPS and GPS have a stable,
long-term thermal resistance.
According to the environmental
product declaration (EPD) for the
new formulation of XPS insulation, it
reduced its energy consumption during
the manufacturing process by approxi-
mately 2.14 MJ (Figure 1, below), a small
but measurable amount. Depending
on the type of GPS insulation used,
the product will either have a substan-
tially lower energy consumed during
the manufacturing process than XPS
insulation or a slightly higher value. As
advertised by the XPS manufacturer,
there was a significant reduction in
the total GWP thanks to the removal of
HFC-134a.
Although improvements have been
made to the formulation of XPS insula-
Advances in
XPS Insulation – Part II
I
n Part 1 of this article (“Why My Net Zero Energy Ready House Failed from a
Sustainability Perspective,” spring 2023, page 28), I concluded with reviewing
which building materials contributed to the highest values of embodied carbon.
Those materials were concrete, brick cladding and XPS insulation. Thankfully,
there are alternative material options for these high-value items that allow a
significant reduction in the embodied carbon values for a house.
Part 2 of this article will further explore the new formulation of XPS insulation
and alternatives to XPS, and we’ll review a tool that is available to builders to
help guide their decision making in the process of developing a house with a low
embodied carbon value.
FIGURE 1: EPD COMPARISON OF OWENS CORNING
FOAMULAR® 150 AND FOAMULAR® NGX CODEBORD®
OLD NEW
PRODUCT
FOAMULAR
XPS 150
FOAMULAR®
XPS NGX CODEBORD®
ENERGY CONSUMED
IN MANUFACTURING
59.99 57.85
TOTAL GLOBAL
WARMING POTENTIAL
22.39 5.39
FOAMULAR® NGX has 75% less global warming potential than the old formulation (XPS 150).

XPS Foam Board R5/inch
Aerogel Batt R9.6/inch
Closed Cell Spray Foam (HFC) R6.6/inch
NGX Foam Board R5/inch
Vacuum Insulated Panel R30/inch
Mineral Wool Board R4.2/inch
Closed Cell Spray Foam (HFO) R6.6/inch
EPS Foam Board (Type II) R4/inch
Polyisocyanurate Foam Board R6.5/inch
Open Cell Spray Foam R4.1/inch
Mineral Wool Batt R4/inch
Wool Batt R4/inch
Fiberglass Blown In R2.6/inch
Fiberglass Batt R3.6/inch
Hemp Fiber Batt R3.7/inch
Cellulose R3.7/inch
Wood Fiber Batt R3.9/inch
Hempcrete R2.1/inch
Wood Fiber Board R3.4/inch
Straw Bale R2.8/inch
kg CO₂e -2000 0 2000 4000 6000
Each result is an
AVERAGE of a range
and products can vary
by as much as 50%
473
366
288
252
146
115
114
88
59
-70
-202
-218
-554
-663
-753
654
715
1159
1652
4937
tions, the attributes still rank it at the
top when comparing embodied carbon
emissions of various insulations
(Figure 2, above). Material selection
matters in developing sustainable
houses that have low embodied
carbon, in addition to operational
carbon emissions. With the low carbon
emissions and preference of utilization
by industry stakeholders interested in
developing truly green buildings, GPS
insulations are a good reference to a
sustainable insulation that could be
selected for a Net Zero Energy Ready or
Net Zero Energy house.
Within the last 10 years, there has
been an explosion in demand from
construction industry stakeholders
about the environmental impacts
from manufactured products. We
can view these impacts from an
individual product or based on an
industry-wide average from an EPD
report. This document is a signal from
a manufacturer, or an association
representing various manufacturers, of
their commitment to measuring (and
hopefully reducing) the environmental
impacts of a product as it tells the
lifecycle story from extraction of raw
materials to end-of-life use.
Unfortunately, EPDs are single
documents, and there is no combined
report that allows an individual to
quickly compare products. Thankfully,
Builders for Climate Action has
developed a tool called Building
Emissions Accounting for Materials
(BEAM). The tool allows a user to
calculate the approximate carbon
emissions of their building based on
materials they typically choose and
then see how those emissions can
be reduced through a selection of
alternative materials. To use the tool, a
user must simply input the dimensions
of their building (low-and mid-rise
residential buildings only), and a
comprehensive list of all available
materials will populate for each
27
building assembly. Each material will
have a carbon emissions value, which
allows the user to quickly compare
materials and select one that fits the
scope of the project. More information
about BEAM can be found at BEAM
Estimator – Builders for Climate Action.
Hopefully, this two-part article
has shed light on the importance
of constructing houses that feature
low operational carbon emissions
(energy usage) as well as embodied
carbon emissions (manufactured
materials). As Chris Magwood notes,
the building industry is good at
reducing operational carbon emissions,
but it needs to stop developing high
embodied carbon emission buildings
and move towards low (moderate to
zero) carbon, or storing carbon, over
the next five to 10 years to limit the
advancement of climate change.
EPDs and tools like BEAM help
industry stakeholders evaluate and
select low carbon emission materials
that can be incorporated into truly
sustainable buildings that meet
the needs of current and future
generations. Selecting rigid foam
insulation materials like GPS provides
a platform for the development of an
energy-efficient house (operational
carbon) and ensures embodied carbon
has been limited as well. BB
Tyler Simpson is a
Certified Passive
House Designer and
founder of TWS Building
Science, offering building
enclosure representation and building
science and enclosure consulting services.
FIGURE 2: INSULATION EMISSIONS COMPARISON FOR 100 m2 @ R5
Range of net emissions for different insulation types from BEAM software.
ADAPTED
FROM
“
EMISSIONS
OF
MATERIALS
BENCHMARK
ASSESSMENT
FOR
RESIDENTIAL
CONSTRUCTION
”
BY
BUILDERS
FOR
CLIMATE
ACTION
&
PASSIVE
BUILDINGS
C
ANADA

28
industrynews / MARC HUMINILOW YCZ
H
ousing availability and
affordability, rising interest
rates, climate change and
climate resiliency are at the forefront
of the news these days. Combined
with a push for better energy efficiency
in residential housing by all levels of
government, what’s a home builder to
do to become future-ready?
Reliance Home Comfort is a trusted
supplier of HVAC system rentals and
service for home energy efficiency,
with over two million residential and
commercial customer relationships
across Canada. “Our approach is a
consultative one, taking the lead from
what our builder clients and their
customers are looking for, and adding
our insight and product recommenda-
tions to help them with solutions for
building better, energy efficient and
more comfortable homes,” says Reli-
ance product manager Tyler Corso.
Coming from a consulting
background with experience working
with technology and international
manufacturing companies, Corso
says that he found a space in which to
learn and help builders at Reliance.
“Energy efficiency is vital to the world
today, but with massive interest rates,
homeowners have been falling behind,”
he says. “We continually monitor
the market and ask where the trends
are going. For example, the recent
Canadian Home Builders’ Association
(CHBA) Home Buyer Preference Survey
found that an electric vehicle (EV)
charger is a sought-after product in
new homes, so we launched our own
product offering. To paraphrase Wayne
Gretzky, we skate to where the puck is
going, not where it’s been.”
Corso describes Reliance’s
relationship with builders as hands-on
and collaborative, where a dedicated
key account manager and technical
manager work one-on-one with the
client to listen, understand their needs
and provide insights from market
research to meet their requirements
with the best products and services.
Always on the lookout for the newest
HVAC technology and systems, the
Reliance technical operations team
tests every product that it rents, and
often tests new items and systems
suggested by builder clients.
Shannon Bertuzzi, director of
builder markets, came to Reliance
with a solid background in high-
performance homebuilding through
her experience with Enbridge Gas and
EnerQuality, Canada’s market leader in
residential green building programs.
According to Bertuzzi, the company’s
main focus today is helping builders
improve the energy efficiency of their
homes with combination (combi)
heating solutions – hydronic-based
mechanical systems designed to
provide both domestic hot water and
space heating via high-efficiency boiler
or tankless water heater merged with
an air handler.
Looking into the near future,
Bertuzzi and Corso see numerous
opportunities for their company to
be at the forefront of helping builders,
Reliance Helps Builders
Get Future-Ready
BRUNO
DESTOMBES

BETTERBUILDER.CA | ISSUE 48 | WINTER 2023 29
HVAC designers and
energy advisors stay on
top of emerging trends
and new products in
home energy efficiency.
One example is building
in EV chargers in private
residences and multi-unit
projects.
“There’s a growing demand for EV
charg
ing. Homeowners and builders
are asking for it, and we’ve been
monitoring it for a long time,” says
Corso. “We were the first company
in Canada to offer EV charging on a
rental program. There are many things
to consider with EV charging: Will it
be single-use (private) or multi-unit
(shared) parking? Above-ground or
below-ground parking? Number of
chargers and locations? Pay-as-you-go,
hourly rate for charging or included
as a free amenity to homeowners?
And then there are various options for
the charger products as well. It really
involves a consultative approach
with builders to design the product
offering that is best for them and their
homebuyers.”
Another trend identified in the
CHBA Home Buyer Preference Survey
is battery storage, which is “on the
radar,” according to Corso. “Forty-
five percent of respondents said they
would be interested in this, but only
if it was affordable. To us, this could
show potential market interest in
a product similar to our existing
rental offerings where service and
maintenance are included in a single
rental rate. At Reliance, we are always
looking for additional opportunities to
add value for the homebuyer and our
builder partners.”
“As home HVAC products become
more complicated and continually
evolving, it makes sense
to rent,” says Bertuzzi.
“Because there’s so much
product noise out there,
we’re continually looking
at new products and
systems, putting them
through our own internal
evaluations and product quality tests
on behalf of our clients.”
“Combi heating systems are woven
into the core of our offerings, and we’re
already the leaders in this space,”
Bertuzzi adds. “The Reliance team is
entrenched in code/step code devel-
opments and sits on numerous boards,
including the CHBA Net Zero Council,
which provides us with valuable insight
to system requirements for future new
home construction and allows us to pro-
vide input from our years of experience
delivering products to the marketplace.”
Through collaboration with builders
and the industry, ultimately driven by
homebuyer demand for the next new
product, Reliance continues to play
a major role in testing and supplying
new and emerging technologies
related to net zero, with nano grids,
low carbon and zero energy on the
horizon. “Innovation is the key,” says
Bertuzzi. “We will continue to listen to,
monitor, test and recommend products
and systems – made for the Canadian
climate – to help prepare our builder
clients for the future.” BB
Marc Huminilowycz
is a senior writer. He
lives and works in
a low-energy home
built in 2000. As
such, he brings first-hand experience
to his writing on technology and
residential housing and has published
SILVERBOARD®
ROOF/ CEILING:
TAPED AND SEALED
TO ACT AS VAPOR
BARRIER
SIDING
SILVERBOARD® GRAPHITE
EXTERIOR ABOVE GRADE:
HIGH PERFORMANCE VAPOR
PERMEABLE RIGID INSULATION
BOARD
SILVERBOARD®
UNDERSLAB:
TAPED AND SEALED TO
ACT AS VAPOR BARRIER
SILVERBOARD® GRAPHITE
INTERIOR BELOW GRADE:
DECOUPLE WOOD STUD WALL
FROM CONCRETE
WATERPROOFING
MEMBRANE
Reliance’s Tyler Corso.

30

D
oug Tarry Homes recently cele
brated the milestone of being
the first builder in Canada to
build and label 500 Net Zero (NZ)/
Net Zero Ready homes, a significant
accomplishment for sustainability in
Canadian housing. It’s a great honour,
and we appreciate that we’re one of
the top Net Zero/Net Zero Energy
builders in North America.
We couldn’t have accomplished
this without the ongoing commitment
and dedication of our staff, trades,
and supply partners. In particular, we
must recognize our friends at Build-
ing Knowledge: Gord Cooke, a friend
and mentor for many years, and Andy
Oding were instrumental in pushing
my competitive spirit to go all-in on NZ.
It also must be stated we wouldn’t have
been able to label these homes without
the Canadian Home Builders’ Associ-
ation (CHBA) creating the program in
the first place. Thank you for having
the insight and courage to do so.
As our homes became more effi
cient, there were many times our
needs moved beyond what was readily
available in the market. Running into
challenges caused by homes that no
longer worked in the same way Code-
built homes did, we frequently turned to
manufacturers and academia to create
solutions. The solutions we developed
together, often as alternative compli-
ances to the existing Building Code, are
now having an impact on what’s being
offered in the industry (such as our
efforts around air source heat pumps).
The City of St. Thomas and our
other municipal partners also deserve
a heartfelt thank you. On so many occa-
sions, we’ve had to work through alter-
native compliance, better-than-Code
solutions that they could have simply
refused to accept. But they worked with
us on alternative methods and enabled
us to find and implement solutions.
Lastly, I want to acknowledge
Natural Resources Canada and their
recognition of our efforts over the
years, inclusive of their faith in me to
tell the story of NZ and beyond with my
upcoming book, From Bleeding Edge
to Leading Edge: A Builder’s Guide to
Net Zero Homes. Believe me when I say
I can’t wait to have copies available to
ship from the publisher.
So, what are some of the lessons
we’ve learned? Here are our top 10:
1. You need a team and a champion.
Your energy advisor and HVAC
designer must be knowledgeable,
but also available to your team.
2. Teach your staff and trades…a lot.
It’s not just about the details and
specifi
cations, but the why! Why
are we doing this? And what are we
trying to achieve? Pay attention to
the concerns of your sales team.
They need the tools to sell the home,
no different than trades need tools
to build it. This is an educational
experience for your customers.
3. NZ does not work as well as an
option. “If it’s so good, then why isn’t
it a standard?” is a common question
from customers. It’s really challeng-
ing to work with two sets of details.
31
Getting to 500 Net Zero
fromthegroundup / DOUG TARRY
Front, L-R: Michele Milles (Sales
Consultant, DTL), Joe Preston
(Mayor, City of St. Thomas), Sue
Wastell (President, CHBA), Dave
Depencier (President, OHBA),
Doug Tarry (President, Doug Tarry
Limited), Gord Cooke (President,
Building Knowledge), Sonja
Winkelmann (Senior Director,
Net Zero Energy Housing, CHBA),
Cathy Fox (DTL Sales Consultant).
Back: DTL staff, trades, suppliers,
and community leaders.

32
4. Moisture management and air-
tightness matter a lot. That’s why
I call them the “Two Command-
ments.” Often, builders rush to
add more insulation, or create a
spaceship in the basement, but the
basics really matter. Get good at
these two items first.
5. Right-sizing mechanicals is diffi-
cult, but not impossible. Reducing
duct leakage and balancing loads
requires a team effort.
6. Low-solar glass (solar heat gain
co-efficient [SHGC] under 0.25) is
extremely important. You cannot
manage uncontrolled intermittent
heat gains, and it will blow up the
size of your cooling load.
7. Stop selling air conditioners. Air
source heat pumps will not only
provide more efficient cooling, but
will also provide the majority of
your heating. This change will help
improve performance and reduce
the operational carbon footprint.
8. Sub-slab insulation is grossly
underrated. Done correctly, this can
provide your soil gas barrier, better
indoor air quality, greater occupant
comfort and a drier basement floor,
and it can help reduce total energy
loads. I love having customers go
to our competitors’ model home
basements, stand in their socks,
and feel the difference in comfort
between our home and theirs.
9. Indoor air quality is extremely
important. I’m glad to see this is now
being addressed in the next version
of the NZ Program. This is also why
we use Graphenstone paints and
specialty coatings for our homes. Not
only do they have paints that will
absorb carbon, they have only trace
amounts of VOCs and use limestone
as the preservative (not formaldehyde
like other paints). This is healthier for
your customers, the planet and your
workers, who are being exposed to
toxins without even knowing it.
10. Your team has to visit the job
sites
regularly. All of your team. And be
prepared to solve some problems
along the way.
It’s been a challenging and reward
ing journey to 500 Net Zero homes. We
look forward to the next 500 and hope
you’ll join us on the path of continual
improvement. BB
Doug Tarry Jr is director
of marketing at Doug
Tarry Homes in St.
Thomas, Ontario.

Better Builder Magazine, Issue 48 / Winter 2023

Better Builder Magazine, Issue 48 / Winter 2023

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