Resource Library

As part of a tall wood building research program with the UBC Sustainability Initiative and Dept. of Civil Engineering, a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) study was done of two student high-rise residential buildings, based on the result of whole building LCA done by Athena Sustainable Materials Institute and whole building LCC done by Sensible Building Science.

This project pilots the National Industrial Symbiosis Program (NISP) in the City of New Westminster and investigates its impact on growing and developing important synergies between businesses. Based on the results, it recommends that the City should consider continuing to support NISP Canada, given the strong alignment between the NISP model and the City of New Westminster policy goals, strategies and action items, as well as foster greater collaboration with municipalities for a regional circular economy.

Partner: City of New Westminster
Keywords: Industrial Ecology, Industrial Symbiosis, Citizen Engagement, Adaptive Economy

The following study compiles the UBC's accomplishments and challenges in terms of energy infrastructure, and shows UBC’s ability to use the campus as a test bed to demonstrate innovative sustainability solutions. This study covers a period of twenty years, from 1997 when the first Sustainability Office was created to the present day, when the Vancouver campus has become an example of sustainability, aggressive Green House Gas (GHG) reduction targets and innovative energy production systems.

Partner: UBC Sustainability Initiative
Keywords: green buildings, sustainability in education

This report looks to shed light on the problems that are preventing improvement in our energy modeling capabilities, and the actions that should be taken to overcome them. Energy models are used to evaluate the energy performance of a building, but there is an issue known as the “performance gap,” which means that the energy usage that the model predicts can vary significantly from the final performance of the building. The steps and methods needed to reduce these performance gaps are covered in this report.

Partner: UBC Sustainability & Engineering
Keywords: green buildings

The District of West Vancouver has recently adopted a set of mandatory requirements for new construction to comply with the BC Energy Step Code. Aligned with this and other local policies, the District is studying the possibility of implementing a community-wide energy budget to limit the energy demand of single-family homes. This report includes a summary of existing housing stock, provincial policies, and green building rating systems to consider in the implementation of an energy budget. The report also includes an analysis of the interaction of these three components and how they can affect future construction.

Partner: District of West Vancouver
Keywords: green buildings

The BC Energy Step Code is a series of amendments to the Building Act and the Local Government Act that have been adopted by the Province of British Columbia. This research was conducted for the City of Abbotsford to investigate how local municipalities are implementing or referencing the BC Energy Step Code, and to see how the City might move forward with implementation.

Partner: City of Abbotsford
Keywords: green buildings, leadership & behaviour change

Manufacturing businesses have traditionally operated in a linear fashion. Raw materials go in; products and waste go out. In recent years, there has been a global movement to change how we see ‘waste’. By finding value in all business outputs, materials circulate back through the economy, creating the circular economy. This project describes a pilot test of the National Industrial Symbiosis Program (NISP®) to create a circular economy in New Westminster.

Partner: City of New West
Keywords: sustainable development & green economy

The purpose of this study is to conduct quantitative analyses to determine the energy conservation measures (ECMs) that tend to drive the most cost-effective approaches to minimizing GHG emissions from new buildings. This study will enable the City of Surrey to provide builders and other stakeholders a clear picture of what they should focus on (that is, which ECM options to prioritize) in order to achieve greater GHG emissions reductions.

Partner: City of Surrey
Keywords: green buildings

The Township of Langley plans to develop a corporate building energy policy for new and major renovations for city-owned and operated buildings. The intent of this project is to mainly focus on creating a corporate building policy that is centered on BC Energy Step Code adoption for Part 3 buildings. Research was conducted to identify the corporate building policies of other local governments in British Columbia, and understand which type of facilities these policies apply to, what are the capital cost related implications of adopting these policies, and what are their associated benefits.

Partner: Township of Langley
Keywords: green buildings