In response to growing concerns around climate change, many jurisdictions and organizations in British Columbia have committed to improving the energy performance and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of residential communities while meeting the housing needs of the growing population. UBC is working to advance sustainable development in residential neighbourhoods to create healthy and vibrant communities with low (or no) carbon footprint that support residents in adapting to a changing climate and world.
sustainable communities at ubc and beyond
Part of the rapidly growing Metro Vancouver region, the five mixed-use residential neighbourhoods at UBC’s Vancouver campus are currently home to more than 12,000 residents (not including student residences) and are expected to double in size by 2040. The neighbourhoods are an active area of new development and renewal projects, both individual building and the public realm.
Through the development of new policy goals and performance targets, UBC is working to set new standards for our sustainable communities, improve the health and environmental impacts of residential buildings, transportation and infrastructure, and increase the resiliency of these neighbourhoods in responding to changing climate conditions and extreme events. These new goals and targets are informed by research, in collaboration with UBC’s academic community and regional partners. We’re learning from our neighbourhoods to improve the sustainability and resiliency of residential communities across B.C.
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Green Building Action Plan (GBAP)
Residential Environmental Assessment Program (REAP)
Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP)
RELATED RESOURCES
Reports
Building Design Strategies for Future Climate [2020]
A LiDAR-based urban metabolism approach to neighbourhood scale energy and carbon emissions modelling [Christen et al, 2010]
A systems analysis for UBC South Campus : Northeast Sub-Area Neighbourhood [Senbel et al, 2009]
Towards carbon neutrality : possibilities for North America’s suburban residential developments [Miller 2006]
Ecosystem Urbanism at UBC [Lasocha et al, 2017]
Acadia Park: design for a healthy community [Sharif, 2003]
Sustainability Scholars Projects
Understanding Resiliency and its Applicability to the UBC Context [Sorathiya, 2019]
BC Energy Step Code Local Government Needs Assessment [Lloyd, 2019]
A Business Case to Retrofit Faculty and Staff Housing at UBC [Gerry, 2017]
Building Energy Benchmarking for the UBC Neighbourhood [Power, 2015]
Review of Energy Compliance Process for UBC Multi-family Buildings [Ferguson, 2016]
Addressing the Energy Simulation Performance Gap [Sheppard, 2018]
SEEDs Projects
Heating Energy Sub-metering: Measuring building energy savings from metering heating energy [ Nassar, 2019]
Residential Environmental Assessment Program (REAP): Community Carshare Credit Exploratory Study [Busch, 2019]
