Architect Guillaume Fafard hates waste in general and waste of energy in particular.
Posted at 6:00 p.m.
He took advantage of the pandemic to take training on the Passive House standard, obtaining certification as a designer. He protests to see the lack of ambient ambition to increase the energy performance of buildings. It is therefore taking the lead, demonstrating with the Scandinave rental building, under construction in Quebec, that it is possible to improve the energy performance of a building without inflating the bill too much.
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PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
The Scandinave rental building, under construction in Limoilou, Quebec, will have 40 units. It is 20% more efficient than the Code requires, while remaining within industry standards.
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PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
The walls of the Scandinavian are double-framed, to put more insulation.
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PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
The walls of the Scandinavian are 12 inches thick (30.5 cm) instead of having 8 (20 cm).
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PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
The windows have triple glazing. They are entry-level, in order to keep costs under control.
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ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY QUINZHEE ARCHITECTURE
This is what the Le Scandinave rental building will look like once completed.
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“The 40-unit building is 20% more efficient than what the Code requires, while remaining within construction standards,” explains the vice-president of Bâtiment Passif Québec and founder of the Quinzhee architectural firm. “We made a double frame wall, to add more insulation. The wall is 12″ thick, instead of 8″. We installed entry-level triple-glazed windows. We covered the thermal bridges and used other heat pumps. These are all things that we accumulate and that make a difference, when we do the energetic model. It’s not that rocket science. »
He would like to go further, faster. As an example, he cites the ambitious objectives of the government of British Columbia, which encourages the construction of increasingly efficient buildings (BC Energy Step Code).
We are talking about climate change and the climate emergency. What amazes me the most is that we have all the technologies to curb this. We are just lazy or we think it costs too much. But a building is an investment.
Guillaume Fafard, architect
In Quebec, the basic standard is not high enough, he laments. “When the basic standard is easy to reach, it’s easy to exceed it,” he says. The regulations are not aggressive enough. »
New CMHC program
CSR Immobilier, which is building the Scandinave, could rent the 40 heated and lighted apartments, in order to directly benefit from lower operating costs and make its investment profitable. Instead, the company will pass on the energy savings to future tenants, who will pay their electricity bill themselves.
What played a role in the managers’ decision to improve the building’s energy performance? Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) APH Select program.
This new mortgage loan insurance program, for buildings with at least five dwellings, offers reduced premiums and longer amortization periods (up to 50 years) to promoters, who undertake to offer a certain percentage of affordable housing, accessible housing of universal design and energy performance of 20%, 25% or 40% above code, for new construction. The higher the number of points accumulated, the better the incentives.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
Karine St-Pierre, lawyer, partner at CSR Immobilier
“Improving the energy efficiency of the building allowed us to have access to the program, which brought us advantages in terms of the interest rate, as well as in terms of the down payment we had to inject”, explains lawyer Karine St-Pierre who, with her partners, made a shift in the rental market by founding CSR Immobilier. Their company Construction St-Pierre Roseberry, specializing in the construction of condos, is well known in Quebec.
The program entails additional expenses, but there are also benefits. It is also part of the values of the company, to do more than the minimum required. This is also true for the soundproofing of the walls.
Karine St-Pierre, lawyer, partner at CSR Immobilier
The construction of buildings with high energy efficiency has a major environmental impact, recalls Guillaume Fafard. “All the hydroelectricity that we don’t use in Quebec can be sold to the United States, which will use less coal to produce its electricity. It can also be sold in Ontario, Nova Scotia or elsewhere. We are able to reduce the ecological footprint of our neighbors by working as a team with them. »