Net Zero Homes… Homes That Produce as Much Energy as They Consume
The Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) officially launched its Net Zero Home Labelling Program in May 2017 – continuing CHBA’s long history in leading energy efficiency in residential construction in NB. The Program provides the industry and consumers with a clearly defined and rigorous two-tiered technical requirement that recognizes Net Zero and Net Zero Ready Homes and trains the builders and renovators who provide them.
Net Zero training has been developed for CHBA members who want to be part of this exciting program. This training will help get the necessary knowledge into the hands of key stakeholders and accelerate the industry’s capacity to achieve Net Zero by 2030, a goal set by the Government of Canada.
A national network of CHBA Net Zero Qualified Service Organizations, like CHBA-NB, Energy Advisors and Trainers will work directly with the builders and renovators to design, model, test and inspect each home.
A Full Spectrum of Market Offerings
The Canadian Home Builders’ Association supports a full spectrum of voluntary energy performance levels to provide Canadians with higher performing homes. These programs present a complete market offering that is applicable to custom and production homes, renovations and low-rise Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURBs).
What is a CHBA Qualified Net Zero Home or Net Zero Ready Home?
A Canadian Home Builders’ Association Qualified Net Zero Home that is labelled under the Program is a home that is recognized by CHBA, on the basis of the attestations by the builder/renovator, its Qualified Net Zero Service Organization and a Qualified Net Zero Energy Advisor to have met the Technical Requirements, including the energy performance rating using NRCan’s EnerGuide Rating System (ERS) to be designed, modelled and constructed to produce as much energy (from on-site renewable energy sources) as it consumes on an annual basis.
A Net Zero Ready Home complies with all of the same requirements as a Net Zero except it has a custom-designed renewable energy system designed for it that will allow it to achieve Net Zero Home performance, but the renewable energy system is not yet installed.
