Presentation Overview:
When the Building Envelope Thermal Bridging (BETB) Guide was launched in 2014, the impact of thermal bridges were largely overlooked in practice, energy standards, and energy calculations. Now with a clearer understanding of the impact of thermal bridging has led to the introduction of comprehensive thermal bridging calculations as a requirement in new codes and standards such as NECB 2017, BC Energy Step Code, Vancouver bylaw, and the Toronto Green Standard Version 3.
Energy codes and standards in Canada are driving toward net-zero for all new construction by 2032. These increasingly stringent standards will require changes to how industry designs and constructs buildings.
Luckily there are tools and resources to help industry establish a new norm and minimize the disruption. These tools will allow industry to efficiently evaluate cost-effective solutions and harness the power of data to make more informed decisions.
The presentation will provide an overview of the BETB Guide and highlight recent work that is directed at better representing colder climates. Work is in progress to expand the BETB database to better represent all of Canada’s climate zones and types of construction. This presentation will outline useful tools and resources that are available to the design and construction community to help with the assessment of thermal bridging in new energy codes and standards, such as:
www.thermalenvelope.ca, a web application that is available to reduce the effort required to perform holistic assessment of thermal bridging. The web site is currently being developed to enhance the user experience and this presentation will highlight new developments.
www.buildngpathfinder.com is a parametric resource tool to help assess in real time the impact of building thermal performance along with all the other factors that affect building energy-use in the context of new energy codes that require energy modeling to demonstrate compliance to various performance criteria such as TEDI, TEUI, and GHGs. This tool does not direct apply to NECB and is BC centric. Nevertheless, awareness of this tool will provide insight to how other jurisdictions are responding the next generation of energy standards.
The sessions will highlight Emerging Design Assist Tools being developed to help designers make informed decisions by making it easier to evaluate large data sets.
Speaker Bio's:
Patrick Roppel
M.A.Sc., P.Eng. Building Science Specialist
Patrick is a building science specialist with over 17 years of consulting experience related to building science and energy efficiency. Patrick’s focus in recent years has been providing tools and guidance to the industry to help practitioners make informed design decisions related to constructability, thermal, structural, energy, and hygrothermal performance. Timely industry guidance includes the Building Envelope Thermal Bridging (BETB) Guide, the Attic Ventilation and Moisture Research Study, and the Guide to Low Thermal Energy Demand for Large Buildings (Low TEDI Guide).
Alex Blue
P.Eng., LEED AP BD+C Building Energy Specialist
Alex is a building energy specialist with 10 years of experience who has been providing energy modelling, energy audits, and consulting for deep energy retrofits and policy development across a variety of building sectors. Alex works with industry-leading tools to provide fast and clear feedback to clients, and regularly presents on building energy use, carbon reduction, and energy policy and codes.
Alex started her energy modelling career at Sustainable Solutions, a small sustainability firm In Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Wednesday March 3rd, 2021
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Members $0 / Future Members $20
Event Location: Online
A Link to the webinar will be provided before the event
