The BC Energy Step Code is a provincial regulation that local governments in British Columbia, Canada, may use, if they wish, to incentivize or require a level of energy efficiency in new construction that goes above and beyond the requirements of the base building code. It is an example of a "stretch code," or "reach code," in that it is an appendix to a mandatory minimum energy code that allows communities to voluntarily adopt a uniform approach to achieving more ambitious levels of energy efficiency in new construction.
The BC Energy Step Code consists of a series of specific measurable efficiency targets, and groups them into "steps" that represent increasing levels of energy-efficiency performance. By gradually adopting one or more steps, a local government can increase the building performance requirements in its community. The regulation is designed as a technical roadmap to help the province reach its target that all new buildings will attain a net zero energy ready level of performance by 2032.
The Government of British Columbia enacted the BC Energy Step Code as regulation on April 6, 2017. It entered into legal force on December 15, 2017.
How it works
The BC Energy Step Code establishes a series of measurable energy-efficiency requirements that builders must meet in communities that reference it in their building and development bylaws. The regulation groups these performance targets into a series of "steps" of increasing energy efficiency. Step 1 simply requires confirmation that new buildings meet the existing energy-efficiency requirements of the existing BC Building Code. Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the scale, Step 5 for homes represents a home that is net-zero energy ready. A Step 5 home is effectively the most energy-efficient home that can be built today, roughly equivalent to the rigorous Passive house standard.
The BC Building Code separates all buildings into two basic categories – Part 9 and Part 3, as follows:
Part 9 buildings refer to houses and small buildings three storeys or less, that have a building area or "footprint" no more than 600 square metres. This category includes single-family homes, duplexes, townhomes, small apartment buildings, and small stores, offices, and industrial shops. Part 3 buildings are larger and more complex. They are four storeys and taller, and have a footprint greater than 600 square metres. This category includes larger apartment buildings, condos, shopping malls, office buildings, hospitals, care facilities, schools, churches, theatres, and restaurants.
For Part 9 buildings, there are five steps of the BC Energy Step Code; Part 3 buildings have four steps, while commercial buildings have three. Each step represents a more stringent set of energy-efficiency requirements. As communities climb the steps, they gradually increase the level of energy efficiency in their new buildings. The BC Energy Step Code applies to new construction only.
For small buildings, Steps 1 to 3 (collectively, the "Lower Steps") can be achieved using construction techniques and products readily understood and available in today's market; homes built to Steps 4 and 5 (the "Upper Steps") are more ambitious and may require more training and incentives to achieve.
The regulation is performance-based, not prescriptive, in that it does not specify the specific materials and strategies a builder must use. Instead, it sets measurable performance targets that the proposed building must meet.
To ensure that builders have the skills and capacity they need to cost-effectively produce higher performance buildings, until 2020, governments that wish to use the BC Energy Step Code may incentivize all steps, but may only require Lower Steps.
What it measures
The BC Energy Step Code measures a building's energy performance via a variety of metrics. The Building Envelope Metrics and the Equipment and Systems Metrics are demonstrated through a whole-building performance simulation, while the Airtightness Metric is demonstrated through an on-site blower door test of the building before occupancy.
Building envelope metrics
Thermal Energy Demand Intensity (TEDI): The amount of annual heating energy needed to maintain a stable interior temperature, taking into account heat loss through the envelope and passive gains (i.e., the amount of heat gained from solar energy passing through the envelope, or from activities in the home such as cooking and lighting, and that provided by body heat). It is calculated per unit of area of the conditioned space over the course of a year, and expressed in kWh/(m2·year).