Carbon Wise

By Sean Vincent O’Keefe

No matter why you are involved in residential design and construction – designer, builder, product manufacturer, system installer, certifier, homeowner, etc. – everyone benefits from understanding more about how their part impacts the greater whole. From design strategies incorporating daylight, natural ventilation, and energy from the sun to resilient construction methodologies like advanced framing techniques and continuous insulation, today’s residential structures are making significant strides in the right direction. However, there remains much to know and much more to do as we try to better the buildings we inhabit for the future we face. Elisabeth Baudinaud, Founder and Principal of Carbon Wise wants to help make making less impact a whole lot easier for all.

“Carbon Wise serves the industry as energy and carbon advisors. In Canada, the government requires energy modelling for all new construction. We also do energy audits for existing homes and Life Cycle Assessments for commercial buildings,” begins Baudinaud from her office in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC). Baudinaud founded Carbon Wise in 2021 after serving as the general manager of a residential energy advisor. “The 2017 Provincial Energy Code of British Columbia (BC Energy Step Code) introduced policy changes that target achieving Net Zero energy-ready buildings by 2032. So, these energy assessments are vital to tracking and optimizing energy performance. We extend our understanding of energy consumption by also quantifying carbon emissions in all forms. The energy analysis and total carbon emissions provide a holistic picture of environmental impact.”

The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, released in 2016, identified net-zero energy ready homes as a target by 2030.

The framework aims to support this by:

  • Reducing overall thermal transmittance of roofs, fenestration and doors
  • Reducing energy losses through thermal bridging in building assemblies
  • Reducing the allowable percentage of skylight areas
  • Introducing more stringent requirements for energy recovery systems and interior and exterior lighting requirements
  • Requiring individual temperature controls in hotel rooms and demand control ventilation in commercial kitchens

Greenhouse gas emissions caused by humanity come in three forms – direct, indirect and embodied. Direct emissions are those introduced to the atmosphere through the consumption of fuel. Be it the gas in a car or oil in the furnace, burning fossil fuels to produce energy emits carbon. Indirect emissions account for the fossil fuels consumed by utility companies to produce electricity, process water/wastewater, and telecommunicate. Finally, embodied emissions quantify the carbon expenditure associated with manufacturing, transporting and decommissioning the products and materials used to make the buildings, cars, stoves and cellphones that contribute to direct and indirect emissions.

“When I got involved in residential energy assessments, I learned that some of the products and materials used to make homes energy efficient were, in fact, not very environmentally friendly themselves,” continues Baudinaud. “If you want a high-performance building envelope, you need high-performance insulation. If the insulation is made with fossil fuels in China and shipped across the ocean to get to the job site, are you doing the right thing? This is where understanding the product or material’s embodied carbon emissions comes in.”

With a mission of accelerating low-carbon construction for all homes, not only in British Columbia but wherever homes are built, Baudinaud collaborates with partners in design, construction, development and manufacturing to find better ways to construct the structures people occupy.

“Carbon Wise joins a project as a consultant. We inform the design and construction conversation with insight and expertise on building products, materials and solutions tied to reducing the building’s aggerate carbon footprint,” says Baudinaud of her firm’s role. “Ideally, we want to join the architect’s process at the beginning of design development, ahead of key decisions on building materials and systems. We research and recommend high-performance insulations, windows, mechanical systems, sometimes even flooring, and many other regionally manufactured products and materials. We help designers specify products that reduce energy consumption and decrease embodied carbon. Presently, we are making a database of the lowest carbon concrete in British Columbia.”

While consumers may want housing to be more sustainable and resilient, evolving zoning codes in Vancouver, BC, and many other North American cities compel increased population density. Whereas for the last 20 years, speculative residential developers were scraping single-family homes built 50 years before and replacing them with McMansions, in 2024, many developers are taking advantage of changing zoning codes by pursuing single-family lots they can convert into multifamily housing.

“In Vancouver, we have seen the demolition of fairly new single-family homes to increase density. All the wood in those houses goes to a landfill, like trash. It is not only wasted, but that wood emits greenhouse gases as it decomposes, doubling or tripling the negative impact,” reacts Baudinaud of the ripple effect in product and material selection. “Helping designers and builders understand what is available and what has the least carbon impact is big, but we also must consider what happens at the end of the product’s life cycle.”

In just three years since starting her firm, Baudinaud has grown her team to five, offering consulting services to progressive builders, developers, architects and homeowners. Her timing was good. In May 2023, the BC Building Code was updated to require 20% better energy efficiency for most new buildings in BC. The Zero Carbon Step Code, a sister regulation to the BC Energy Step Code, provides tools to local government to incentivize or require new construction to target lower carbon building strategies.

The BC Energy Step Code is a provincial program implemented to achieve high-performance Net-Zero Ready buildings by 2032.

Key Provisions:

  • Establishes performance targets for energy efficiency and airtightness. Targets grouped into “Steps” apply to different building types and regions.
  • Allows builders flexibility to choose how they meet overall performance targets rather than prescribing how.
  • Energy modeling and on-site testing must demonstrate the building meets the requirements.
  • The Steps are incremental in difficulty. Lower Steps are easier to achieve than upper.

“Carbon Wise meets clients where they are. In existing homes, we help homeowners or renovators incorporate low-carbon energy efficiencies during renovations. These homes will save money on operations and qualify for rebates while improving thermal comfort and indoor air quality for occupants. Reducing the home’s carbon footprint and improving performance makes it more valuable,” says Baudinaud. “For new home construction, the objective is to achieve high-performance homes at no additional building costs. While there has been a big push on the policy side, the residential construction industry is slow to change. Many residential builders struggle to meet the code’s requirements without guidance. Carbon Wises keeps them on schedule and budget for a fraction of the cost of material delays or non-compliance.”

On the builder/developer side, Carbon Wise can consult on meeting the minimum code requirements or deliver a home on the leading edge of sustainability and resilience. The essential services include energy modeling to meet municipal requirements, mid-construction and occupancy blower door testing and air leakage diagnostics using digital thermography and localized smoke testing, and the required compliance forms per local requirements. The enhanced plan adds three energy upgrade options to achieve near-zero energy performance (Step 5), room-by-room heat gain/loss calculations, a review of the mechanical system focused on heat pump and ventilation design and distribution, and consultations with the construction team. The ultimate package includes a Residential Build Life Cycle Assessment, operational cost forecasting to 25 years, a one year post-construction performance and comfort analysis, and an in-depth report detailing energy and carbon analysis.

“Our Life Cycle Assessments calculate the life cycle carbon intensity of larger multifamily housing and commercial building projects to assure they meet the new embodied carbon targets established by the City of Vancouver,” reports Baudinaud. “Owners want to bridge the gap between their financial investment and environmental impact. Carbon Wise supports them with energy modeling and whole-building Life Cycle Assessments conducted and detailed for complete regulatory compliance.”

 

 

Sean Vincent O’Keefe is an architecture and construction writer who crafts stories for Technology Designer Magazine and others based on 20 years of experience and a keen interest in the people who make projects happen.