Building Benchmark BC - Year 2 Report Coming Soon

The scorecards are out and the countdown is on to the release of Building Benchmark BC’s Year 2 report.  Building Benchmark BC has grown to include 16 jurisdictions representing over 75% of the province’s large buildings.  It is managed by OPEN Green Building Society and running on OPEN’s GRID software platform! This year, in addition to the report, we look forward to recognizing 13 of our outstanding program participants for their excellent performance and contribution. 

We can’t wait to share the results, and to present our Building Benchmark BC award recipients with you all soon. Check out the Year 1 report here, and watch this space for updates! 

Have your say on Vancouver's Climate Emergency: Home Heating and Cooling plan

The City of Vancouver is seeking public engagement on their Climate Emergency: Home Heating and Cooling (CEHHC) plan until February 28th. The CEHHC plan proposes regulation that will reduce carbon pollution and accelerate the electrification of existing detached homes. 

To meet provincial climate targets, the rate of replacement for home heating equipment needs to increase by 7x, and those replacements need to be electric. Use the guided feedback form to have your say now. There is also a public workshop on February 26th.  

Icebox Challenge Heads to Australia

The Ice Box Challenge is back! From February 21st, 2022, to March 4th, 2022, the Icebox Challenge will be on display in Sydney, Australia, and we are pleased to sponsor this fun and interactive event with the Australian Passive House Association. 

The Ice Box Challenge consists of two boxes - one built to the standard building code for a local area (in this case Australian Standard Code), the other to International Passive House Standard - filled with an equal amount of ice for two weeks, after which the remaining ice is measured to demonstrate the passive cooling abilities of each box. To add to the excitement, observers can make guesses on the amount of ice to remain in each box. It’s like “guess the number of jelly beans in the jar”, but for climate-friendly building design. 

Check out the event here, and don’t forget to make your guess!

BC Budget Release

This month, the Province of British Columbia released Budget 2022, which will guide the province’s spending through the 2022-2023 fiscal year. We are pleased to see some new and continued commitments to support energy efficiency in buildings, and thought we’d share some highlights that we are excited about: 

• The continuation of CleanBC Better Homes and Buildings programs, providing rebates to home and building owners making the switch to electric heat pumps

• The announcement of a Clean Buildings Tax Credit, to incentivize major retrofits to get buildings on track to meet CleanBC standards

• A new PST exemption on heat pumps, and an additional 12% PST on fossil fuel heating equipment, which will be put towards programs to make heat pumps more affordable and accessible to remote communities. 

• Commitments to expand climate risk data collection and expertise to better identify and mitigate the effects of climate change. 

We are also excited to see the Province’s needed investment of $21 million in supporting the training and certification of trades personnel, and hope that this will be aligned with supporting worker transitions and new careers in energy retrofits and renewable energy, key elements of the Province’s CleanBC roadmap.  

See the full Budget 2022.  

We're Hiring!

Help us find a Product Manager (UX Specialization) to guide our new Affordable Housing Navigator project from proof of concept, to launch. This role will be focused on early product identification and development, with an emphasis on user research and product design. See the full posting on our website for more details, and to learn more about Affordable Housing Navigator, check out our blog post!

We also continue to accept applications for the Intermediate Developer position. If you or someone you know has experience with Clojure or other functional programming languages, a solid understanding of computer science fundamentals and an interest in purpose-driven work, we’d love to hear from you. 

OPEN strives to build a team that reflects the diversity of the communities we are a part of.  We particularly encourage applicants from groups that are underrepresented in tech such as women, visible minorities, Indigenous persons, LGBTQ2 persons, and persons with disabilities.

New and Notable

A few news stories, reports, opportunities, and other resources that recently caught our eye:

• In-Person Event! Check out the upcoming ZEBx Tech Demo Series - first up: The Lync Aegis CO2 Heat Pump on February 24th

• In a partnership with EnerGuide, the Canadian Home Builder’s Association and Summerhill, NAIMA Canada has released a new National Insulation and Air Sealing Training program for residential contractors and renovators

• The Home Performance Contractor Network is now open to retrofit contractors working on fenestration, HVAC and Insulation!

• The CleanBC Communities Fund has up to $134 million in funding to reduce GHG emissions through the improvement or development of new tangible infrastructure! Applications are open until May 25th!