When we’re talking about deep energy retrofits, we’re really discussing enhancing energy efficiency, which leads to improvements in indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and durability.
This approach goes beyond simple home updates like new flooring or paint. It fundamentally improves how the house performs, significantly enhancing the livability and comfort of the home.
The ongoing discussion about the climate emergency, alongside electrification initiatives from all levels of government, has brought deep energy retrofits to the forefront for British Columbians.
People are increasingly aware of ways to enhance their living experience at home. When I was growing up, it was common to live in cold, drafty houses without much that could be done. Nowadays, we have a better understanding of building science, allowing us to significantly improve the occupant experience through deep energy retrofits.
With today’s advanced technology, we can enhance ventilation standards, ensuring a steady supply of fresh indoor air. And by improving air tightness, we can boost the indoor air quality of our homes.
One concern that’s been particularly prominent this summer across North America is wildfire smoke. A deep energy retrofit focuses on enhancing a building’s air tightness, incorporating a balanced ventilation system with filtration.
This ensures that, regardless of the air quality outside, you can maintain a pristine indoor environment, protecting you from pollutants such as wildfire smoke. This improved air quality also benefits individuals in urban environments dealing with exhaust and those suffering from pollen allergies in the spring.
Additionally, improving a home’s sound performance makes for a quieter living space amidst a noisy urban outdoor environment. Deep energy retrofits offer a wide range of benefits, and in British Columbia, there are excellent rebates available for various components of these projects.
Some of the biggest areas of energy loss in older homes today can stem from various issues. Air tightness is top of mind for me. Older homes were never tested for this, and you can often have a significant amount of air exchange between the inside and outside.
In the winter, warm air escapes through gaps in the walls, roof, and foundation. Similarly, in the summer, heat infiltrates into the home. So, air tightness is crucial. Older windows also contribute to energy loss. In an older home, especially one with single-pane windows, you can feel just how cold the glass gets in cold weather.
This highlights the importance of understanding R-values, which I think most people are familiar with, as a measure of insulation effectiveness.
For insulation, typical homes have walls with an R-rating of about 20 to 22. However, older window glass can often have an R-rating of one or less. This means that even if your walls are R-20 or R-22, your windows only being R-1, would result in substantial heat loss or gain through the glass.
When we talk about energy, it involves both heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. One factor that significantly affects how hot your house gets is direct sunlight through the windows. Older windows can act almost like magnifying glasses. Particularly if they face west or south, the sun streaming in can heat your home like a microwave.
When you stand in front of those older windows, you’ll immediately notice that it’s one of the hottest spots in the house. By moving to modern, low solar heat gain triple-pane windows, you can address this issue. These windows have specific coatings that limit the sun’s rays from entering the house and overheating the interior. A calculator such as the window wall R value calculator from Cascadia Windows and Doors highlights the impact window performance has on the overall home.
Air tightness and windows are two of the easiest elements to address in an older home, and they can significantly impact whether your home feels too hot or drafty, no matter the season.
The first thing we do is engage with an energy advisor partner. Our go-to advisor is Capital Home Energy, led by Luke Dolan and his team, who are highly experienced. We bring them in initially to conduct an evaluation of the house. This step is crucial because, to qualify for any federal or provincial rebate programs, we need an energy advisor report.
During the evaluation, they perform a depressurization test to assess how airtight the house is and identify the main points of air leakage. This gives us a clear idea of the best steps to improve our air tightness.
The energy advisors will inform us about the existing insulation levels throughout the house, and we’ll gain an understanding of the window performance. This information helps us develop an initial plan for cost efficient improvements to the home, including occupant comfort, durability, and indoor air quality.
Once we have this understanding, we work with the homeowner to align the improvements with their budget, identifying the most cost-effective strategies for their house to enhance performance. It also allows us to plan the work in phases, ensuring that the biggest impacts are addressed first.
This approach looks at improvements over 2, 3, 4, or 5 years without needing to undo any work later. The focus remains on significantly enhancing thermal comfort, indoor air quality, energy efficiency, and durability.
People often ask, “How do I measure my results? If I’m going to spend all this money, what am I getting out of it?”
Some outcomes are very subjective, while others are quite objective. A clear indication of success, for instance, is when you receive your hydro bill after the work is done and see that it’s half or less than what it used to be. That’s a tangible benefit — you’re spending less on energy.
Some results are more subjective but still easily recognizable. One of my favourite stories is when we built a high-performance house in Squamish. We installed a whole-home fresh air ventilation system, and the house was constructed to be very airtight, with less than one air change per hour, meeting a very high standard of air tightness.
The clients were incredibly collaborative and trusted us to make the best decisions. They really appreciated the energy label we used at the time under the Built Green Canada program. We were very successful; we installed the ventilation system, achieved an airtight house, and then, coincidentally, the first summer they lived there was during one of the worst periods of wildfire smoke we’ve experienced.
In Squamish, the smoke was so dense that you couldn’t see across the street to the house on the other side of the cul-de-sac. After two weeks of smoke, the client unexpectedly called and said, “I can’t thank you enough. You convinced us of the benefits of a high-performance house.” This was in reference to new construction, not a deep energy retrofit, but we use very similar strategies.
The client shared that when they left their home, they had to endure a horribly smoky environment with truly horrific air quality. Yet, they always looked forward to returning to their indoor oasis, where they enjoyed excellent air quality.
This was all thanks to the well-filtered ventilation and, more importantly, the airtight structure preserving indoor air quality. They lived in the house for two weeks during poor outdoor air quality without suffering the consequences, all due to those construction strategies.
Additionally, thermal comfort is another significant benefit. In the winter, the airtight house with a well-designed mechanical system ensures even warmth, and in the summer, the cooling system does the same, preventing windows from overheating the home.
In some situations where there’s not a lot of direct sunlight, a homeowner might choose not to use air conditioning. Instead, they’ve designed to shade the windows that experience the worst solar heat gain, using low solar heat gain glass to ensure the house stays comfortably cool all summer. This means your energy bill will be objectively lower, and subjectively, your home will feel more comfortable with better indoor air quality and a quieter environment.
People will certainly notice these benefits after investing in these improvements. Interestingly, many people spend significantly more money on a luxury car, so why not spend a little extra when renovating or building a new house to achieve similar performance enhancements?
These days, concerns around climate emergency and carbon emissions are top of mind. We think about carbon in two ways: operational carbon and embodied carbon.
Operational carbon refers to emissions from activities inside the home, like heating, cooling, cooking, and heating water. On the other hand, embodied carbon is found in the materials we use to build or renovate a house. Some materials, like concrete, steel, and glass, are very carbon-dense, while others, such as wood, can act as carbon sinks and are considered very low carbon.
So in a deep energy retrofit, one approach to addressing carbon is by choosing materials that are lower-carbon. For example, using heavy wood timber for structural components instead of steel.
When undertaking a deep energy retrofit, we have options regarding the type of fuel to use for heating, cooling, and hot water.
In British Columbia, because much of our electricity is generated from hydroelectric dams, the electricity we use is very low in carbon emissions. Choosing to go all-electric in British Columbia can significantly impact reducing carbon emissions from a residential home.
Improving energy efficiency within the house also reduces energy consumption, regardless of whether it’s for hot water, heating, or cooling. We have choices regarding the equipment, such as using electric resistance heaters like electric baseboards, electric furnaces or heat pumps.
A heat pump is likely to consume two to three times less energy than resistance heat that you would get from an electric baseboard heater, because a high-performance cold climate heat pump can operate 200-300% more efficiently.
Many people face the question of whether to heat with gas or electricity. While gas is typically less expensive, it’s also less efficient, with the best gas furnaces being 94% to 98% efficient, depending on the brand and size. In comparison, a high-quality cold climate heat pump, like a Mitsubishi model, can be 300% efficient. So, even if gas is one-third the price of electricity, the Mitsubishi heat pump at 300% efficiency should net out at the same energy cost.
If we perform a really effective deep energy retrofit, we significantly reduce the heating load in the house. Even if the electrical component costs a bit more, we’re talking maybe just a few dollars a day above what gas might cost, and this reduction also significantly cuts down the house’s operational carbon footprint.
The same principle applies to domestic hot water — whether to use gas or heat pump technology. Today, many manufacturers offer heat pump hot water tanks. While not all renovations suit them, it’s certainly worth considering if a heat pump hot water tank would fit your home. These tanks also offer a 200 to 300% performance improvement over standard electric resistance or gas hot water tanks, which typically perform in the mid-90% range.
When considering deep energy retrofits, we help clients understand their options, and I recognize it can be overwhelming. Sometimes, people primarily want a new kitchen and bathroom, while also improving their home’s performance.
However, investing heavily in energy performance and thermal comfort can consume the funds meant for those renovations. The best approach, as discussed earlier, is to conduct an initial energy analysis and plan for a phased deep energy retrofit.
Rebates available are specific to certain scopes of work, like new windows, air tightness, and cold climate heat pumps.
When working with your builder or renovator and energy advisor, consider what best fits your current budget as you renovate your kitchen and bathroom.
Perhaps start by replacing the windows in the areas you’re already renovating, which avoids disturbing the rest of the house. With a phased approach over the next few years, you can gradually replace the remaining windows. There are some other simple improvements, such as using AeroBarrier to improve airtightness during the renovation. This aerosolized sealant can seal up small gaps, significantly improving air tightness by over 50% for a relatively modest cost if applied mid-renovation.
Additionally, for homes with truss roofs and attics, adding more blown-in insulation such as Owens Corning Atticat insulation is an inexpensive way to greatly enhance thermal comfort by increasing attic insulation.
All of these improvements can be measured through the energy model created by the energy advisor, allowing the homeowner to see the overall percentage improvement in the house. You can also plan future improvements in energy performance or indoor air quality over a span of 2 to 5 years.
It’s crucial to consider what can be done now without negatively impacting future work, so nothing has to be undone later. This planning process with your renovator and energy advisor is essential for a phased approach. Use your current financial resources to prioritize what’s most important — like enhancements in indoor air quality, energy performance, and thermal comfort — while planning further upgrades over the next few years.
Achieving improvements that make your home comparable to a newly built house could be an important consideration for resale value in the future.
Everyone is curious about which rebates they qualify for. There are provincial rebates, and we’re expecting the federal government to reintroduce some previous federal rebates, though we’re still awaiting the announcement.
Instead of detailing the current rebates, you can visit the Clean BC website, which provides a comprehensive list of available options.
Currently, there’s also an interest-free $40,000 loan offered through the British Columbia government to assist with these projects. The process of applying for that loan involves specific steps. Your renovator and energy advisor are your best partners for navigating rebates. Since energy advisors are often up-to-date with the latest developments in rebate availability and qualification criteria, they can assist you effectively in this area.
Your renovator can assist with rebates as part of the initial planning process.
It’s important to understand what you should be doing now, which rebates are currently available for your planned work, and what might be available for future phased projects.
Keep in mind that the rebates available today might not be around tomorrow. Time is of the essence because once the allocated funds for a rebate are exhausted, that rebate typically ends. This has happened with some federal rebates; once the funding was used up, the program was suspended until new funds were allocated. The current federal government has promised to reintroduce some of those exhausted rebates from a year or so ago.
To begin this journey, I suggest finding a renovator with extensive experience in this type of work, like RDC Fine Homes Inc.
The first step is to connect with us and invite us in. We want to learn about your expectations, not only for a deep energy retrofit but also about your family’s future goals and how you plan to use the house.
We will bring in an energy advisor to conduct an initial evaluation and then work together to develop a plan that meets your expectations regarding fit, finish, and the retrofit’s outcomes. We focus on what areas in the house need immediate improvement and, if a phased approach is necessary, collaborate with you to strategize some work for now and some for later.
We can consider taking a whole-home approach, where everything is addressed at once. If the renovation is significant enough, it transforms the older home into what feels like a brand-new house.
In this scenario, when someone approaches the home, they wouldn’t recognize it as anything but new. There are some great examples of this on our website, where you’d think a house was brand new because of a successful deep energy retrofit. This option is available depending on how extensive the renovation is intended to be.
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