Singleton: Why the City of Ottawa must not delay green building standards any longer

Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC) was disappointed to learn recently of the needless delay in the implementation of the City of Ottawa’s green development standard, a plan approved in November of 2022. As it waits for provincial guidance, Ottawa, the nation’s capital, now lags other Canadian cities that have already implemented standards that have been successful in moving buildings to higher energy performance levels, resulting in reduced emissions and lower utility bills for owners and occupants.

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Green development standards for new buildings are critical to achieving Canada’s climate goals and cities must do the heavy lifting by virtue of their population density. The assertion by some that higher performance invariably means higher costs is simply incorrect. In concert with leading industry experts, SBC has worked with hundreds of developers and builders in all sectors and has demonstrated the path to energy and emissions reductions of 20 per cent to 50 per cent or more using low-cost and even no-cost changes in design, equipment and construction techniques, all of which generate life-cycle cost savings to the building owner and occupants.

SBC is a non-profit collective of leading sustainability experts dedicated to helping the industry create high performance, sustainable buildings through the use of integrated design workshops. This experience has taught us that the development industry is very adept at reacting to new codes and standards and can normalize higher energy performance requirements as part of its competitive business practice.

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There are a number of developers in the Ottawa area that have already embraced the concepts inherent in high performance buildings and are designing and constructing buildings that surpass the levels of performance established by the City of Ottawa’s high performance development standard. And indeed, many of these are in the low-income or affordable housing sectors where net-zero energy and Passive House levels of performance are commonly used metrics for performance.

These developers understand the difference between incremental capital cost and long term life cycle cost where life cycle costs are ultimately a much more important factor. Combining this with the reality that poor performing buildings are likely to have less economic value than their counterparts in the future only underscores the need to act now.

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In other large cities in Canada, including Toronto and Vancouver, green development standards have encouraged and amplified the adoption of cleaner and greener technologies including heat pumps, geo-exchange systems, high efficiency ventilation, solar p.v. systems and more, while discouraging high window-to-wall ratios and poor performing envelopes. This has resulted in more efficient buildings providing a more liveable and comfortable environment for occupants.

There is a sense of urgency with respect to new buildings and climate change. These buildings will be with us for 50 or more years, so design decisions have a critical and lasting impact; you don’t get a second chance to do it right the first time. New buildings must lead the way to a low-energy and low-carbon future and the designs and technologies are already in place to realize that outcome.

The time for research and “updating recommendations” has come and gone. Inaction is the biggest threat to our climate crisis. It is time for the City of Ottawa to demonstrate leadership and implement this standard. The people of Ottawa deserve no less.

Michael Singleton is Executive Director, Sustainable Buildings Canada. He has has more than 30 years of experience as an economist focused on energy policy and resource planning. More information:

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