Calgary’s first net-zero commercial building is playing an important role in the education of students through a five-course green design and construction program at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).
Set in the 6,350 square foot net-zero Green Building Technologies Lab and Demonstration Centre (GBT), the comprehensive high-performance design and construction program covers a wide range of design and construction principles and the latest technologies and best practices.
The final of five courses in the curriculum gives students opportunities to apply what they have learned “and actually build and test something to see what the results are,” says Melanie Ross, research manager in Green Building Technologies Applied Research and Innovation Services.
She sees the four-month experience as helping to expedite an understanding for people in or going into the industry about high-performance residential buildings at a time when new technologies are quickly changing the way buildings can be designed and constructed.
As part of the curriculum, staff is developing “a wall library” with full-size cutaways of walls, showing everything from insulation to glazing.
While students range in age and experience, most of them have a background in the building industry, says Ross, noting about 20 students will take the third cohort starting this spring.
The GBT will be launching a retrofit edition of the program soon, she adds.
Renovating existing residences provides different challenges than new construction because a common set of design and construction principles can’t be applied.
“You are dealing with unique homes for the most part,” she points out, noting both programs look at different materials and technologies for single and multi-family residences and potentially for commercial projects.
Completed in late 2017 in partnership with local contractor Avalon Master Builder, the GBT Lab meets net-zero standards in part through a high-efficiency envelope that has a double wall with blown-in recycled cellulose fibre insulation. Passive strategies such as siting and three-pane glazing provide maximum solar efficacy, Ross says.
The facility’s systems and updates are measured and monitored by hundreds of sensors to allow for improvements. It is tailored to be adaptable for new technologies, she says, describing the building as “plug and play. It would be a bit hard to pull apart what was originally built with what’s happening today because we continue to add things.”
Along with the educational program, the GBT Lab serves as a research facility with a staff of 20 who work with industry on new products and design development.
Calling it “an innovation space,” Ross says the team has collaborated on the construction of more than 20 high-performance residential homes in Western Canada.
The group accomplishes that through a number of “mini labs,” including ones focusing on research into HVAC, water, green roofs, grey water, energy, materials, testing and renewables.
One of the relatively new areas of research is in technologies concerning carbon sequestration. It includes materials that effectively sequester carbon and even possibly absorb carbon.
Ross sees it becoming “another layer” to green technology beyond energy efficiency and renewable energy.
The research manager says while industry might not yet be ready for full-time multi-year educational programs geared to high-performance green design and construction, she believes the GBT Lab and its five-course program is a step to building a foundation for future innovation.
“The schools are focussed on what does the majority of industry need and we’re looking at a niche part of it. There are a lot of young people starting school now that are very interested in and want to go in the direction of sustainability.”
The GBT’s five-course program receives funding from Alberta Innovates. The GBT is a research group within SAIT and receives operational funding through Tech-Access Canada.
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