The Pembina Institute, a British Columbia-based energy think-tank, has released a report titled Healthy Buildings in a Changing Climate, which says there is an “urgent need to retrofit existing buildings to protect Canadians’ health and safety.”
Retrofits to adapt to a changing and often extreme climate must accelerate, the report said.
“Retrofitting isn’t happening at a high rate. It’s at rate of less than one per cent per year for housing stock and six per cent of that is regarded as a deep retrofit,” said Pembina Institute buildings program director Betsy Agar. “Most of it is cosmetic, like kitchens or bathrooms.
“Ideally with energy systems like siding, roofing, heating and cooling, as those elements come to the end of their life cycle we can plan holistically with the end goal of homes being healthier and safer, but we don’t think holistically in that way just yet,” she said.
Many buildings in B.C. were built at a time when wildfires, flooding and heatwaves were not at the intensity they are today, and “deep retrofits, which include upgrades to ventilation, heating, cooling systems, and building envelopes, can significantly enhance occupant health and resilience,” a summary of the report said.
“One way or the other we need filtration. We can debate on how to provide it but when you have a smoke event, wildfire or both together you want to be able to close your house to it while continuing to cool (the house),” Agar said. “If you’re trying to solve one problem you may inadvertently create another, which is why need deep retrofits and to think of homes as systems.”
She added owners and the construction industry can help by prioritizing adaptation, formally addressing existing and future climate risks that are local to a building and learning about aspects of design that help mitigate climate risks.
“Few building owners ask for or know how to ask for upgrades that could improve occupant health. (The construction) industry needs to help build that understanding,” she said. “Through all this, it is critical to understand how to work with the building owners, operators and tenants. They need to understand how to make sure homes work to keep them healthy and safe.”
Agar said Pembina’s own Reframed Lab initiative, released in April, found designers “do not execute a formalized climate risk assessment process and need a standardized approach. We are working on developing a tool to help.
“We need to learn what aspects of design can help mitigate climate risk including the potential for compounding risks. We want to design things in tandem to make sure we’re not amplifying another problem,” she said.
B.C. experienced an intense heat dome in 2021 which resulted in the death of 619 people. Agar said addressing the structural flaws of older buildings could help mitigate the harms of a future hear event.
“Increasing cooling is critical and we have some of lowest rates (in B.C) of air conditioning in Canada. They’re sometimes known as ‘window shakers,’ some people can’t access them and we need to improve the layer of separation between indoor and outdoor environments,” she said.
Agar added while older building stock is most in need of upgrades, the current code for new buildings is “pretty impressive,” and the next national building code could incorporate resilience measures.
Agar said emission reduction measures can complement resiliency creating an opportunity for change.
“We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve the lives of Canadians by making sure their homes are healthy, safe, climate-resilient and affordable to heat and cool, all while reducing our energy demand and emissions,” she said.
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