9:00 am - 10:00 am | Room: Pretium Room | Session Chair: Sarah Gray

Building Retrofits

Enclosure Design Of A Prefabricated Net-Zero Energy Townhouse Retrofit

Canada’s 14.5 million dwellings account for more than one-sixth of national energy use and 14 percent of energy-related GHG emissions. To date, “deep retrofits” of residential building enclosures have been rare. This is due, at least in part, to the associated disruption. Prefabrication promises to reduce this disruption and enable an industrialized approach to deep retrofit and enclosure renewal that can be rapidly scaled. 

As part of the Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) Prefabricated Exterior Energy Retrofit (PEER) project, a process to retrofit existing buildings from the exterior using pefabricated wall panels has been developed. Two panel prototypes have been field tested.  These are based on panel types that are currently widely available in Canada for new construction: wood-frame and structural insulated panels (SIPs). The panels include new, factory-installed fenestration, thermal, air and moisture control layers, ventilated rain-screens and cladding. Offsite fabrication of these overcladding panels is facilitated by modern digital scanning and imaging technologies. 

NRCan collaborated with Ottawa Community Housing and Cold Climate Building to pilot the PEER process in the retrofit of a block of townhomes to Net-Zero Energy in 2020. This paper provides an in-depth review of the enclosure design,  SIP-based PEER panel and associated details as applied to four units of row-housing.  Material emissions calculations, thermal bridging calculations and resulting transmittance values are covered. The simulated energy and associated GHG savings for the pilot are presented. The intended audience includes designers, contractors, consultants, building officials and panel fabricators.

 

speaker pic

Mark Carver, Natural Resources Canada

Mark is an R&D Project Lead at CanmetENERGY, Natural Resources Canada and a member of the Buildings and Renewables Group. He leads NRCan’s Prefabricated Exterior Energy Retrofit (PEER) project. His research interests include net-zero energy and passive homes and building enclosures, prefabrication, climate resilient buildings, and low-carbon design and construction. Mark is passionate about making high-performance design, construction and renovation mainstream. He and his family put a heritage home in Ottawa’s Lebreton Flats neighbourhood through the deep retrofit wringer.  They recently moved to the suburbs and have even more ambitious plans to retrofit their 1970s bungalow in near net-zero.

Mark travaille au sein du Groupe Bâtiments et renouvelables de CanmetÉNERGIE Ottawa et dirige le projet de rénovation extérieure énergétique avec des éléments préfabriqués. Ses recherches portent entre autres sur la consommation énergétique nette zéro et les enveloppes de maisons et de bâtiments passifs; la préfabrication; les bâtiments résilients au climat; la conception et la construction sobres en carbone; ainsi que l’optimisation des coûts. Mark se consacre à généraliser la conception, la construction et la rénovation à rendement élevé ‒ une ambition à laquelle il voue une véritable passion. Sa famille et lui ont réalisé un projet de rénovation en profondeur d’une maison patrimoniale du quartier des plaines LeBreton à Ottawa. Ayant récemment déménagé en banlieue, dans un bungalow dont la construction remonte à 1970, ils envisagent un projet encore plus audacieux pour leur nouvelle demeure. 

Speaking Experience

  • 2020 The Building Show – Presenter
  • 2019 North American Passive House Conference - Presenter, Panelist
  • 2018 Canadian Home Builder’s National Conference – Presenter
  • 2017 Canadian Conference on Building Science and Technology - Presenter

 


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