My talented @RDHBuildings colleague Marine Sanchez asks the @PassiveHouseCan Tower Retrofit Forum, “Are we seeing the whole picture?” @the_iPHA @the_phnetwork Marine Sanchez notes that while our climate experts agree that we need to retrofit nearly all buildings to zero GHG emissions by mid-century, our industry has completely failed to deliver even a trickle of zero-emissions retrofits. We’re not yet even doing scalable pilots.

Next up at the @PassiveHouseCan Tower Retrofit Symposium is a look at an affordable housing retrofit on two towers in North Vancouver. Ben Mills & Patrick Fyfe from Impact Engineering, with Carolina Maloney from Morrison Hershfield. @the_iPHA @the_phnetwork @Impact__Eng The team evaluated both the energy demand path (modelled) and the component path (prescriptive) to EnerPHit compliance. @PassiveHouseCan @the_iPHA

Tower Retrofit Symposium continues with a session about deep retrofits in occupied buildings, presented by Joanna Jackson of @MintoApartments with Sarah Gray & Michael Roche from @RDHBuildings. @PassiveHouseCan @the_iPHA @the_phnetwork “These projects make the most sense when you are able to do them with projects you already planned, such as when equipment or components reach the end of their useful life.” - Joana Jackson, @MintoApartments

The Tower Retrofit Symposium continues with a discussion about how to ramp up retrofit of Canada’s 4 miklion units of multi family housing. Public funding remains “fractured, inconsistent, and un-strategic.” @PassiveHouseCan @the_iPHA Canada needs to invest $10 billion in public funding every year in order to retrofit housing to net zero by 2050, explains Bryan Purcell of The Atmospheric Fund. And that funding needs to be easier to access. @PassiveHouseCan

The Tower Retrofit Symposium continues today. Andrew Peel & team on “Planning a Stepwise EnerPHit Tower Retrofit.” This phased project in Windsor is the first EnerPHit in Canada to be constructed with tenants in place. @the_iPHA @PassiveHouseCan @the_phnetwork Interesting issue with the fire dampers on new ductwork. The manufacturer prohibited pressure testing, believing it could damage the mechanism. A separate calculation was made to account for inherent leakage through the damper. @PassiveHouseCan @the_iPHA @the_phnetwork

Glass towers require massive heating demand in winter and cooling in summer. Tower Retrofit Symposium continues with a session on “Glass Tower Retrofits.” @PassiveHouseCan @the_iPHA @the_phnetwork Canada’s Climate Retrofit Mission proposes post-retrofit TEDI of 29 kWh/m2a in B.C. Similar to @energystepcode Step Three, and comparable to EnerPHit. @the_iPHA @the_phnetwork @PassiveHouseCan

Mark Carver of @nrcan shares lessons from Prefabricated Exterior Energy Retrofits (PEER) projects with @PassiveHouseCan Tower Retrofit Symposium. @the_iPHA @the_phnetwork

“Gas companies and their allies already have begun fighting policy proposals... that would place new restrictions on natural gas use in buildings as a way to reduce climate emissions.” seattletimes.com/seattle-news/n… “Natural gas, when combusted, releases roughly 50% fewer carbon emissions than coal. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Natural gas vents and leaks release unburnt methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere...”

One in 15 Vancouverites works in the “green economy” according to the Vancouver Economic Comission. Green building is the largest and fastest growing sector. @VanEconomic @greenestcity @PassiveHouseCan @the_iPHA “We’re a timber practice,” @mgarchitecture tells @VanEconomic. “About 90 percent of our work is mass timber. About 9% is light wood.”