Affordable, resilient and energy-efficient housing, buildings and communities
Improving the performance, resilience and affordability of Canadian housing, buildings, and communities by developing cost-effective technologies and design approaches for equipment suppliers, designers and builders; evidence and advice for federal, provincial/territorial and municipal codes committees, policies and programs, as well as standards; and tools for the renovation and construction industry and communities.
Our areas of focus
CanmetENERGY Ottawa’s Built Environment research and development (R&D) program focuses on building energy systems; pathways to carbon-neutral, resilient and affordable housing and buildings; cost-effective and large-scale district energy systems; and dissemination of the latest information and practices to industry. Currently, we are focused on:
- improving building energy systems: developing novel envelope (e.g. walls, roofs, windows), HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems, and energy storage technologies capable of cost-effectively reducing building energy use and GHG emissions by up to 80%, while simultaneously improving affordability, resiliency and comfort for occupants and industry confidence in these solutions.
- developing pathways to carbon-neutral, reliable and affordable housing and buildings: using a systems approach in developing evidence for federal, provincial/territorial and municipal codes committees, policies and programs; and de-risking low-cost, reliable and low-GHG pathways for deep energy retrofit, as well as for next-generation, affordable, reliable and carbon-neutral housing and buildings.
- advancing flexible, resilient and energy efficient communities: developing advanced, large-scale district and community energy and thermal storage technologies, design and analysis tools, and methods to support community energy systems that significantly improve resiliency and operating costs and help reduce GHG emissions.
- delivering Local Energy Efficiency Partnership (LEEP) initiatives: accelerating energy efficient, low-carbon, resilient and affordable construction by enabling builders and renovators to reduce their time and risk. We do this by finding and trying innovations that can help them build higher performance homes better, faster and more affordably.
To deliver the above, we utilize a whole building systems approach, which is a way of thinking about problems that considers how different elements within a system interact with each other. This holistic, interdisciplinary approach improves alignment and results, maximizes synergies, is adaptable to the local conditions, and considers all aspects to unintended consequences.
Built environment projects at CanmetENERGY in Ottawa
Our current suite of R&D projects involves innovating existing infrastructure and new technologies/methodologies:
Featured item
New air source heat pump sizing and selection toolkit
A downloadable guide, checklist, tool, and case studies designed to help size and select air source heat pumps for Canadian climates.
Download the toolkit