Better City
Green Building
EcoDensity
SEFC
Neighbourhood Energy Utility
Cultural Legacies
Streets and Lights
Water & Sewers
Green Space
Food
Solid Waste
Transportation
Doing Your Part
Running a Sustainable City
Resources
Contact Us
Solar Photo Credit: Walter Francl Architects, 2009
All new civic facilities over 500 sq m are required to be LEED Gold.It is the highest environmental standard required by any local government in North America. Here are two examples:
SUNSET COMMUNITY CENTRE
The Sunset Community Centre is a 30,000 square foot facility built on Main Street.
This centre was designed and built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
standards at the Gold level employing numerous energy saving features, high efficiency glazing to
prevent heat loss, geothermal heating and cooling system, radiant floor heating, light sensors in every
room and dual flush toilets.
NATIONAL YARDS
National Works yard on Chess Street is the base for various engineering crews and equipment. It was the first building to get the Canada Green Building Council's LEED Gold certification.
Pipe-bursting, a new method of changing sewer pipes that minimizes excavation and waste, was used on some projects. The old pipe is smashed with a plug that's pulled through the pipe, the debris is embedded in the surrounding ground, and the new pipe is pulled in to replace the old one. Watch a video backgrounder on pipe bursting. 
Green Building
Green buildings are more comfortable than the average building and better for the environment. A green building delivers maximum efficiency and comfort with a lower overall life cycle cost than a conventional building. As a result, green building has emerged as an industry that will strengthen and diversify Vancouver's economy. The Green Building Strategy aims to not only educate about green building techniques but to align regulations and bylaws to make it easier to design and construct green buildings.
Help us make 1+2 family homes greener!
your feedback is needed
The City of Vancouver is currently collecting feedback on a proposed green renovation by-law. Find out more about the by-law:
Email your feedback on or before December 1, 2009. Specifically, we'd like to know:
- What do you like about the proposed by-law?
- How would you make it better?
- What other comments do you have?
- Where do you live?
Thanks for helping us make Vancouver the greenest city in the world!
What is a Green Building?
Traditionally, buildings are hard on the environment. Construction uses natural resources and tends to create waste, significant greenhouse gas emissions are generated from day to day use and maintenance and a huge amount of materials go to waste during deconstruction. Green buildings minimize their impact on the environment because they utilize less resources and are designed with ongoing efficiency in mind. They are built to suit their intended use, the local climate and the natural environment. The healthy indoor environments of a green building can increase well-being of its occupants and make work easier. These buildings are not only designed with its owners and users in mind, but also with an eye to the future.
Passive Design Toolkits
The City has developed and approved two passive design toolkits detailing ways to reduce energy use in new buildings, which are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in Vancouver. The tookits provide best practices for homes and larger buildings for passive design elements such as layout, orientation, insulation, landscaping and ventilation. They are targeted to City staff and the design and development communities, intended to help us move toward a new, higher standard of energy efficiency without sacrificing thermal comfort. This work is supportive of the City's goal of becoming the greenest city.
Download the Passive Design Toolkits:
Green Renovation Guide
Coming soon. Check back in November 2009.
Green Building Construction in Vancouver
A sustainable community is being built in Southeast False Creek (SEFC) It is a large-scale green construction project unlike anything every undertaken in Vancouver. Other places to see green buildings are at the University of British Columbia, the City's National Works Yard, B.C. Cancer Agency Research Centre plus expansions to the Vancouver Aquarium and the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Green Homes Program
The City has a Green Homes Program for buildings under 600 square metres. On June 26, 2008 City Council unanimously approved changes to the Vancouver Building By-law and how has the greenest building code in North America for one and two family dwellings. New homeowners now stand to save up to 30% on their energy bills, use less water and generate less GHGs and have healthier places to live.
Water Wise Landscape Guidelines
On July 21, 2009 the City adopted Water Wise Landscape Guidelines which provide developers and homeowners strategies to create ecologically-based urban landscapes that reduce water consumption and protect water quality. As Vancouver grows, impervious surfaces place an increasing strain on local infrastructure and impact natural biodiversity. As well, some landscape designs can increase the need for potable water and chemical fertilizers. These Guidelines respond to these concerns by drawing on proven successes and highlighting promising advances, design principles, strategies, relevant resources, and local plant lists.
Green Building Strategy
The City of Vancouver is implementing a Green Building Strategy (GBS)for all commercial, institutional, mixed-use, and high density residential buildings in the city of Vancouver. The GBS is one of many green building initiatives currently underway to reduce the environmental impacts of buildings and related infrastructure, others include Green Homes, EcoDensity, SEFC, and major rezonings.
The most recent GBS milestone was on July 22, 2008 when Council adopted changes to By-law and zoning guidelines that set an environmental performance for buildings over 3 stories or greater than 600 square meters. The following outlines the status of GBS actions as outlined in that Council report:
Actions Completed
- Rainwater Management
- Require drains in parking garages to connect to sanitary sewers instead of stormwater drains, to reduce overflows of combined rainwater and sewage into surrounding water bodies during periods of heavy rain.
- Solve issues related to greenroofs specific to Vancouver's climate with Homeowner Protection Office.
- In-Building Water Conservation
- Adopt low flush toilets in nonresidential buildings.
- Review and analyze cost impacts, benefits, and regulatory barriers to requiring dual flush toilets and Energy Star laundry machines and dishwashers.
- Transportation Demand Management
- Provide additional relaxations for minimum parking requirements to support alternative travel modes.
- Review the feasibility of unbundling parking requirements.
- Update requirements for secure bicycle parking and other end-of-trip facilities.
- Expand transportation demand management requirements for new developments.
- Develop requirements for accommodating charging of electric vehicles.
- Landscape and Ecology
- Develop guidelines for voluntary urban agricultural installations to contribute to support a sustainable food system.
- Develop voluntary guidelines for native and low-water use landscaping to reduce use of drinking water for irrigation, particularly during drought periods.
Actions Adopted
- Improve enforcement of Energy Utilization By-law requirements
- Adopt ASHRAE 90.1 2004 as new Energy Utilization By-law.
- Decrease overall building energy use requirements by 12-15% beyond ASHRAE 90.1 2001 to meet Natural Resources Canada Commercial Building Incentive Program requirements.
Actions in Process
- Rainwater Management
- Conduct analysis with recommendations and timeline for a city-wide storm water management plan for development.
- Develop on-site storm water management requirements for surface parking lots to reduce runoff and improve water quality, including oil separation and infiltration facilities.
- Heat Island Effect Mitigation
- Develop voluntary guidelines for greenroofs and high albedo Energy Star "cool" roof that maximize rain-water management, energy efficiency, habitat and aesthetics. (The albedo is the extent to which an object diffusely reflects light from the sun).
- Water Conservation
- Permit waterless urinals as accepted plumbing fixture based on ANSI standards.
- Develop requirements for low flow irrigations systems that will decrease water use by 50%.
- Energy Efficiency and GHG Reduction
- Develop energy use targets by building type as an alternative energy compliance path.
- Passive Design
- Evaluate passive design floor space ratio exclusions that were used in SEFC Olympic Village; access desirability and feasibility of extending exclusions more broadly; access compatibility of current design guidelines and regulations with passive design features. Promote solar design, natural ventilation and daylighting through site and building design to enance indoor occupant comfort and increased energy efficiency.
- Waste Diversion
- Develop mandatory Construction Waste Management Plans for all construction projects to be monitored through the building permit process.
- Develop recycling targets by analyzing existing building types and Metro Vancouver bans, recycling infrastructure and robustness of markets.
- Develop zoning guidelines and amendments for the Solid Waste By-law for improved in-building waste reduction facilities (waste, recyclables, organics) to support banned materials such as organic waste.
Green Building Strategy Council Policy Reports
For more information about the City's Green Building Strategy, contact David Ramslie.
