On the way to Net Zero

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Home builders seek ways to help City of Toronto meet energy efficiency targets

The City of Toronto’s goal of becoming completely net zero by 2040 was too lofty to succeed the day it was announced as it is today.

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But according to various stakeholders, Toronto City Council’s ambitious target to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2040 wasn’t the point to begin with.

“If we made targets that weren’t ambitious, we wouldn’t be incentivized to do anything about it,” said Duncan Rowe, principal at RJC Engineers, an engineering and building construction firm.

“What’s considered aggressive at a certain time may not be aggressive 10 years later. The construction industry has always had long lag times even though there’s a lot of good thought and effort that goes into our industry. We just have to be careful we don’t become complacent on the targets.”

One component of attaining net zero energy is implementing deep energy retrofits — overhauling a building’s mechanical system to reduce its energy consumption — which are expensive.

Condos are especially challenging because they typically use windows in lieu of traditional walls. “It’s proving difficult to decarbonize those buildings,” Rowe said. “It’s proving much more difficult to retrofit to net zero.

“We don’t have great off-the-shelf options yet for a window wall that the industry is happy with. It’s something we’re working on with some universities to find better solutions for that process because we know everything’s going to come to a head in about 10 years. We’re trying to get ahead of that.”

According to the City of Toronto, the primary sources of GHG emissions are homes and buildings (57 per cent), mainly from burning natural gas to heat space and water.

James Nowlan, the City of Toronto’s executive director for environment and climate, estimates there are more than 475,000 buildings in the city, the vast majority of which use natural gas for heating.

Nowlan acknowledged the unlikelihood of meeting the 2040 target, “We’re at risk of not hitting 2040 because of the amount of things that need to happen between now and then. Obviously, it’s an ambitious target, but if we get close to net zero by 2040 that wouldn’t be a total failure,”

The crux of the issue is cost, with newly built residences offering the clearest path to net zero.

Sean.ca is a net-zero townhouse and mid-rise developer in the Simcoe area whose owner, Sean Mason, touts gentle density as the cost-effective solution to eco-friendly development.

Sean.ca is building Rainwater in Barrie, consisting of 35 all-electric, geothermal townhomes to go along with five-storey, 38-unit mid-rise condo that’s geothermal and built with cross-laminated timber.

With rooftop solar panel fittings, the townhouses are “net zero-ready.” That’s crucial because solar panels cost $30,000 to $60,000 today, but they’re rapidly becoming lighter and more efficient.

“The panels are starting to drop so much that in a couple of years, they’re going to be 10 to $15,000,” Mason said. “You don’t need as many to generate the same amount of power.”

But keeping costs low, Mason added, requires designing homes that optimize every square inch without sacrificing comfort.

“On our last set, a solar panel was an estimated $22,000 for a townhouse,” he continued. “If you get a big bungalow, it’s more expensive, but I build very efficiently and use really simple roof lines, so it’s very easy to put the panels on afterwards