The Energy Mix

Top Menu

  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact

Main Menu

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

logo

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
Advanced Search
BuildingsCanadaCitiesClimate Impacts & AdaptationDrought, Famine & WildfiresHeat & TemperatureSevere Storms & FloodingSub-National Governments
Home›Demand & Distribution›Buildings›Canada’s New Building Code Aims for ‘Culture of Thinking About Resiliency’

Canada’s New Building Code Aims for ‘Culture of Thinking About Resiliency’

January 9, 2020
January 9, 2020
 
144
0
Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  Print This Story
Wilson Hui/Flickr

Canada’s updated national building code this year is set to begin addressing the climate crisis for the first time, with further refinements to follow in revisions scheduled every five years.

“The new code will upgrade building requirements for wind resistance and how buildings bear snow loads. There will be new rules for rainwater collection. Automatic backflow systems will be compulsory to reduce flooding risk,” The Canadian Press reports. “New standards related to climate change are also on the way for windows, exterior insulation, fire tests, air barriers, and asphalt shingles.”

Like this story? Subscribe to The Energy Mix and never miss an edition of our free e-digest.

SUBSCRIBE

“Climate change, the fact that we now see a rapid change of that environment, is a new focus for us,” said Frank Lohmann, manager of code development at the National Research Council (NRC). Which is why this year’s revisions are just the start, and “the major action will come in 2025”.

Over the last five years, a team of more than 100 researchers worked with another 100 outside organizations, including universities, provinces, and municipalities, in a $42.5-million project that “considered how changing weather and the new norms it brings will affect stresses on buildings, roads, wastewater, transit, bridges, and other infrastructure,” CP writes.

“We’re going to see change in the way we’re designing new buildings to help prevent the spread of wildfire, prevent the damage from flooding,” said NRC research officer Marianne Armstrong. “We want to create a culture of thinking about resiliency.”

As one part of that effort, “the research council is building a database predicting climate stresses under different scenarios for every region of the country,” with researchers “looking into how those stresses are likely to affect the durability of walls and roofs,” CP writes. “Some are developing new guidelines for how structures can better resist higher flood levels. Others are working on how to ensure buildings stay cool during hotter heat waves.”

“Just now we’re getting the data together for those future climate conditions and coming up with how to design for it,” Armstrong told the news agency. “That information will be finished by 2020 and in time to be considered for the next cycle of changes to the building code.”

CP says the United States, New Zealand, and Australia are all doing similar work on building code revisions, with Armstrong stating Canada “is a few years ahead of the game”. But actual implementation of the new code will depend on the way the knowledge crosses over among jurisdictions:

While the NRC “writes the national building code, it has no force until it is adopted by provinces or territories, which write their own regulations,” the news agency explains. “That means scientific advice may be reflected in a variety of ways—from outright rules to guidelines to incentive programs.”

TagsCanada Net Zero - Action PracticeCities - Solutions
Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  Print This Story

Find more stories about
BuildingsCanadaCitiesClimate Impacts & AdaptationDrought, Famine & WildfiresHeat & TemperatureSevere Storms & FloodingSub-National Governments

    Leave a reply Cancel reply

    Recent Posts

    • BREAKING: Powering Past Coal Alliance Urges Faster Phaseout While Co-Founders Allow New Coal Mines
      BREAKING: Powering Past Coal Alliance Urges Faster Phaseout While Co-Founders Allow New Coal Mines
      March 3, 2021
    • Windsor, Ontario Courts Investor for $2-Billion Battery Manufacturing Plant
      Windsor, Ontario Courts Investor for $2-Billion Battery Manufacturing Plant
      March 3, 2021
    • Seven in 10 Canadian Car Shoppers Plan to Go Electric
      Seven in 10 Canadian Car Shoppers Plan to Go Electric
      March 3, 2021
    • Fracked U.S. Gas the Main Culprit as Toronto GHG Emissions Rise 7% in 2018
      Fracked U.S. Gas the Main Culprit as Toronto GHG Emissions Rise 7% in 2018
      March 3, 2021
    • Canadian Environmental Justice Bill Set for Commons Debate [Petition]
      Canadian Environmental Justice Bill Set for Commons Debate [Petition]
      March 3, 2021

    News Feed

    Top News

    • South Africa Coal Closures Put Tens of Thousands of Jobs at Risk
      March 4, 2021
    • Montrealers Battle to Save Urban Forest from Clearcutting
      March 4, 2021

    Read More

    Carbon-Free Transition

    • Philippines Plans Massive Solar Development
      March 4, 2021
    • Passivhaus Challenge Shows How Long Homes Can Go Without Heat
      March 4, 2021

    Read More

    Canada

    • Montrealers Battle to Save Urban Forest from Clearcutting
      March 4, 2021
    • Globe and Mail Pans Ontario Hwy 413 as ‘$6-Billion Sprawl Accelerator’
      March 4, 2021

    Read More

    U.S.

    • Kern County, California is Oil Country, and Wants to Stay That Way
      March 4, 2021
    • Blumenauer Introduces Tax Credit for Bicycle Commuters
      March 4, 2021

    Read More

    International

    • South Africa Coal Closures Put Tens of Thousands of Jobs at Risk
      March 4, 2021
    • Australian Transmission Firm Buys In to 1.5 GW of Renewable Supply
      March 4, 2021

    Read More

    • About the Energy Mix
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy and Copyright
    Copyright 2020 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.