High performance housing standards in Canada, including ENERGY STAR, Net-Zero Energy and Passive House, require large amounts of insulation compared to homes designed and built to conventional code requirements. ![]() Furthermore, our team is investigating the total cost of building ownership, building capture technologies and processes, building design and condition assessment, and post-occupancy monitoring, verification and assessment protocols. The retrofit uses a prefabricated panel methodology and approach to install above-grade exterior walls and roof assemblies. Phase 3: Exterior retrofit of an affordable housing projectīuilding on the lessons learned from Phase 1 of the project, our team, in collaboration with Ottawa Community Housing, has now embarked on a deep energy retrofit (to net-zero energy performance) of a four unit, two-storey housing project built in the early 1960’s. Ensuring conditions are not favourable for mould and fungal growth are the main durability evaluation criteria. This involved installing temperature, relative humidity, heat flux, and moisture content sensors in the wall assemblies used in Phase 1, thereby allowing us to measure the in-situ hygrothermal response of the assemblies to actual (Ottawa) climate loads over several years. To understand how moisture transfer occurs through the retrofitted wall assemblies, our team at CanmetENERGY developed and implemented a monitoring protocol. Phase 2: Monitoring exterior wall assemblies ![]() This approach promises to dramatically improve energy efficiency and enhance aesthetics, while addressing the above-noted barriers including project costs and complexity of conventional retrofits. We focused on developing technologies and processes to apply two types of prefabricated wall panels and component prototypes in order to retrofit an existing building from the outside. In 2017, our team at CanmetENERGY Ottawa (CE-O) initiated a proof-of-concept, pilot-scale field installation process. This research project is undertaken in several phases as outlined below. The PEER project addresses the need for energy-efficient exterior wall retrofits through the adoption of a prefabricated solution for existing dwellings. Research has shown that there are many barriers to exterior wall retrofits, including unpredictable costs, occupant and neighbour disruption, long completion times, and risks related to moisture. This, despite the fact that exterior walls can account for 25-35% of heat lost in the typical existing home. Nearly one million homes have benefitted from retrofit program incentives to date, but exterior wall insulation improvements are historically uncommon. More than two-thirds of these dwellings were built before the existence of residential energy efficiency standards. Prefabricated Exterior Energy Retrofits (PEER)Ĭanada’s 14.5 million dwellings account for more than one sixth of national energy use, and close to 14% of Canada’s energy-related GHG emissions. Design and construct the CanmetENERGY Ottawa Envelope Research Building, and establish (in collaboration with Carleton University) the Centre for Advanced Building Envelope Research (CABER), located at CanmetENERGY OttawaĪ description of each priority area is provided below along with a brief description of sub-projects that support each research priority.Prefabricated, highly insulated thin walls for new housing.Prefabricated exterior envelope technologies and assemblies for the retrofit of existing housing.Our research focuses on three priority areas: ![]() We aim to do this for both retrofits and new construction, using factory-fabrication processes, innovative insulation materials, and cost-saving construction methods. Our team is developing, testing, and validating innovative building envelope technologies to improve the energy efficiency of the envelope assembly by at least 50% (compared to current building codes) and to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (compared to current construction practices). Program: Built Environment Project description Project location: CanmetENERGY Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
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