Energy Efficient Condos Building Outside Government Programs

COLUMBUS, OH

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JOHN SHEARER

NewBee

Energy Efficient Condos Building Outside Government Programs

I was wondering if anyone knew why condo builders who are building geothermal and/or green condos seem to not be utilizing any of the benefits that CMHC and Natural Resources Canada provide for them.

CMHC will give a 10% premium rebate to any new home purchaser who's builder builds under a recognized green building program. There is a long list of such programs.

I have asked 2 of the builders about whether they are recognized by any of the programs or if they submitted their building plans to NRCan to have then analyzed and neither of them had any idea what I was talking about.

My guess is maybe their is a cost to having NRCan review the condo plans to determine if it is 25% more energy efficient than average under the Model National Energy Code and the builders don't see the benefit from a sales perspective of passing these savings to the purchasers.

I was wondering if anyone in the building community even knew of these programs for new condos and if they could shed light on why I reach deaf ears when I try to determine if a builder is recognized or has built with these opportunities in mind

Canada / New Home Q&A

DAVIES SMITH

NewBee

Hi John.
Our Ironstone building in Burlington is an energy efficient building that uses geothermal heating and cooling. It also uses energy star appliances, green roofing, low flow chrome faucets, etc. If we were to go for LEED certification, we would have about a silver rating. However, we do not subscribe to any of the Energy-Efficient Building Programs described on CMHC’s website. Purchasers however can apply for a refund using the Energy-efficient Premium Refund Form.

JOHN SHEARER

NewBee

Thanks for the response. I understand the benefits of your building as I myself actually bought a unit in it.
Unfortunately a purchaser can't just apply for a refund based on the fact that a builder WOULD qualify if they chose to subscribe. For detached homes its fairly simple because an energy advisor can simply come out and do an audit and determine the energy rating.
It us my understanding though that for Condos the entire building must qualify making such audits impossible, if not entirely impractical for individual owners.
From the Refund form "If you are purchasing a condominium unit, the building in which the unit you purchase must be 25% more energy-efficient than if constructed to meet the requirements of the Model National Energy Code for Buildings (MNECB)."
This is a process that as far as I know has to be done in the planning stages.
II have encountered this problem with a number of clients who want to obtain CMHC refunds but are not able to due to for that reason.
It has started to come up more as more buildings that DO qualify if the Builder so chose to allow them to are built

DAVIES SMITH

NewBee

Hi John,
Thanks for the information. This is something we will definitely look into in the future.