The commercial construction industry in North America could be in danger of losing a competitive edge unless it improves the energy efficiency of its buildings.

Peter Garforth, an energy productivity consultant with offices in Toledo, Ohio, and Brussels, told participants at the sixth annual Sustainable Buildings Symposiums in Edmonton and Calgary last week that sustainable buildings offer a path to profit.

“I’ve avoided the environmental issue, not because I don’t believe in it, but because we need to look at the economics,” he said in an interview with Business Edge.

Energy-efficiency requirements for the construction and operation of buildings in Europe are more strict than in North America. European buildings are required to be energy efficient in operation after people move in. North American rules cover only material used in construction.

Above, Edmonton’s new North Division police station met the CBIP standard, while below, the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Middle School is taking advantage of natural light and ventilation.

As a result, European companies have experience in the construction of buildings with lower energy costs.

Newer buildings in the United States use 200 to 500 kilowatt hours per square metre per year. New European Union buildings are using 150 kilowatt hours per square metre per year.

This gives Europeans an advantage when they compete with North American companies for contracts overseas, for example in China, which is experiencing a construction boom and also has strict energy-consumption regulations.

Top European contractors export 51.2 per cent of their work; the comparable U.S. figure is 24.6 per cent, Garforth said.



But energy efficiency, and its profile in light of the Kyoto accord, also offer opportunities at home.

North Americans spend about $1 trillion a year on energy, of which 37 per cent or about $400 billion US goes to non-industrial buildings. Buildings consume 60 per cent of our electricity and 60 per cent of our electricity is generated from coal. Buildings are thus a major source of carbon dioxide.

Find a way to reduce the energy demand of buildings and you find cost savings and cut carbon dioxide emissions.

“This isn’t: ‘Do the right thing because it’s good for the planet.’ It’s good old-fashioned Adam Smith 101, human greed,” Garforth said.

The cheapest energy is always the energy you save, he added. Scrap metal dealers have known for 1,000 years that there is money in scrap, but the energy industry is still working on the concept.

“As we go forward, let’s live in the reality that reducing energy is not adding cost, it’s adding value. Let’s think like scrap metal dealers,” he said.

Symposium participants heard about two projects where Alberta taxpayers will save money on energy consumption.

Brian Oakley, supervisor of architecture and structural design for the Edmonton public works department, said the capital city has two buildings in its inventory which meet the federal government’s Commercial Building Incentive Program (CBIP) standard.

CBIP, administered by Natural Resources Canada, gives financial incentives to buildings that save 25 per cent over the Model National Energy Code for Buildings. An Edmonton operations building and the new North Division Police Station both met the CBIP standard, with the Terwilligar Fire Station coming in at 24.9 per cent.

The South Division Police Station, tendered in late April, is also aimed at green targets using some of the same techniques that worked at the north station.

The North Division Police Station came in at 43 per cent more efficiency than the model building code. A skylit central corridor helps light the two-storey linear building and the building envelope is airtight. Architectural devices such as sunshades and light shelves at windows limit heat gain and maximize the light entering the building. Tinted glass helps reduce the solar load and lights automatically switch on and off using occupancy sensors. The heating boilers are 95-per-cent efficient. Outside air is ducted directly to local fan coils, reducing ducting by 60 per cent.

In Red Deer, the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Middle School is one of the first CBIP-certified schools in Alberta, according to a presentation by architect Craig Webber and Red Deer Catholic’s planning co-ordinator Ken Jaeger. The school will open this fall for Grades 6 to 9.

Natural light and ventilation will be used as much as possible, electrical service is planned at 35 per cent less than for comparable schools, and water consumption will be minimized with low-water flush fixtures and restricted-flow faucets. Photovoltaic cells will charge the batteries for the backup and night-lighting system.

The energy savings amount to 48.6 per cent, or $30,000 a year.

Data from monitoring the school’s systems will be put on the Net so that students can benefit.