The building industry can significantly contribute to meeting municipal, regional and provincial emissions-reduction targets for 2030 and 2050. The Province and forward-thinking municipalities are laying the groundwork with phased-in policy adoption. To support both industry and government in this transition, the NearZero program was created with five main objectives:

• Identify the challenges and solutions associated with scaling up new near-zero-emissions buildings

• Gather data on construction costs, energy cost savings and operational performance

• Provide real world data and insight to municipalities and utilities to help inform upcoming policy and resource planning

• Catalyze increased adoption through associated knowledge sharing

The NearZero program, launched in 2018,  was originally developed to support adoption of high performance construction, such as homes that meet the top steps of the Energy Step Code and those targeting the Passive House standard. Following the early success of Stream 1, the program has grown in both geographic range and scope:

• Stream 1: high performance homes/low operational carbon. (2018-2021, province-wide)
• Stream 2: low embodied carbon home construction. (2023 – present, City of Vancouver)
• Stream 3: Fuel switching gas fired domestic hot water equipment to electric. (2023-2024, City of Vancouver)
• Stream 4: assessing energy usage of high performance homes and dual fuel heat pump retrofits. (2023 – present, province wide)