Investing in green: 11 energy efficient building projects to share $2.5M in government incentives

Located near Clark SkyTrain Station, 2150 Keith Drive is a proposed 10-storey office building in East Vancouver. It is targeting the top step of the BC Energy Step Code as well as LEED Gold and Salmon Safe certifications. (Dialog)

Residences at three universities, a community art space in Vancouver and apartment buildings across British Columbia are among the winners of a provincial government competition for energy efficient design and construction.

A total of 11 building projects from around the province were selected as winners of the Net-Zero Energy-Ready Challenge, part of the government's CleanBC program.

Each of the winning designs will receive up to $390,000 in financial incentives to offset the costs associated with building to the highest energy-efficiency standards. The program offered a total of $2.5 million in incentives, funded by both the provincial government and Natural Resources Canada.

Of the 11 winning projects, five are located in Metro Vancouver, three on Vancouver Island, and three in B.C.'s Interior.

Six of the winners are aiming for "Passive House" certification, an acknowledgment that their buildings are designed to minimize the amount of energy needed for heating and cooling. Passive House buildings consume up to 90 per cent less energy than traditional buildings, according Passive House Canada, the certifying organization.

The rest of the winning designs are aiming for the top step of the BC Energy Step Code, a provincial program that sets energy efficiency targets for building construction. The code does not specify how buildings must be designed, but rather sets targets for how efficiently the building uses energy.

The BC Energy Step Code is part of the province's goal of making all new buildings "net-zero energy-ready" by 2032. A "net-zero energy" building is one that produces as much energy - through rooftop solar panels or other renewable sources - as it consumes.

Among the more notable winners are proposed student residences at the University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia's Okanagan campus, as well as an office building proposed for Keith Drive near the East Van cross in Vancouver and a building that will be owned by the City of Vancouver for use as a "multi-purpose arts and culture hub."

The full list of winning projects follows. For more information, view the gallery.