Yorkton Council has adjusted what standard in regards to the National Energy Code of Canada will operate.
Effective January 1, 2019, the Province’s Uniform Building and Accessibility Standards (UBAS) Act requires that municipalities administer and enforce regulations of The National Energy Code of Canada.
“Saskatchewan Building Officials and industry professionals have been working together to help standardize interpretation of the Energy Code and to minimize construction delays and building costs,” Michael Eger Director of Planning, Building & Development, with the City told the regular meeting of Council Monday.
As part of this process, it has been identified a potential issue relating to climatic values, and Administration is now seeking Council resolution, as the authority having jurisdiction, to make a clear determination, said Eger.
In terms of background an administrative report to Council detailed, “A significant component of the National Energy Code is to improve energy conservation methods, using climatic values to determine requirements. Climatic values are based on heating degree-days (HDD), which are a statistical representation of the number of degrees Celsius the daily mean temperature is below 18. Problematically, Yorkton sits exactly on the 6,000 HDD cut-off line which separates zone 7B (6,000 to 6,999 HDD) from the warmer zone 7A (5,000 to 5,999 HDD).”
“The net effect is that a slight temperature difference between Yorkton and communities immediately south, such as Melville, will require completely different construction methods. This is estimated to add a minimum cost of $5,000 for a standard new home and one to three percent to a commercial build. With relatively small gains in energy efficiency, it is not expected that an average homeowner would recover these costs over the duration of ownership,” said Eger.
But the savings do not seem to offset costs, said Eger.
“The City’s Official Community Plan makes statements supporting energy efficiency, affordable housing and also the local economy. Though we are supportive of improving energy efficiency, it is Administration’s opinion that the cost disparity created in zone 7B does not outweigh the modest energy efficiency gains, nor is it justified by the negligible temperature difference between Yorkton and the neighbouring climatic zone. Administration thusly recommends that Council declare Yorkton to be considered as part of zone 7A under the National Energy Code climatic values,” he said.
In the end Council was unanimous is support of a motion stating Pursuant to The Uniform Building and Accessibility Standards Act and (Part 1.1.4.1 1) of the National Energy Code of Canada, 2017, that climatic values for the City of Yorkton be established at those values equivalent to Zone 7A, as established therein.
