Abstract
This chapter discusses the approach taken by Housing Nova Scotia (HNS) between 2014 and 2016 to address the need to build more energy-efficient housing. Working with Passive House (PH) consultants, HNS has designed and built three PH affordable housing pilot projects. The challenges and responses HNS faces in managing its existing housing portfolio are first described followed by a description of how and why the PH standard was adopted. For each project, a description of the context, design, and construction is provided with tables highlighting materials and systems used, modeled, and actual energy usage as well as cost comparisons between PH and code-built construction. The chapter concludes with the lessons learnt through this experience as they apply to Nova Scotia.
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Notes
- 1.
Information in this section is from internal HNS sources.
- 2.
HNS internal documents.
- 3.
We do not have accurate readings from the energy monitoring system and instead NSP bills were used from June 13, 2016, to June 12, 2017.
- 4.
This figure is from Statistics Canada (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-526-s/11-526-s2013002-eng.pdf) Table 4–1 Average household energy use, by household and dwelling characteristics, 2011—gigajoules per m 2 of heated area (0.71GJ*156.5 SM = 111GJ per unit). This is equivalent to 2570 ekWh/month per unit.
References
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Kawar, R. (2019). Passive House Standard: A Strategic Mean for Building Affordable Sustainable Housing in Nova Scotia. In: Walker, T., Krosinsky, C., Hasan, L.N., Kibsey, S.D. (eds) Sustainable Real Estate. Palgrave Studies in Sustainable Business In Association with Future Earth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94565-1_14
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