New suburbs go green lite

Home builders say that's because the Power Smart program is too rigid to really encourage greener homes, while environmentalists say tough, green building standards must be mandatory to really work.

Of the 150 homes built or under construction in Waverley West, just 20 meet Manitoba Hydro's Power Smart silver or gold standard. That's 13 per cent that earned the highest rating set out by the Doer government's signature climate-change program.

"It's disappointing," said Marten Duhoux, a local architect and chairman of Manitoba's Green Building Council. "That's a missed opportunity."

But Waverley West still boasts more Power Smart homes than most new suburbs, where only about five per cent of houses qualify for the gold or silver designation.

Home builders say Power Smart is too restrictive and needs to be reviewed to include a bigger menu of green options.

"If the Power Smart brand got someone to think, 'I'm gonna go to the website and learn about R-24 insulation and make sure my home is as energy-efficient as it can be,' then it still did its job, whether you've got the designation or not," said Manitoba Home Builders' Association president Mike Moore.

Buyers might also not bother to get the energy audit and fill out the paperwork proving their home is Power Smart, or they may have missed one small element on the must-have list.

Moore noted that Manitoba's new homes have topped the list for the most energy-efficient designs in Canada for two years running, as reported by the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance.

Manitoba Hydro says the current standards were originally developed in consultation with home builders who could have resolved their concerns at the outset.

But there could be a chance to rethink Power Smart.

A review of the program will be triggered by changes coming to the building code next year that are meant to make all new homes more energy- and water-efficient. As the code gets tougher, the Power Smart incentives to build beyond the code will need to get tougher, too.

But critics, including one of the home builders in Waverley West, say voluntary incentive programs don't really make a dent in the number of leaky, poorly insulated homes that contribute to climate change.

They say tough, mandatory standards need to be put in place for water and energy efficiency, with the extra cost built into the base price of the home.

"People say to themselves, 'If I can only get hardwood floors or Power Smart, what should I pick?' " said Liam Milne, sales and marketing director for Hearth Homes. "They always pick hardwood or granite countertops over Power Smart... If it's not easy, no one does it."

Milne also agreed that Power Smart isn't flexible enough to really encourage green building.

A homeowner might invest in a greywater recycling system but not quite meet the Power Smart standard for airtightness. That's still a very green home, but it wouldn't get the Power Smart stamp.

Duhoux and other local architects and environmentalists said the Doer government missed a chance to turn Waverley West into a model of really innovative green building. The Power Smart gold rating should be the bare minimum requirement for all new homes, especially since many European countries and American states such as California have set targets or passed legislation mandating that new buildings be "net zero emitters."

That means they produce as much energy from geothermal heat pumps, solar panels and the like as the home consumes.

"It's on the tail end of the way development is being done elsewhere," said Kristina Hunter, an instructor in the University of Manitoba's environment and geography department. "The trend is in the other direction to net zero. Some of the developments other cities are doing are just astounding...The data shows that you don't see results when it's voluntary. You have to mandate it."

Dwayne Rewniak, Manitoba Housing and Rehabilitation Corp.'s land development director, said the Doer government didn't mandate Power Smart in Waverley West because it's a voluntary consumer incentive program, not a legal requirement like the building code.

Builders are trying to promote it by building Power Smart show homes, though, and Waverley West has tons of other green elements, such as 25 per cent natural open space, 25 acres of mature forest, linear parks and streets designed to maximize passive solar energy.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 13, 2009 B1