The University of Northern BC’s Wood Innovation Research Lab has achieved something no other building in North America has been able to.
The WIRL has met the internationally recognized standard for energy efficiency, earning the distinction of being Passive House-certified. Certified Passive House buildings use up to 90% less energy for heating and cooling compared to regular buildings, and 70% less energy overall.
When comparing this space to a regular shop or lab, Master of Engineering in Integrated Wood Design Program Chair Dr. Guido Wimmers says there the WIRL is miles ahead.
“If your building isn’t airtight, it will always cool down very quickly in winter time, or potentially overheat in the summertime,” he explains.
“Those two things are different in our building so we have a superior airtightness and we do have very good insulation layers which maintain that stable climate on the inside.”
?? We did it! The Wood Innovation Research Lab has achieved #PassiveHouse certification for energy efficiency! https://t.co/TlXFVQZpzn ??#ThisIsUNBC /1 pic.twitter.com/iFlTYf4oIs
— UNBC (@UNBC) July 12, 2018
Students benefit from that greatly, says Dr. Wimmers, and they even helped design it.
“Some students of the 2016 cohort were part of the feasibility study. We had students in the 2017 cohort be involved in a bit more detailed design phase and also creating building information models. The current cohort developed an approach to optimize the acoustic performance in the lab.”
?️ You won't catch a draft in WIRL! Not only is it the first building of its type on the continent to achieve Passive House certification, it also set a new North American air tightness record. ?️ /3
— UNBC (@UNBC) July 12, 2018
Dr. Wimmers and Master of Engineering program graduate Stephanie Wall produced a comparative life-cycle assessment, looking at the wood-based Passive House design of WIRL compared to other wood-based and steel-based designs. The wood designs contained much less embodied energy compared with the steel building designs. The Passive House buildings use much less energy operationally, and the wood-Passive House design scored the best overall.
With a score of 0.07, WIRL surpassed the Passive House requirement by nearly a factor of ten.
Video courtesy Stantec Inc/YouTube