ZEBx

About this event 

This session will cover best practices for, and common barriers to, decarbonizing HVAC systems in existing commercial buildings, with a focus on Rootftop Units.  

In this ZEBx Decarb Lunch, we’ll share learnings from the City of Vancouver’s recent On-Site Barriers to Commercial Building Equipment Electrification Study, highlighting both the obstacles and practical solutions for decarbonizing HVAC systems. We’ll also hear about fuel-switching in action with a peek inside Vancity Credit Union’s pilot HVAC retrofit.  

As energy efficiency and carbon pollution become standard considerations for new and existing buildings, the supply chain is responding with new and innovative products that make energy-efficient and climate-friendly buildings more achievable than ever. 

About this event 

Extreme heat and poor air quality during wildfires are already affecting buildings, communities, and public health. Local governments and building professionals need practical strategies to address this challenge while advancing decarbonization goals. 

Join ZEBx for our September Decarb Lunch to explore practical, cost-effective strategies for reducing embodied carbon from pre-design through construction. 

For our fourth tour of 2025, ZEBx invites you to the recently completed Timbre and Harmony residential development by Brightside Community Homes Foundation. Located in Vancouver’s Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood, the project replaces two aging low-rise buildings that provided only 57 units of rental housing with a two-building, 157-unit complex.

On Thursday, June 12, ZEBx will be hosting its 3rd building tour of 2025. Located in Vancouver, the Chief Leonard George building sets the gold standard for Indigenous housing. The project entails a redevelopment of an existing three-storey building, which previously offered 27 affordable rental suites for urban Indigenous singles and families and is currently under construction.

Too often, addressing the housing and climate crises are seen as conflicting priorities. In reality, Canada urgently needs to both decarbonize its building stock and increase the supply of affordable housing. 

Join us for ZEBx’s second tour of 2025. We'll be visiting a Vancouver duplex just finishing construction, designed by Scott Kennedy of Cornerstone Architecture. For those who have been following Cornerstone Architecture, it won't come as a surprise to know that this building is designed to meet the Passive House standard and the top step of the Zero Carbon Step Code. It's an all-electric building that's packed with the latest cleantech, including a Longi solar array, an EG4 battery, and VanAir ventilated interior doors.

With their ability to provide highly efficient electric heating and cooling, heat pumps are our most promising and important building decarbonization technology. Installing a heat pump in a commercial building can be complex and requires careful engineering and attention to detail.

Join us April 3 as City of Vancouver staff share insights from the first year of the City’s mandatory energy and carbon reporting program and preview what industry can expect in the current reporting cycle and beyond.