ZEBx

Heat pumps continue to grow in popularity across British Columbia, as many homeowners are seeking to add cooling (and energy-efficient heating) to their home. Installation quality, however, can vary due to a variety of factors including improper sizing or system set up. Poor installations can give heat pumps a bad rap. This ZEBx Decarb Lunch will explore some of the critical heat pump design best practices that lead to better outcomes during installation.

The B.C. supply chain for heat pumps continues to grow to meet the constant demand for electric heat pumps. For the 12th ZEBx Tech Demo, we'll be featuring the latest and greatest from Daikin, an industry heavyweight with 16 years of local representation.

This ZEBx Decarb Lunch will explore how zero carbon buildings can be delivered faster, more efficiently, and with stronger performance outcomes through prefabrication, integrated modelling, and mass timber innovation. The Royal Roads University John Horgan Campus building is a recently completed (summer 2025) 5-storey academic building with a full mass timber structure and an innovative prefabricated wall panel system. The project is all electric, ZCB Design certified, and designed to comply with LEED v4. 

At this upcoming ZEBx Decarb Lunch, we’ll explore insights from a new Part 9 Mechanical Costing Study conducted by Ecolighten, ZEIC, and CEA — and what this preliminary research may mean for managing HVAC costs in BC homes. The study compiles and analyzes installed costs for a range of heating and cooling systems in new Part 9 homes, including gas-fired equipment, electric boilers, and air-to-water heat pumps.  

The first ZEBx Decarb Lunch webinar of 2026 will be co-hosted with Canadian Home Builders’ Association of BC (CHBA BC). In this one-hour webinar, speakers Pauline Rupp of CHBA BC, Mark Bernhardt of Bernhardt Contracting and Henri Belisle of TQ Construction will draw on the latest CHBA BC data of over 8,500 as-built Hot2000 energy models to examine real-world building industry results and practical approaches to reducing carbon emissions in Part 9 residential construction. 

As the building sector strives to play a more active role in curbing global warming while also adapting to a changing climate, it’s becoming clear that some of the metrics guiding our progress—energy, cost, and carbon—can no longer be treated separately. Join ZEBx for a Decarb Lunch where reload and UBC Campus & Community Planning unveil findings from an investigation into how best to push forward with the higher levels of the BC Energy Step Code and BC Zero Carbon Step Code when cost and whole life carbon are also considered. 

As B.C. businesses electrify and cooling loads rise, managing peak electricity demand is becoming more important than ever.

Demand response programs are helping businesses to shift some of their electricity use out of peak demand periods, and putting money back into their pockets. Load shifting can result in a more stable and resilient energy system. Simple tactics can be employed to help commercial building owners and managers take advantage of BC Hydro’s Demand Response Behavioural program.

About this event

To many, building to BC Energy Step Code 4 and BC Zero Carbon Step Code Emissions Level (EL) 4 for Part 9 homes can seem ambitious — especially in the cold, cost-conscious East Kootenays. Yet real-world experience shows that high-performance, low-carbon homes can be built cost-effectively, comfortably, and reliably when design, construction, and energy advising work hand in hand.

What is the gold standard for new buildings? For years, two parallel discussions have been taking place. In one, there are those that elevate operational emissions reductions enabled by standards such as the Zero Carbon Step Code, Energy Step Code and Passive House, as well as regulations like the Vancouver Building Bylaw. In the other, it's all about the embodied carbon reductions through the use of low-carbon building materials, efficient design of space and form, and circularity. For our next tour, we bring it all together.

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.