Addenda for ZCB-Design and ZCB-Performance
Green Building Team on January 8, 2025
- Rating System/Standard
- Zero Carbon Building
- Theme
- Certification essentials
- Certification updates
- Zero Carbon
Important updates have been made to the ZCB-Design v3 and ZCB-Performance v2 standards. The addenda incorporate clarifications, corrections, and alternative approaches to meet the requirements of the standards.
ZCB-Design v3 Updates
Key changes include:
Electricity: Clarity was provided to address electricity used by electric vehicle charging stations that service vehicles used outside the project site.
Avoided Emissions from Carbon Offsets: The list of eligible carbon offset programs was expanded to include those sourced from Canadian provincial or federal carbon offset programs.
District Energy: Additional transition planning guidance was provided for buildings that are connected to combustion-based district energy systems.
No Onsite Combustion: Clarity was provided to address the exclusion of emergency backup generators in the No Onsite Combustion path.
Backup generators: A definition was added to further clarify what constitutes an emergency back-up system.
The v3 Energy Modelling Guidelines have been updated to accompany the addenda to ZCB-Design v3, including key changes such as guidance on determining EUI targets for mixed-use buildings, selecting the climate zone, and understanding the seasonal coefficient of performance for the No Onsite Combustion path.
ZCB-Performance v2 Updates
The most notable change to ZCB-Performance v2 is an expansion of the eligible carbon offset programs to include those sourced from Canadian provincial or federal carbon offset programs.
Each standard includes an appendix that provides a full list of addenda.
As a reminder, teams are encouraged to adopt the latest Workbooks – you can read about the recent updates here.