Overview
The Canada Green Building Council’s Zero Carbon Building - Performance Standard Version 2 (ZCB-Performance v2) Certification can be achieved by existing buildings. It is an annual verification of the performance of zero-carbon buildings. Certification is awarded based on 12 months of operations, and projects achieving certification may use the ZCB-Performance v2 certification mark.
Projects that are aiming to achieve the ZCB-Performance v2 certification
and have undergone a retrofit during the performance year
OR
Have ZCB-Design v2 certification and have not already fully offset their embodied carbon,
can use One Click LCA to do a life cycle assessment of their project to include with their submission.
Major renovations to existing buildings may pursue ZCB-Design v2 certification provided they include HVAC, envelope, and/or interior renovations that require a new certificate of occupancy and/or prevent normal building operations from occurring while they are in process.
Projects that have achieved ZCB-Design v2 are eligible to submit after 12 months of operations. The embodied carbon of the structural and envelope materials must be offset, either in the first ZCB-Performance v2 certification or in equal amounts annually over as many as five years. Projects that have not achieved ZCB-Design must be operational for at least three years to be eligible for ZCB-Performance certification.
Life-Cycle & Results Scope
The LCA must include all retrofit envelope and structural elements, including footings and foundations, and complete structural wall assemblies (from cladding to interior finishes, including basement), structural floors and ceilings (not including finishes), roof assemblies, and stairs. Parking structures are included; however, excavation and other site development, partitions, building services (electrical, mechanical, fire detection, alarm systems, elevators, etc.), and surface parking lots are excluded.
To encourage building material reuse, the LCA should include new materials only. Reused materials do not create additional emissions and should be excluded.
Projects that wish to evaluate their embodied carbon more fully may elect to include materials beyond the structure and envelope at their discretion, provided they are reported as a separate line item. For example, the fit-up of tenant spaces or the renovation of common areas may provide opportunities for embodied carbon reductions.
Guidance
Create your design
Create a new design and enable the "Net Zero Carbon Tool 2023" tool.
Building Materials
Fill in the building materials query of the design either manually or by import. Add all of the materials required by the calculation scope (see above). This information will be used to calculate the raw material harvesting, transportation and manufacturing impacts in A1-A3.
Transport
Once the correct materials and quantities are provided, set the transportation distances from material manufacturer to the project site and transport methods. The default transportation distances can be set up from the project’s LCA parameters page. If they are chosen, any material will use the average distance unless a more specific one is given in the query. This information will be used to calculate the impacts of material transportation in A4.
Material Service Life
Check the material service life. This information will be used to calculate the material replacements for B4-B5. Material service life means how long each material will last in your building. If the service life is less than 60 years the material will have to be replaced. From an environmental impact point of view, this means additional emissions from the production of new material that is needed to replace the old one. Each of the materials in One Click LCA database has a default service life. However, as the exposure conditions of the materials may vary, it may be good to check that the service life matches the condition of your building. It is especially important to check the external wall and roof material service lives’ as the weather conditions may vary greatly between areas.
Localisation (Optional)
Adjust the localisation of each material as needed (Expert feature). This information will be used to compensate for any material data chosen from another area to match your project’s local material manufacturing conditions.
Building Area
Fill in the building area query. This information will be used as a divider for the results in a separate result row and it will help you to understand how the results compare to other projects. Gross floor area is required.
Calculation Period
Set your calculation period as 60 years.
Additional Notes
Applicants must complete the ZCB-Performance v2 Workbook to demonstrate compliance with the ZCB-Performance requirements.
Projects pursuing ZCB-Performance v2 certification that complete a retrofit of structural or envelope materials in the performance year must also use this template to guide the reporting of embodied carbon associated with the retrofit project.
To provide an opportunity to influence design, project teams are encouraged to set a reduction goal early in the retrofit project. The embodied carbon report they submit must include a list of considered and/or implemented recommendations to reduce the embodied carbon of the retrofit project. The report submitted must be based on the final design. The LCA must assume a retrofit service life of 60 years. This service life ensures standardized reporting throughout the program and may not reflect the retrofit’s designed service life. If the service life of a product used in the retrofit is greater than the building’s assumed service life, the impacts associated with the product may not be discounted to reflect its remaining service life.
Life-cycle stage D is not included in the embodied carbon and does not need to be offset when seeking ZCB-Performance certification.