Setting the Standard for Zero Carbon Buildings
Joyce Centre for Partnership and Innovation to be pilot for carbon-free building standard
The Canada Green Building Council® (CaGBC) has released a Zero Carbon Buildings Framework that will become the standard for zero carbon buildings in Canada and Mohawk's Joyce Centre for Partnership and Innovation will be the pilot that will help determine the requirements for the verification process.
“Our focus on carbon emissions as opposed to energy in this framework flows from the increasing urgency to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from buildings,” says Thomas Mueller, President and CEO of the CaGBC in a media release sent today. “By embarking on this important initiative, the CaGBC is providing the market with a state-of -the-art guideline and, soon, the third-party verification and support required to make net zero carbon buildings a reality in the near future.”
The next phases of the Zero Carbon Initiative include the identification of specific pathways to zero carbon, a zero carbon building pilot program, and the development of a verification program to be completed and launched by CaGBC by the end of the second quarter of 2017.
Opening in 2018, the Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation will comprise 90,000 square feet of state-of-the-art labs, workshops, lecture theatres, industry training centres and showcases under one iconic roof at Mohawk College’s Fennell Campus.More than a bold aesthetic statement, the Centre embodies Mohawk’s vision to be the environmental leader its students, staff and partners expect. The Centre will be a Net-Zero energy building, producing as much or more energy as it consumes.
“Further strengthening our leadership in environmental sustainability is a strategic priority for Mohawk College. Constructing one of the first net-zero energy institutional buildings in Ontario delivers on our commitment, and we are honoured to have the Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation serve as the country’s first pilot project for Canada Green Building Council.”
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Mohawk College educates and serves more than 29,500 full-time, part-time, apprenticeship and international students at three main campuses in Hamilton, Ontario and learning hubs across Hamilton through City School by Mohawk, and at the College’s Centre for Aviation Technology at the Hamilton International Airport. Mohawk is among the top five colleges for applied research in Canada. It has been named one of Canada’s greenest employers seven years in a row, holds a GOLD STARS rating from AASHE for sustainability achievements and is home to the country’s largest and first institutional building to receive dual certification for Zero Carbon Building Framework design and performance for The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation. More than 135,000 people have graduated from Mohawk since it was founded.