The Smart Sustainable Resilient Infrastructure Association (SSRIA), a not-for-profit association dedicated to finding innovative solutions to reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in buildings, has approved funding for the first three projects as part of its Green Building Technology Network (GBTN) program.
“The operations of our buildings account for 20 per cent of GHG emissions in Canada and as high as two-thirds of emissions in Alberta’s largest cities,” said Pamela Goertzen, Executive Director of SSRIA. “Our focus on industry collaboration and innovation will drive the development and dissemination of validated solutions to reduce building related emissions while supporting the global competitiveness of Alberta’s Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industry.”
The approved projects, all located in Edmonton, were reviewed by an independent panel of industry subject matter experts. These and future GBTN projects will be testing and validating innovative solutions to reduce energy use of the test buildings and demonstrate how those solutions can be successfully implemented at a larger scale. The approved projects include:
- A new academic building at Concordia University of Edmonton that will use made in Alberta fiberglass curtainwall combined with vacuum insulated glass to improve the energy performance of the building envelope (SSRIA Project Lead – Manasc Isaac Architects)
“We are inspired to keep moving the needle on high-performance building envelope solutions, especially at this time of pandemic, when we rely more than ever on regenerative buildings to meet health and climate challenges.”- Vedran Škopac, Manasc Isaac Architects - A new multi-unit residential building (MURB) which will be used to evaluate Net Zero Energy Ready design and gain important information about the interaction of energy consumption and solar PV power generation at the community level (SSRIA Project Lead – Landmark Group)
“ With the new tiered code, the homebuilding industry needs an affordable and replicable net zero ready solution for MURBs. GBTN’s funding enables us to take this challenge and work with the University of Alberta’s research team to fully understand the impacts of large scale net zero home adoption.” – Haitao Yu, Landmark Group of Companies - A deep energy retrofit project that will use off-site constructed exterior panels to significantly and quickly improve the energy performance of the three residential homes (Project Lead – Butterwick Projects)
“We are excited to continue the innovation of our deep energy retrofit technology for single family homes with the help of SSRIA’s funding. Our goal is to empower home owners to drastically reduce their energy use via this affordable, non-invasive transformation of their homes into net zero energy buildings.” – Dave Butterwick, Butterwick Projects
Additional projects are currently being reviewed, with future project application intakes planned for the new year. SSRIA continues to look for testbed building projects from across Alberta, in both rural and urban centres, that incorporate innovative products, technologies or processes driving greenhouse gas reductions.
The funding for the GBTN is jointly provided by the Alberta Innovates Clean Resources – Clean Technology Program and Western Economic Diversification Canada. In addition, Project Teams will be leveraging the public funding through in-kind or cash contributions.
For more information about SSRIA, the announced projects or future funding opportunities, please visit www.ssria.ca.
About SSRIA
SSRIA is a not for profit association in Alberta that is fostering collaborative and innovative partnerships that can achieve a path to 40% greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030 while positioning Canada as a global leader in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry. SSRIA also supports the growth of Alberta SME’s who are developing innovative building products and technologies and ensures the current and emerging workforce have the necessary skills to work with those innovations.
Contact Information
Pamela Goertzen
Executive Director
SSR Infrastructure Association
780-702-1201
pam@ssria.ca