New building energy efficiency mandates being introduced by the federal government could add an estimated $55,000 to the average cost of a new home in Canada. As part of the government’s 2030 emissions reduction plan, the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, the federal government is planning to decarbonize the building sector by making new and existing buildings more energy efficient.
According to the Fraser institute, the measures will only reduce Canada’s total emissions by 0.9 per cent. “The government has proposed new building codes with the goal of achieving a 65 per cent reduction in energy consumption for new residential buildings and a 59 per cent reduction for new commercial buildings by 2030,” they write in the Fraser Institute report, Wrong Move at the Wrong Time: economic Impacts of the New Federal Building Energy Efficiency Mandates.
“While the BEE (building energy efficiency) requirements are initially minor, they quickly ramp up in the middle of this decade and will increase home construction costs by an average of about 8.3 per cent by 2030, potentially adding an estimated $55,000 to the average cost of new homes in Canada. The costs vary by province, ranging from a low of $22,144 in New Brunswick, up to $78,093 in British Columbia,” they write, adding the emissions intensity of the Canadian economy will actually rise slightly due to the regulation. “Overall, the proposed BEE package is a very costly addition to the federal carbon tax. It will impose substantial costs while contributing relatively little to Canada’s greenhouse gas reduction targets.”
