eco-strata

An Eco-Strata initiative starts with the right frame of mind, and getting a sense of the various steps involved in the process. In this section, you will find a range of ideas and guidelines that will help you initiate projects and activities, large and small, in your building. 

Get the strata council informed 

The strata council is the decision-making body of a multifamily dwelling, and has the mandate to make decisions with the owners’ best interests in mind. That is why getting the strata council and residents up to speed about improving your multi-family dwelling’s environmental performance is the most important starting point. To help you, the Light House Sustainable Building Centre in Vancouver offers a Green Building 101 Workshop for Stratas and Co-operatives. This workshop, delivered on site at the building, will identify key green building issues and concepts, and will provide everyone with the tools to get started in greening their building. To schedule a workshop, call 604-682-5960 or e-mail info@sustainablebuildingcentre.com.

Create a “green” or sustainability committee

Who really wants to do all of this work alone? Getting a few residents together who are interested in reducing energy costs and improving health and well-being is a good place to start. It is a small but important first step in developing the trust and working relationship necessary to develop an effective green action plan for your building. And you will get to know some of your neighbours a little better! 

Strata councils are busy. They have a lot on their plates already and usually change membership annually or bi-annually. For these reasons – whether you are a council member or not – creating a sustainability committee may alleviate the strata’s work with regards to “greening” the building. Ideas and project proposals can be developed through the committee and then presented to council for approval. Having a strata council member either chair the committee or participate is an important strategic decision, as it creates a “sustainability champion” within the strata council. Also, if your building has a caretaker, it may make sense to invite them as well, especially if they are the ones who select the cleaning products that will be used in the building, for instance.

Don’t have much time? Making your building more eco-friendly does not have to become a full-time job. Often, spending two to four hours a week is plenty of time to get the ball rolling, and the more people get involved, the more tasks can be shared with others. In that respect, having a sustainability committee to rely on really makes even more sense by helping you become more effective.

Know your building

How is your building performing now? Get to know your building better by having an expert conduct a building assessment audit. The audit will look at the state of your building, including the building’s envelope, mechanical systems, elevators and interior finishes. The audit will identify deficiencies, and will also be very useful in setting a baseline for your building’s current performance against which you can measure improvements. 

Complementary to the building assessment audit is an energy audit, which will examine how your building uses energy, and where savings can be achieved through retrofits, adjustments and behavioural change. This will provide you with an energy baseline, and when your energy auditor enters the results from the audit into energy modelling software, you will be able to get a good idea of the payback times for different options. If you are wondering, for example, whether installing a solar hot water heating system is a worthwhile investment for your particular building, energy modelling will enable you to make an informed decision. Also, keep in mind that many financial incentives available through different levels of government can only be redeemed once an energy audit or model has been undertaken. 

The Light House Sustainable Building Centre can help you find a contractor to undertake the building assessment audit and energy audit. You can also get in touch with the Society Serving Ourselves Sustainably (SSOS) for help on understanding how your building functions from a more technical standpoint, as residents and strata council members may not be familiar with the mechanics of the building and how it operates as a system. Contact SSOS by phone (604- 985-8381) or by e-mail (ssos@4sustainability.com).

Develop an action plan

It’s important to put together a plan of action that highlights the steps and initiatives that you are thinking of undertaking. This can include the areas you would like to focus on (electricity; waste; natural gas; etc.), the projects that you are thinking of carrying out to address these (having an energy audit and retrofit; adding recycling bins; etc.), developing a timeline (including anticipated work that needs to be undertaken in the coming years, like building envelope maintenance), and identifying residents or other individuals who might be involved. Your insurance company can advise you on any legal issues that may affect your building’s policy coverage and price regarding your retrofits. Also, contact your municipal government about possible building permits.

Think big, but keep it manageable

“Greening” a building is as much a process as an end point; it is a learning experience for everyone involved, and leads to a positive change of which you can be proud. Be careful not to take on too much. Unreasonably high expectations can lead to stress, and your strata corporation may hesitate to take on green efforts in the future. If you start small, you’ll build confidence and trust, create a sense of community, and pave the way to greater investments — both in terms of time and money. 

Set targets and track progress

Targets are important. They help set the scope of the initiative, and enable project leaders to study various ways the goals may be achieved. Tracking progress is also important. Compare actual outcomes with baseline projections of “what would have been” without the project. For example, if the goal is to reduce electricity or gas consumption by a certain amount, how much of a difference did the investments make? You might look at the hydro or gas bills before and after the refurbishments. Note that the important number is consumption (kilowatt hours or giga joules), since dollar amounts — which we hope will decrease — can fluctuate up or down depending on how much the utilities charge at any particular time. You can track some of your progress on a common website or with graphs and charts displayed in public places for others to see. 

Get expert advice

In the Metro Vancouver region, there are many excellent green building experts who can help with projects, from non-profit organizations to professional consultants. The Light House Sustainable Building Centre can help you learn about free and fee-based programmes and services. Anyone and everyone can learn about the “five Ps” of sustainable building: practices, policies, products, projects and service providers. 

Ideas are everywhere

Why reinvent the wheel? Your region surely has many examples of green building refurbishments of every type and scale that can be used for inspiration. Read some of the case studies presented in this website what buildings have been doing to reduce gas and electricity use, sort waste, address indoor air quality, improve communication with residents, and generally do the right thing for the environment. Watch for regional tours of green buildings, and ask the owners questions.

Balance costs today with benefits in the future

Cost can be a serious barrier for strata councils. However, most energy retrofits pay for themselves in three years or less! Using low-energy bulbs and installing low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators, for example, have a payback time of less than a year. Larger investments like photovoltaic solar panels often start producing “free” electricity within 10 years’ time. The prices of natural resources, especially fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas, are expected to rise steadily, so the payback time for green projects should decrease. Subsidies, tax breaks and renovation loans are also available to make purchasing certain equipment more affordable. “Green” retrofits can be seen as investments rather than costs, and payback times should be a major consideration, but not the only deciding factor.

Life cycle thinking

Life cycle thinking — taking into account how a product is manufactured and disposed of, as well as how it is used over its useful life — helps to define products’ full environmental impact. In Southwestern BC, for example, where it is neither very hot in summer nor very cold in winter, changing a building’s windows to save on cooling and heating is a very costly investment that is both resource- and energy-intensive. The overall negative environmental impacts may outweigh the marginal energy savings. Over a longer span of time — say, 20 years — the window change may be worthwhile in terms of overall energy balance. Put simply, it may not be beneficial overall to replace an old product or device if the very act of changing it places a higher burden on the environment. It’s important to talk to an expert, to weigh the pros and cons carefully, and to make an informed decision.

Identify and address challenges

Early identification of possible barriers to a refurbishment project is important, so you can avoid hassles later. Here are a few key questions to keep in mind: 
• Who is the main contact person for the project? Is it the strata management company’s agent, a strata council member, or a resident?
• Do any parts of the project require building permits or City Hall approval?
• Will proposed refurbishments have an impact on the building’s insurance policy (and possibly costs)?
• Does your local fire department need to be consulted (for modifications to the HVAC system, for example)?
• Do you have an effective communication and outreach strategy in place to let residents know about the important details of a project, if and how they can get involved, etc.?
• Are the trades companies involved reliable? Is their work guaranteed?
• Does the budget seem accurate? Where will the money come from? Is the budget significant enough to require a ¾ vote from the residents at an Annual General Meeting?
• Does the strata corporation or property management company have some flexibility if there are unanticipated costs or budget overruns?
• Can the project be linked to work already anticipated for the building?

Every building is different, and so are Eco-Strata projects, so sitting down with the various stakeholders to ask for feedback and to discuss potential barriers is probably a good team-building strategy that will lead to positive outcomes and minimize risk.