28 Aug 2023 Council meeting Environment

BC Energy Step Code and Zero Carbon Step Code Implementation

Motion
That Council direct Staff to prepare the necessary “Building Bylaw 2016 No. 7224” amendments in order to require all Part 3 and Part 9 applicable building types and occupancies meet the Zero Carbon Performance Level (EL-4) of the Zero Carbon Step Code by 2024-JUL-01.
Minutes, page 12
Sources
Agenda itemCity agenda
Staff reportPage 1
Purpose
To inform the Governance and Priorities Committee of engagement and present recommendations related to implementation of the Zero Carbon Step Code and acceleration of the BC Energy Step Code and seek Council direction to bring forward amendments to “Building Bylaw 2016 No. 7224”.
Staff report, page 1
Staff recommendation
That the Governance and Priorities Committee recommend that Council direct Staff to prepare the necessary “Building Bylaw 2016 No. 7224” amendments in order to: a) adopt the Provincial Zero Carbon Step Code and require that all applicable building permit applications meet the Measure-only Level (EL-1) upon bylaw adoption; b) require all Part 3 and Part 9 applicable building types and occupancies meet the Zero Carbon Performance Level (EL-4) of the Zero Carbon Step Code by 2024-JUL-01; and, c) require all applicable Part 3 building types and occupancies meet the Step 3 of the Energy Step Code by 2026-JAN-01.
Staff report, page 1
DocumentsStaff report about Environment & Natural Resources

Paul Manly Yes

Yes, we did see a media headline that was incorrect in its reporting. And I would just like to hear from staff some clarification so that people in the room, as they come to present, are aware of the facts that this is not going to stop the installation or the connection of gas to any new homes in the Naimo. That people will still be able to choose natural gas or propane or in fact, have wood stoves for fireplaces or natural gas for cooking, or propane for cooking, if they wish.
I've seen in Europe where they use cars as backup battery power for when the system goes down.

Leonard Krog No

are really all around is the timing of when this is implemented, that we will either meet provincial standards by 2030 or we will demand and require in this community that the standards be met by July of 2024.
Thorpe, have given this a lot of thought. I have lived through interesting times. When 1971, we were all taught that the population bomb was the world's truth. And he was quite right. Paul Ehrlich we were going to have about seven, 8 billion people on the planet and there'd be huge starvation. Well, here we are at the time, as predicted, and we're not all starving. So I start with the general proposition, please. We've been very polite so far. Restrain yourself. Thank you. The reality is that we have enough and do produce enough food on the planet to feed everyone. So that crisis somehow got averted. And I'm not suggesting for a moment that I'm one of those airy fairy types who thinks that technology is going to save us necessarily, but I'm also conscious of the fact that we do get caught up all the time in the greatest and worst fears of humanity. Councillor Hemmmons referred to us doing the heavy lifting. With great respect, we are not doing the heavy lifting in denimo. She herself pointed out 160 homes. We're asking the potential of 160 homeowners basically to forego the possibility of using natural gas. If we want to do heavy lifting, we should be petitioning the province to ban the import of the vegetables we all love to eat year round when they're not in season in British Columbia. We should all be eating turnips and carrots and potatoes through the winter and living on our carrots and our greens in the summer. Either that or producing them in solar powered greenhouses. We're not really doing the heavy lifting. I did a rough calculation. Everyone seems to accept that Canadians produce 1.6 of the world's greenhouse gas emissions annually. I see Councillor Manley nodding, and I trust his judgment on this. We're a nation of 40 million people, hundred thousand of assir nanaimo. We are zero, zero 4% then of that 1.6 greenhouse gas emissions, basically four 1000. Now, by implementing in a speedier fashion the zero carbon step code, we're not going to really have much of an impact. And I think if we are really serious about this, what we're really asking here tonight is that the building community, not Fortis Gas, not anybody else, that the building community somehow work harder and faster. We're whipping the horse to get us to the location sooner. I'm not convinced that firstly, based on the small impact, which everyone seems to acknowledge, that it's quite frankly worth the effort, the potential disruption at a time when we are still facing a great lack of housing. I appreciated the comments of one of the presenters earlier, I can't remember her name, who said, well, people will just buy old houses and not worry about the new houses. The reality is people do buy new houses and they have to buy new houses because if that marketplace is even 50% old stock and 50% new stock, they're going to buy 50% of the new stock because that's the way it is. The builders tell me in this community that everybody wants quartz countertops and nine foot ceilings instead of eight foot ceilings. We all want stuff. And collectively. I just am not prepared tonight to support B, to ask what I'll call the construction community, the building community, to erase ahead of where the province is with respect to staff and the excellent work and all the presentations I've heard tonight and all the numerous letters that we received, many of them form letters indeed. In some cases, a couple of letters from the same person. Because I was paying attention. I appreciate the strong community feeling felt by those who have taken the time to send those letters and come out tonight, but I think sometimes you have to step back and ask ourselves if this is where we're going to try and save the world. I don't think it's where we need to divide the community, if you will, or start. There are lots of other things that would be far more effective as long as we're continuing to rely on transportation with vehicles that are slowly being slowly and very slowly being converted to electric vehicles, which again have a huge impact on the planet and all the resources including nickel and all the other precious minerals to survive. Again, I'm not satisfied that that's the way to go. So maybe I'm just getting old and contrary and I appreciate the way the vote is going to go tonight. But you know what? At this stage I don't mind being a bit on the contrary side. We're not asking anyone to do the heavy lifting here tonight. If we were asking people to do the heavy lifting we'd be bringing in a ban on wood stoves, period. In this community. We'd be bringing on a ban on natural gas currently in every home in this town. We'd be asking the province to give us permission to implement a gas tax on gasoline in Nanaimo and we'd whack it up by $0.50 or a dollar a pop and then we'd see some real changes. No, sorry but we're not going to do that. And we know that and we know that there's not the political courage or the will in the community to do it.

Erin Hemmens Yes

It's the step code that's a little harder because it requires more materials and different styles of building, et cetera. We had some feedback from the building community that the zero carbon step code was we could accelerate that, we could meet that. That's okay, the demand is there.
Sorry. That's okay. Thank you, worship. It's interesting because my read of the industry feedback based on the staff report was that it was actually B that's easier to meet and that the market is already meeting the demand of it's. Actually, step three of the energy step code that we heard from builders would be difficult. So I just want to preface by saying that I want to thank everyone who participated in this process, including those who were in the consultation, those who sent emails. My neighbor who is a local builder, who sat in my kitchen for an hour last night and debated this with me. I also want to thank staff for dialing back because I know that our first recommendations met with fierce opposition and as a result, we softened the recommendations and I think that is indicative of a bureaucracy that's listening. So I support the staff recommendations with the following comments ultimately, we're being asked to accelerate the zero carbon step code by six years and the inclusion of part three buildings into energy step code by approximately two years. The province has already set us down this path and our decision is whether we want to do it faster. In Nanaimo, we declared a climate emergency in 2019 and set aggressive targets for reducing our emissions. Those targets were confirmed and restated during the reimagined process, which, as we heard earlier tonight, was the largest and most comprehensive public engagement activity the city has ever undertaken. Staff recommendations provide the clearest path to meeting those GHG emission target reductions, which are based on irrefutable evidence that we must keep warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid catastrophic collapse of our ecosystem. As a municipality, we have limited means to reach those targets and the Zero Carbon step code is one of those tangible means. The industry response has been mixed, but overall Councillor has heard that the zero carbon step requirements are easier to meet and are actually providing a competitive market advantage to companies already meeting them. Innovation is being rewarded and homeowners are actually expecting low or zero carbon emissions in their new builds. Directly from the reports that Council was asked to contemplate in this decision, the cost difference between step two and step three from industry reps is quite negligible. It's when we go to step four that it becomes a challenge. Overall feedback indicated that the industry preferred having alignment throughout the region, even if this increases some requirements in communities. So I think this is important that if industry is saying if we go, we should go together and we should go kind of to the end because the phased approach is actually difficult for industry to meet. And to Councillor Prina's point, and I think this is really important in terms of actual numbers, this will impact approximately 160 new homes per year and six large buildings. It impacts the developers building larger buildings less because as we learned, they're for the most part already building to these standards because that's what people demand, that's what is required, that's what we expect. It impacts those building single family homes more and the pain of that is very real. And I say this to my neighbor who build homes, who builds homes, who was in my kitchen last night, that's real. We can't negate that. I want to acknowledge and reinforce again that this is not a ban on gas and will not affect anyone currently using natural gas to heat their homes. The question I ask myself though is it's a bit of an order of magnitude? What is the biggest problem we face and what are we trying to address with this? And I want to share that as elected officials we're invited to near daily briefings with the province on the state of the wildfire and drought situation in our province. Last month we saw the hottest recorded sustained temperatures since we started recording. Less than two weeks ago. My brother drove a fire truck over the Coca Cola from Maple Ridge to fight on the front line of the fires in Kelowna. He was there with first responders from Nanaimo. And I have no doubt that it's only a matter of time before we here on Vancouver Island are asking for resources from across the province to help us with a climate related disaster. At nine eight this morning I received an invitation from Fortis BC to attend a reception for elected officials at the upcoming UBCM conference. There's a lobby here and to not take that into account, into how the information and what information is being presented to us is negligent. As leaders I find the claims regarding RNG as a reliable, efficient energy source dubious. I admittedly get a bit stuck on the industry reps pioneer fire and Flamerite etc. Are those folks who came to talk to us about their reduction in business. Again, I returned to staff's response that this is not a natural gas ban. Fireplaces can still be installed pardon me. They simply can't be the primary heat source in a home. And I further return to the actual figures of the number of homes that this will impact, which is 160 single family home builds per year in six larger buildings. Ultimately I believe this is the heavy lifting of leadership. We're being asked to weigh the very real pain of an industry undergoing enormous change with the long term well being of our community. It's not easy, it's not a no brainer. It's very real. It has impact. I'm with Councillor Perino, but ultimately these difficult decisions are ours to shoulder. And for all of the reasons I've given, I support staff recommendations tonight. Thank you.

Hilary Eastmure Yes

We received an overwhelming number of emails, both personalized letters and form letters and I consider both valid because at the end of the day, it's really about sharing your stance on the issue. And I think we heard crystal clear from residents in this community that they're dedicated to working towards a more sustainable future. And really kudos to everyone who's still at this meeting tonight. It's really late and you're demonstrating your commitment to this issue and you're here late because it's really important. And we have an actual opportunity tonight to tangibly demonstrate our commitment to our own climate action targets that we've already set and as well as the health and future viability of our whole planet. And we've heard from residents and business owners and developers and builders and energy providers who are saying yes, it's doable, it's desirable and there's no time like the present because literally there is no time left to make decisions like this. We're in a climate crisis, we're seeing it and we have to make these high level policy decisions accordingly. So it's really not an easy decision tonight and change is really hard, but it is about leadership and doing our part and doing what's best for future generations. And I believe it's our responsibility to vote yes tonight.

Sheryl Armstrong No

I also believe that one of the reasons is the grid isn't there. And that's why the Premier did announce that they want a source, because they're three years out and they need more for 270,000. So that's one of the main reasons. My secondary reason is I am very concerned about outages. I've lived through them myself for five and six days, talked to the mayors from other communities, are very concerned about this as well. So for those reasons, I can't support it because of B, I could do A and C, but B, I think the province has their reasons, they did their consultation, and I think we should be in line with that as they are responsible for the environment. Thank you.

Ian Thorpe No

And like others, I appreciate everybody who took the time in this long evening to attend and to speak. And I thought everybody spoke very well over the past month. I've given this file a lot of thought, a lot of consideration. I've read a lot of words, I've heard a lot of rhetoric. Some of it was reasonable, some of it was fatuous, but it was all grist for the mill. I know that some of my friends in this room are totally opposed to all fossil fuels and I understand their viewpoint. I personally feel that we're always going to need fossil fuels. I just think that we need to continue to transition away from them. I don't argue that, but. I also think in my past history, I've always tried to be moderate and reasonable. And I feel that careful change and cautious change is always, in the long term, more effective. So I understand that there's an element that want fast, drastic change under the justification of climate emergency. But I struggle because I think in the longer term, we'd be better served to approach this more carefully. And despite what personal feelings we might have about fossil fuels, I think that Council needs to remember that we are here to represent the interests of the average Nanaimo citizen. And that's often hard to judge. But Nanaimo as a city is working to reduce emissions. I think we're doing a good job. There is a provincial timeline for BC energy step code and zero carbon step code. One of the options that we received in the staff report at the end of July was for us to follow the provincial implementation timelines. That was option number three. I'm quite willing to support that option. The province does not want us to rush ahead. They don't want individual jurisdictions doing their own thing. And Your Worship, I point to an issue which I also find very important, and that is public safety and drug use in open spaces. I've requested that the city investigate options relating to a bylaw around that. And I was advised to hold off because the province apparently is considering some legislation in that area. And, you know, I'm willing to hold off and to follow the lead of the province because I know that will be much more effective when it comes. So I use that as a comparison. I think adhering to provincial timelines would allow more time for builders and developers to learn and to adapt. It would give time for possible future government incentives to come online for builders or homeowners. I've read the reports from BC Hydro and from Fortis, and I respect their representatives. We at this table are not scientists, and I don't think there's any point in debating what we believe or don't believe in those reports, because everybody's going to believe what they want to believe and not accept what they don't want to accept. But I think it is pretty clear that Hydro rates would likely increase as demand increases. And at some point, capacity is going to be an issue because even the Premier has acknowledged that. We've heard from a lot of people tonight. We've heard from a lot of people in the last couple of weeks through letters and emails from environmentalists. But we've also heard from the Home Builders Association, from builders, construction companies, workers, contractors, and they say they are willing to follow a measured approach, the one that the government has laid out. But they do point out that there is a social and economic cost of pushing ahead too quickly. Now, I've heard from residents, and I know we're saying we're not going to ban natural gas, but we are in effect pushing a ban on future residents and future homeowners. It amounts to the same thing. I've heard from several residents, and I'll say more than several, who claim lower heating costs with gas. And in a very practical way they want to be able to maintain that. I've heard from many people, including retired hydro workers, that they value having natural gas as a backup alternative for either heating or cooking. I guess I just don't believe that council should force homeowners in a quick manner away from gas and onto hydro. I don't think we should move unnecessarily quickly to take away home energy choices from the consumer. We will be adversely affecting jobs, the cost of living, and also potentially the amount of affordable housing that's built in the future. If people don't want to use gas, they won't use it, they won't ask for it, they won't demand it. When they buy a house, the marketplace will detect where Fortis will build their infrastructure and spend the money necessary for that. But I believe people should still have the option as long as that's possible. And that's part of democracy, letting people have choice. So I say let's follow the provincial lead. I'm quite willing to do that, and that would be a possible counter motion. I can count to five around this table, though, and I don't see that coming forward.

Questions and answers

Councillor Janice Perrino
Speaker identificationConfident
No

asked
Councillor Prinu, I just have a question when it comes to wood stoves, because wood actually produces more carbon than oil, according to the studies from Billion Trees and Sierra Club, will our wood stoves have to be EPA approved in order to be used?
City staff answered
So, your worship, so this is regarding the emissions level from wood stoves? Yes, I believe so. There is a standard that all the wood stove now being sold in BC have to meet. And so that's still in place at this time. I'm assuming it would be the EPA standard.

Mayor Leonard Krog
Speaker identificationConfident
No

asked
And just to be clear, my understanding was that there was support given by the building community, and I'm looking to Councilor Hemmons for this. When it was indicated it would be 2020 06:00 A.m.. I off base. I just want us, before we engage in 26 different opinions being offered tonight, someone can clarify what the initial approval was. Mr. Moss spoke to it.
City staff answered
The meeting. Sorry, I should probably just go back to the recommendation. So I think the recommendation here is correct. So there is the zero carbon step code that is recommended to be implemented at the top level by July 1, 2024. And then there is the meeting, the step three of the energy step code by 2026, January 1. So I wonder if that's what you're referring to. And also on page four of the report, we did lay out the provincial policy timeline for both the energy step code and then zero carbon step code so that you can see how in advance that our proposals are in comparison to the provincial timeline. Thank you. If I've inspired anyone else to ask a question from Council, please do

Councillor Erin Hemmens
Speaker identificationConfident
Yes

asked
code? Yes.
City staff answered
Surreal worship. So we have gone through several iterations. So the original proposal, which is presented as option two in the report, were the initial proposal based on the workshops that we did with stakeholders. And at that point we felt that there is sufficient support. And so I put out a fairly ambitious plan. And after that, we received some feedback specifically on energy step code. There was a lot of comments related to the challenges and the concerns about accelerating to the top step of the energy step code could be very challenging for some builders. So we modified that and eventually we settled on kind of accelerating to the top step of the zero carbon step code because there are many buildings that are already built to meet that standard. So when we're looking at the recent building trends and we're looking at the data and also heard from energy advisors and developers after we have follow up conversations but the challenges on the energy step code is a bit more significant because it is not so much the technologies, it is really more of coordination of all the professionals. And it's the details in construction that are quite a bit more stringent. So we settled on kind of moving on to the next step for just the par three buildings, mainly because we talked to the developers and builders and many of them are doing that already. That jive with the data that we're looking at as well. A lot of the majority of the multi unit residential buildings already are fully electric and they meet the zero carbon step code if we look at their actual emissions. And then when we follow up with the developers, we are also told that many of them, because of the more favorable CMHC financing currently available, they are already building to that level. So they said that this is coming from the development community in their letter saying that they couldn't get to the top level by 2025, but they could accept going to step three by 2025. So we basically took that recommendation from the development community. Thank you.

Councillor Sheryl Armstrong
Speaker identificationConfident
No

asked
Thank you very much. I have a question from Councillor Armstrong. Two questions, if I may, and the same questions will go to BC Hydro. If they're here, which I think they are. My first one is hydrostates. They have the capacity are you aware of any capacity issues or prolonged outages and cost factors? I know when I was at the Abicc, we heard very distinctly from the mayors from Northern Ireland that they've had major outages. The ballast was nine days others, and it was a huge impact on the community. Are you aware of any of those? And was Ford is
A guest answered
impacted by that or I don't believe you're in there yet. No, we haven't been impacted in our own electricity grid. On our gas side of our business, we have obviously the same customers as BC Hydro. We do note a number of examples where there have been shortages of electricity. One in the lower mainland affected a large hospital where there was a brownout this May for a couple of days. They had to run on backup diesel. Another example is in a multifamily tower in Vancouver that didn't have enough energy, and yet they had move in permits. They moved in and they actually had to be moved out during the cold snap last winter because there was insufficient electricity. Had they a backup system, that would have worked, but that did not work under their code. And that is very similar to the energy zero Carbon step code, the level four.
followed up
Okay, my second question from your studies, would housing costs be impacted? And we heard from you that you don't think gas could be because it would be a cost factor, but obviously if it's an individual homeowner, if they were willing to pay that cost, it could happen. But in your studies, are housing costs impacted? And I'm assuming that would be whether it be baseboard heating or electric pumps,
A guest answered
heat pumps, there are many options out there for builders. We heard today that there are some buildings that already have electricity as their main source, and they can do that, and we absolutely see that happening. The challenge becomes when there's not a choice. If you have a builder that's very familiar with one type of heating system, they'll put that in at a lower cost than something else. So you could make houses that actually were reasonably the same cost, whether it be electric or gas. But the difficulties come as well when you are mandating that there is only one choice that changes costs of equipment and materials, when you only have one option. Further, if there's not enough electricity or the cost to connect to the electricity grid are high. We had a developer in a project in the lower mainland that had put together their pro forma and allocated $500,000 for electricity connections that came back at $5 million. As a result of that, they have shelved their project because they did not have the option at that time to have gas as heating.
A guest answered
a minute warning. Good evening, everyone. I'm Chris Bona. I'm the general manager of Pioneer Fireplace. And this is Tim Strew. She's the owner of Pioneer Fireplace. Pioneer Fireplace is a family owned business that has served the community here in Nanaimo for over 45 years, providing high efficient wood, gas and electric products. We're here to express our opposition to the proposed ban on natural gas and to clarify that I agree with the previous speaker that the net effect via media or just the policies being suggested here would equate to a ban. But I'd like to present the viewpoint of local businesses like ours as well as some of the experiences and views of our customers. From the perspective of Pioneer Fireplace, a proposed ban on natural gas in new homes would result in a reduction in revenue of approximately 30%. This would be the case despite the diverse range of products that we offer, including a broad range of electric heating appliances. This estimate does not include the loss in business we may experience through wholesale division, many of the customers of which rely on new home construction for their livelihood. Despite the devastating impact the decision you are contemplating tonight would have on our long standing local business like Pioneer Fireplace, there are many other businesses that quite simply wouldn't survive such a drastic change. The job losses would likely be measured in the hundreds, not to mention the significant loss of tax revenues for all levels of government. I think listening to the speaker earlier on the hospitals tax revenues are of an utmost importance right now. From the perspective of our customers, we tend to hear two recurring themes when the topic of electric heat comes up, which, by the. Way is often what brings people to our store. To begin with, the two primary concerns are number one, the high cost and low quality of electric heating. And number two, the unreliability of electric heating due to power failures. We all know that electricity is the most expensive way to heat a home. Even with heat pumps, especially on the coldest days of the year when the heat is most necessary, heat pumps just don't measure up. It seems that in recent times, some of the regional districts have accepted this fact or accepted the fact that heat pumps are largely ineffective on very cold days. And as a result, some of these districts have recommended the continuing use and installation of wood stoves, high efficient wood stoves to supplement the subsidized heat pumps. Unfortunately, wood heating is not an option for many of our customers, particularly some of our elderly clients. Managing the wood as is necessary is not possible for many of these people. So installing a high efficiency natural gas fireplace becomes an excellent alternative and one that can make the final portion of these folks lives more comfortable and more secure. This leads me to the final point I'd like to make, and that is the security that having a backup heat source like a natural gas fireplace can provide people. This is especially the case on Vancouver Island, where the supply of electricity is notoriously unreliable and frequent power outages can last in an inordinate period of time. Many people have commented to us about the positive, seemingly life saving experience of having a natural gas fireplace during a powder outage, and many more come to us to purchase a fireplace simply to be prepared for the inevitable and extended power outages. This again is especially true for our elderly citizens. We believe that restricting the citizens of Nanaimo to a single energy source is ineffective and irresponsible. As such, we implore you all to follow the step structure that the provincial government has laid out, assess the impacts that each step has, and make the necessary adjustments to policy, with all factors being considered. We would also like to suggest that an advisory group be formed 1 minute, with representatives from all stakeholder groups invited to participate, the purpose of which would be to provide recommendations to this councillor to ensure that you are making informed decisions guaranteeing the best possible outcomes for the citizens of Nanaimo. Thank you.
A guest answered
If you can introduce yourself for the record, I'm Corey Iverson and Paul Miles had to catch a ferry, so we've lost him for this evening. But thank you very much, Council, for a few minutes here. And I'd just like to let you know that I work for Pacific Energy. I've been there pretty much my whole life making wood stoves in Duncan, BC. So I can bring some information to the table. The industry that we're talking about in BC represents about 3000 jobs. We export about $500 million out of BC a year making wood stoves, gas stoves. It is being a major exporter. We've been able to see the impact of this thinking all across North America and for many, many years. I can tell you that introducing electrification without a reliable and easy to use backup system will fail. We've seen it in Berkeley, California. You have to give them an option. It only works that way, or it'll be self rectifying and they'll try to drive it back out, which is what they did. So my advice is this, is that please take all the information in and recognize that as an industry, we want to support this and that people do need a backup source of heat. I'd also like to make one comment. There was a question about carbon and wood stoves. As wood stoves burn wood, obviously the carbon is already here. We already transform it. Nothing comes out of the ground. So I think what you're really talking about is air quality as opposed to carbon addition to the environment, which stoves are neutral. I would also like to make a couple of comments that there is a lot of choices on how we introduce these backup sources of heat. And I think that I hope the BC government takes note that this works better together, and they will be much more successful driving this if they make options for people. I couldn't tell you've already had a lot of feedback on banning of the gas stoves and things like that, and there's a reason for that. And I think as an industry, we can help. You got a lot of horsepower in this province to make this happen. So, as everybody else said, I wish that you take everybody's information in, act slowly, cautiously, and recognize there's a lot of information on the Vancouver Island that can help you out. Duncan alone, we employ over 200 people. Valor Industries in Vancouver add another 200 people, and then there's five more manufacturers on top of that. So we're watch this very closely. We'll be at every meeting.
A guest answered
Yes. That was great. There we are. Good evening. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. And council. You got it right. My name is Elizabeth Bodino. I am a senior lead built environment initiatives with the Community Energy Association. CEA, in short, CA is a nonpartisan not for profit organization that has been working since 1995 to help local governments and indigenous communities accelerate the transition to a low carbon resilient future. Our work is supported by 50 member organizations and conducted by staff distributed in communities large and small across the province. As a trusted independent advisor to local governments, CEA facilitates coaching and education for both local government staff and elected officials, and with support from the province of BC and BC Hydro. We run several local government peer networks, including one specifically focused on the BC Energy Step Code, which City of Nanaimo staff attend. As your community is a member of the STEPcode peer network, we are here to provide information from the network that we trust will help and add context to your conversation to clarify some previous comments. The Energy Step Code only regulates how much energy buildings use, but not their greenhouse gas emissions. As the implementation of the BC Energy step code ramped up over the past few years, multiple municipalities, including the District of West Vancouver, district of North Vancouver, city of North Vancouver, city of Richmond Resort, municipality of Whistler, and City of Burnaby, implemented a tiered approach or step down approach, which allowed them to also regulate the carbon emissions associated with new construction. As of May 1, 2023, the Zero Carbon Step code is a new addition to the BC building code that allows authorities having jurisdiction to limit operational carbon from new buildings. Many jurisdictions, including the ones I just mentioned, have seen this as an opportunity to step up carbon performance alongside energy efficiency as part of their commitment to climate action on the island. This is the case for the City of Victoria and the District of Sanich, which were the first ones to set an adoption schedule for the highest level of the new zero carbon step code. We have noticed a high interest in the zero carbon step code from our peer network members and have created a Cohort dedicated to the topic. So far, we've had three meetings and up to 23 jurisdictions attending, and prior to the zero carbon step code being announced, there was also the Greenhouse Gas Working Group, which met all through 2022 to provide feedback on the new code. And so there are multiple reasons why our members have indicated they are so interested in implementing the zero carbon step code. First, the zero Carbon step code provides quantifiable metrics for tracking progress towards zero carbon emissions. This data driven approach aligns with the monitoring and reporting requirements often outlined in community Climate Action Plans. Second, by implementing the zero carbon step code now, local governments can showcase their commitment to addressing climate change and meeting their Climate Action Plan goals. Third, over the years, the lessons learned from the BC Energy Step Code are that early education and engagement with industry provide the best results. The province has set a timeline for implementing the zero carbon step code, which targets el four or zero carbon in 2030. Those who adopt the zero carbon step code and set and communicate those targets early avoid surprises and foster a more collaborative environment with industry and with easier implementation. And finally, aligning adoption with neighboring communities has also proven effective as it provides consistency to builders and developers who don't have to navigate moving targets in the different jurisdictions they built in. These points are some of the most pertinent that we've heard through the network. Thank you for your time and for the opportunity to provide this information. And please remember, we have networks and resources for both elected officials and staff, all of which are completely free. We'd be happy to hear from you with any

Councillor Sheryl Armstrong
Speaker identificationConfident
No

asked
has a question. Thank you. Yeah, you sort of answered the question. I was looking at the grid when Premier EV spoke in June 2023, saying that we need more power to run 270,000 home as early as 2028, which was definitely different than BC hydro's estimates, which your CEO agreed to. And they state that we need possibly more Site C's. And we all know the issues with Site C, so how can you guarantee us there is going to be enough grid to support this? We hear from people up island on a regular basis that there's regular power outages lasting six, seven days. Will that have an impact down here as we get more and more people on the grid,
A guest answered
including electric vehicles? Yeah, thanks for your question. So we have a lot of opportunity to generate new electricity here in BC. We are tracking what the trends are, which is why we're expanding and having this call for power. We're expecting the call for power in 2024 will bring other forms in addition to Site C of electricity into BC. And then from a grid reliability perspective, we absolutely need to make sure that the grid is reliable. And again, in the Naima, we have very high reliability rates in more rural areas. Sometimes there's more struggles with tree outages, downs, et cetera. But not here
followed up
in city of Nanaimo. No, that's true. BC hydrogen does, in my opinion, a very good job of maintaining their lines so we don't get issues like California, as we just saw in Hawaii. And then my second question is, I noted that you went for an increase to Hydro rates. However, it was turned down by the Utility Commission. Is it going to be sustainable to stay at the rates that you're at right now, to be profitable?
City staff answered
So we're a crown utility, so we're not looking for profit. We're looking to provide electricity in the most affordable way possible to BC ratepayers and taxpayers. We do always keep an eye on how we do that. I'm not sure where rates will go, but obviously there's always public pressure to make sure that we continue to be one of the most affordable utilities across North America. Thank you. And I don't want to downplay the issue of rates and costs. Certainly we're seeing actually, with the increased natural gas prices at the moment, that we're very cost competitive for home heating, especially on very efficient homes which are using heat pumps. But certainly with the scale of electrification that's needed in order to meet climate change, we really need to be thinking about how we deploy that infrastructure in the most cost effective way. Thank you. I appreciate your time.

Councillor Janice Perrino
Speaker identificationConfident
No

asked
I have a question actually through you to staff, if I might. My understanding is that these code changes will affect new builds only so people who are already receiving natural gas, the thousands of homes throughout the city will continue to receive natural gas.
City staff answered
Is that correct? It's correct that this policy proposal only affects new buildings, not existing buildings. Okay,
followed up
And I shouldn't do this to you, but off the top of your head, how many new homes would we in particular single family homes? Because I'm not thinking so much of buildings. That's easier. But any idea how many, just approximately would this affect per year? Through your worship?
City staff answered
It's in the report. So when we look at the past building stats, we're looking at about 700 buildings over the last three years. And mind you, that 30% of those homes are already electric. So this will probably affect on average about 160 homes per
followed up
year. Okay. Thank you. Okay, well, first of all, I want to say I thought the presentations tonight were excellent. It's a long night, but that was excellent and the singing was breathtaking. I really appreciated both sides. I also want to say to this audience that you were so respectful of each other, whether it was for or against, I was just so impressed with how everyone took the time to listen and just be so respectful. So I just want to say thank you and well done. The struggle that I'm having is that we of course want to get there. Everybody wants to get to this point. Someone talked about a paragraph shift and I couldn't agree more. We are going to get there, but there's a transition that makes it difficult. And in particular, three of our speakers talked about the fact that the A, the adopt the first one and the third easy to agree to, not a problem, but the B is very difficult to achieve. And I'm fascinated by the fact that BC Hydro is a publicly owned
A guest answered
Company and yet the province it's a publicly owned company by
followed up
the province, and yet they said 2030. They didn't say 2024. 2026. They said 2030. And everything that I've read has suggested that they said 2030 because they wanted to give industry time to make the changes efficiently and effectively so as not to burden developers, industry makers and so forth. So this is a tough one. I definitely feel that this is a tough one. We're going to get there. The government has said 2030 is the final date. Absolutely. And I'm pleased that we're going to get there. I'd be thrilled if the government came back and said 2024, but they haven't. They said 2030. And that's, for me, the most difficult part of this. Thank you.