Adopting the 2020 National Building Code (NBC 2020) brings new compliance requirements and opportunities for energy advisors (EAs) and builders. This project aims to reduce barriers to meeting new and forthcoming code compliance for residential buildings by leveraging the Volta SNAP energy modelling platform. It will simplify code compliance and adoption, ensuring that designers and decision-makers have powerful tools to build affordable, low-emission housing in Canada.

This project has the following key objectives:

1. Simplify integrated design processes (IDPs) to provide deeper insights for low-rise housing, producing affordable pathways to higher-tier performance targets.

2. Assist with prescriptive code compliance and highlight untapped cost and energy-saving measures.

3. Develop and/or integrate with costing databases to ensure that low-cost and affordable solutions are highlighted.

4. Automate and simplify calculations around operational and embodied emissions.

5. Produce educational materials to inform potential homeowners of the benefits of high-performance housing.