Natural Resources Canada
98/80

NOTES FOR A SPEECH
BY
THE HONOURABLE RALPH GOODALE
MINISTER OF NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA
AND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR WASCANA

TO THE OPENING PLENARY SESSION
GREEN BUILDING CHALLENGE '98

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
OCTOBER 26, 1998

Check against delivery

Thank you, Chairperson, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen, speakers and honoured guests. On behalf of Prime Minister Chrétien and the Government of Canada, welcome to Canada and to the beautiful city of Vancouver. I am delighted to have this opportunity to greet you this morning.

As Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, I share your conviction that the buildings of the future must be more environmentally advanced than those of today. Greener buildings can provide improved indoor air quality and comfort, greater energy efficiency, better water use, less garbage in landfills, stronger long-term performance, and, ultimately, better use of our natural resources.

And of course, improved energy efficiency can mean fewer emissions of carbon dioxide. The need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions is a key driving force for innovations in building technology, and it is probably the single biggest common concern among the many countries represented among you today.

Under last December's Kyoto Protocol, Canada is committed to reducing its emissions to six percent below 1990 levels by the period between 2008 and 2012. In reality, given Canada's expected economic and population growth, this will require a reduction by as much as 25 percent from projected business-as-usual levels.

Investing in energy efficiency is one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gases. Buildings that are more energy efficient and environmentally responsible are a cornerstone of a global response to the challenge of climate change. Buildings consume one- third of the total amount of the energy used in Canada every year.

My department of Natural Resources Canada has made significant contributions over the past two decades to developing more advanced building technologies. Through groundbreaking programs such as R-2000 and Advanced Houses, and the development of superior products and technologies, we have helped to push the boundaries of what is achievable in energy-efficient homes and other structures.

Our C-2000 Program, which is a joint venture between my department and partners in industry, utilities and government, is designed to encourage more energy-efficient and environmentally responsible commercial buildings. We have seen the emergence of the integrated design-facilitation process — where everyone involved in a building, from the initial development to the final operations, forms a team to work toward a common goal. As a result, buildings constructed to C-2000 standards use less than half of the energy of similar conventional buildings.

Tomorrow, a ground-breaking ceremony will be held for a new C-2000 building at Shoal Point in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. Other examples of C-2000 successes can be found in the northern community of Whitehorse, in my hometown of Regina, in Saskatoon, in Kitchener, and Montréal. In fact, from coast to coast to coast in Canada, buildings are now being designed and constructed to these exemplary standards.

The R-2000 and C-2000 Programs have been excellent catalysts in Canada, but more still needs to be done. We need to work toward the day when green buildings are the norm, rather than the exception.

To encourage the wider use of energy efficiency, Natural Resources Canada has created an Office of Energy Efficiency. As well, we have established two new programs to promote the adoption of energy-efficient and environmentally appropriate buildings in both the commercial and residential sectors.

One of these is the Commercial Building Incentive Program. It provides a financial incentive to design buildings at least 25 percent more efficient than current practice. The other program is our EnerGuide for Houses, through which consumers can have their homes evaluated for energy performance by a national network of delivery agents. Homeowners are provided with an EnerGuide rating for their houses and a priorized menu of cost-effective measures to improve the rating.

We view the Green Building Challenge '98 as an important part of an on-going process. For the past two years, many of you have been working to develop and test a standard international system for assessing the environmental performance of buildings. This system will allow us to assign values to green building features, which is important for the marketing of green buildings. It will ensure that companies with good practices are recognized in the community. And it will promote broader understanding of the impact of buildings on the environment.

As many of you know, this system has been tested on more than 30 buildings in the 14 countries participating in the Green Building Challenge. In Canada, three buildings were assessed — they're all showcased at this conference.

This conference also marks the second important phase of the Green Building Challenge — over the next few days you will exchange information and experiences on the use of specific building assessment tools and methods. You will be exposed to an exciting range of innovative design and construction ideas and advanced green products and services. And you will hear about both the challenges and opportunities for environmental assessment tools and green buildings.

A huge amount of work has gone into the Green Building Challenge. I am proud of my department's role in spearheading the effort. There have been champions of the Green Building Challenge in all 14 countries, and I want to thank them and their teams for their hard work. I also want to thank the many national and international organizations which are cosponsoring the Challenge.

As the past two years have shown, partnerships are the best way to achieve progress on green buildings, both within our own countries and internationally. The development of the Green Building assessment system is an outstanding example of international cooperation to achieve our shared environmental goals. This conference is a unique opportunity to move forward in the evolution of design guidelines and tools that are crucial for the marketing of green buildings.

We must continue in the same spirit of partnership and cooperation that has brought us here today. Through domestic and international team work, we will make progress in developing a new generation of commercial buildings that produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to the general health of the local environment.

I know each and every one of you is committed to this goal. That's why you're here. I hope that when you return to your homes and offices, it is with renewed determination to make a difference, for both today's generation and the next.

And as vital as our green goals are, that's not the whole story. We want to marry smart environmental conduct with strong economic performance. You've got that opportunity in the building sector.

To create genuine high-performance, value-added outputs. To create new businesses, new jobs, and a growing new economic sector. To create built-in technological sophistication, and a whole new field of world trade in products and services that are more efficient and healthier for both people and the environment.

I want to wish you every success.