Program Bulletin #86

This bulletin is intended for all ENERGY STAR® for New Homes Program participants.

Natural Resources Canada’s ENERGY STAR for New Homes (ESNH) program is a key program that supports the Government of Canada’s objectives in reducing energy costs for homeowners and greenhouse gas emissions from new home construction in Canada. This past year has presented many challenges and affected all aspects of the building industry across Canada. We recognize the resilience of the participants of ESNH throughout this pandemic and continued dedication to improving the energy efficiency of new homes. NRCan continues to look to ESNH participants for advice on how to improve the program.

Please find below details regarding our intention to consult on the future of the ESNH program and provide clarification on two key items raised by ESNH members (windows and airtightness) for the current ESNH Standard.

1 – New vision for ENERGY STAR for New Homes

The ESNH program has been successful where it has been delivered in Canada proving that the program can help Canadians save money on energy costs and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. NRCan is looking to improve the program to increase uptake across Canada. This will include considering the integration of the ESNH program requirements with the upcoming publication of new national model building codes and creating new tools and resources for homeowners and builders.

In fall 2021, NRCan will hold consultation sessions for all interested stakeholders to obtain feedback on program improvements that could help to achieve our goals. In this way we are seeking to ensure that the ESNH program is of highest value to partners, builders and homeowners across Canada.

2 – Interim decisions on airtightness and windows

Recognizing that there remain outstanding concerns regarding the requirements for windows and airtightness in the
ESNH—Standard—Version 17.1—Revision 2, we have provided guidance below as interim approaches in the context of the larger review of the ESNH program.

• WINDOWS: Continuation of the transition period included in ESNH v17.1, under which windows previously certified to ENERGY STAR version 4 may continue to be installed if they appear on NRCan’s archived list of version 4 models. ENERGY STAR version 5 windows can also be installed. Please refer to the ESNH—Technical Procedures—Version 17.1 for the details.
• AIRTIGHTNESS TARGETS: The minimum requirements for airtightness (Level 1) remain at the values prescribed in the ESNH—Standard—Version 12.8 and 17.0 Ontario. The updated NLA/NLR values of Levels 2 to 5 of the airtightness tables remain at the values published in the ESNH—Standard—Version 17.1—Revision 2.

These decisions are retroactive to January 1, 2021 and remain in effect until further notice. Please direct any questions or concerns to nrcan.esnhprogram-programmeesmn.rncan@canada.ca.

Next steps

Information pertaining to the consultations will be available in the coming months. If you are interested in participating, please email nrcan.esnhprogram-programmeesmn.rncan@canada.ca to ensure you are on our distribution list.

As always, please ensure this information is distributed to your energy advisors and energy advisor candidates.

Questions

If you have questions, please contact your account manager.