In the pursuit of sustainable housing approaches, Yale First Nation learned about Passive Housing and its energy-efficient design. Like many First Nations households in BC, homes in Yale First Nation struggle with high heating bills that can come to over $200 a month. With funding from CMHC and an additional $300,000 contributed by the Band, Yale decided to invest in building new rental housing. They turned to Britco, a modular building company, to construct six family units in a building that meets the highly energy-efficient Passive House standards.
The rigorous Passive House design standards involve increased insulation, airtightness to minimize heat loss, no thermal bridges, triple pane windows, heat recovery ventilation, and solar orientation to maximize passive heating. As a result, Passive Homes are 80% more energy-efficient and emit 80% less greenhouse gases.
The modular homes were prefabricated in Britco’s facility, which reduced the cost of local labour and ensured that Passive Housing standards were met. When the modules were transported to Yale First Nation, the buildings were set on the foundation within 2 days. The entire construction process took five months. In terms of expenses, the units cost $200-233 per square foot as well as $2000 per module for transportation. Crystal Sedore noted that the units were built for around $50,000 more than the typical “BC Box houses”, but emphasized that the Nation will expect savings in heating and maintenance over the years.
After the construction project wrapped up, CMHC stepped forward with funding to perform an 18-month energy monitoring project. This project will provide data on the energy efficiency of the Passive House modules and will offer a cost comparison to a similarly sized conventional home.
https://www.passivehousecanada.com/projects/yale-first-nation-passive-house-fourplex/
https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2018/schl-cmhc/NH21-11-2018-eng.pdf