The building envelope (or building enclosure) includes all the assemblies that separate the indoors from the outdoors. This includes the roof, above grade walls, windows, doors and foundations (below grade walls and slabs). Each assembly needs to manage precipitation, air, heat, and water vapor. Building enclosure assemblies are systems comprised of specific materials or control layers to accomplish this. The benefits of high-performance building enclosures include:
- Reduced heating demand, heating and cooling costs and emissions;
- Improved comfort, thermal resilience and passive survivability;
- Improved building durability and resilience to severe weather and a changing climate;
- Reduced risk of condensation, water ingress, mold growth, and associated health impacts.
As the climate changes, the demands on our buildings and their enclosures are also changing. This means that assemblies that have traditionally performed adequately in certain regions may not in the future.
As the world seeks to decarbonize construction and the built environment, we must consider the materials we use to construct our buildings. Concrete foundations and slabs, foamed plastic insulations and steel structures are carbon-intensive. Lower carbon and even carbon-storing materials are available.
CanmetENERGY’s Building Envelope research program seeks to develop and test high-performance, climate resilient building envelope designs for new and existing buildings using sustainable, Canadian, low-carbon building materials and industrialized construction technology that reduce energy use and emissions and improve resilience
Prefabricated Exterior Energy Retrofit (PEER)
Developing, testing and validating prefabricated building envelope technologies for retrofitting existing Canadian homes from the exterior.
Low-Carbon Building Envelopes for Industrialized Construction & Retrofit
Integrating low carbon insulation materials into factory-built assemblies for construction and renovation.
CanmetENERGY-Ottawa’s Envelope Research Building (CERB)
State-of-the art building enclosure research facility.
Low-Carbon Climate-Resilient Living Lab
Living laboratory to demonstrate low-carbon materials and assess the impact of retrofit measures to improve thermal resilience.
LEEP NZE Wall Guides
A series of detailed reference guides explaining the design and construction of ‘high-performance’ wall assemblies developed by the LEEP team.
Material Carbon Emissions Estimator (MCE2)
A tool for estimating the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with building, renovating and operating low-rise, residential building designs. Developed by the LEEP team.