Capture Energy Blog

HAVAN (Homebuilders Association Vancouver) PODCAST MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE releases new episode featuring Capture Energy’s Barb Silverthorn!

This past fall, Vancouver city council approved new zoning regulations, specifically in Residential One-Family Zones (RS). The new rules allow for multiplexes on lots that were previously reserved for single-family homes or duplexes, providing more residents the opportunity to call these neighbourhoods home.

Barb Silverthorn was featured on episode 4 of the BUILT IN VIDEO SERIES with Todd Best of Best Builders “BUILT IN” – is a video series that explores how high-performance homes are built. Think of it in terms of buying a new car today vs 50 years ago. There is no...

One of the best ways to fight climate change is to electrify almost everything and to do it as fast as we can. A report this year by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds we need to stop using fossil fuels to have any impact on greenhouse gas emissions. And it has to happen now, as in before 2025, which is only two years away. According to their findings, rapid, widespread electrification is a key way to get there.

As of May 1st, the BC Step Code became mandatory across the province. All new residential and multi-family buildings (Part 9 buildings) must now meet a minimum of Step 3. The province has also introduced the Zero Carbon Step Code, which allows municipalities to limit operational carbon from new buildings.

We get questions constantly about heat pumps, from how efficient they really are to whether they can truly keep your home warm – even on the coldest winter day. It may seem counterintuitive, but there’s heat in the air even when temperatures drop. Heat pumps work by extracting that heat from the outside air and transferring it indoors to heat your home. The biggest difference with today’s new cold-climate heat pumps is the variable-speed compressor. This technology wasn’t commercially available in heat pumps 10 years ago. Now that it is, it’s the fundamental change that has made heat pumps fantastic at sub-zero temperatures.

We recently took part in a Builder’s Breakfast with Layton Consulting hosted by HAVAN, where we did a deep dive into everything to do with windows. With buildings in the Lower Mainland, energy efficiency has been both a great focus of new building regulations and the...