Nanaimo council adopts zero carbon rules for new houses

Local residents packed the Nanaimo City Council meeting on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023 to speak to council about a proposal to move to a Zero Carbon Step Code by July 2024, six years ahead of the provincial schedule. Over two dozen presentations were made in a meeting that lasted over five hours. Photo: Mick Sweetman / CHLY 101.7FM

A five-hour session of Nanaimo city council that lasted late into Monday night narrowly passed a staff recommendation to move to the top level of the province’s Zero Carbon Step Code six years earlier than the provincial timeline.

The 5-4 vote means that new homes being built in Nanaimo will have to meet stringent emissions requirements by July 2024. Natural gas is not banned outright in the new code and is still allowed as a backup heating system or for gas stoves and fireplaces.

Jason Wolfe, director of energy solutions at Fortis BC, said that in practice these new rules will amount to a ban on natural gas on new buildings.

“While technically you can still use gas for things like fireplaces, the practical effect is builders won't choose that,” he said, "Because they know the easiest path is to use all electricity, they'll get their permits faster.”

The new rules will not affect existing homes that use natural gas and city staff estimate it will mean roughly 160 new homes a year, the vast majority of which are single-family homes, will have to meet the new standard.

Nanaimo follows the City of Victoria and the District of Saanich in implementing the Zero Carbon Step Code.

In the marathon meeting over 25 presentations to council were made by environmental activists, energy companies, homebuilders and small business owners.

“This summer is going to be for all of us, the mildest wildfire season for the next 100 years,” said Howard Breen, an organizer with Extinction Rebellion Nanaimo. “The reality is, climate change is no longer a threat. It's a state of emergency for all of us.”

After hearing the presentations council debated the motion by Councillor Ben Geselbracht to adopt the zero carbon rules.

“I think that there has been a certain form of denialism of the actual leaps that we have to make,” he said. “When we hear things about delaying time, we are putting forward solutions that aren't really solutions. We have to cut through that and just get down to business.”

Coun. Paul Manly, a former Green MP, chose to quote the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada in his argument in support of the motion.

“I don't often like to quote Pierre Poilievre, but I will,” he said, prompting laughter from other members of council. “We need technology, not taxes. Carbon taxes aren’t incentivizing people to make the change.”

Coun. Ian Thorpe noted that reports by both Fortis BC and Hydro BC were among the documents submitted to council on the issue.

“We at this table are not scientists and I don't think there's any point in debating what we believe or don't believe in those reports, because everybody is going to believe what they want to believe and not accept what they don't want to accept,” he said.

Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog also opposed the move saying it won’t have a significant impact on climate targets.

“We're asking the potential of 160 homeowners basically to forego the possibility of using natural gas,” he said. “If we want to do heavy lifting, we should be petitioning the province to ban the import of the vegetables we all love to eat year round. When they're not in season in British Columbia, we should all be eating turnips and carrots and potatoes through the winter and living on our carrots and our greens in the summer.”

Coun. Hiliary Eastmure argued in favor of adopting the Zero Carbon Step Code.

“We've heard from residents, business owners, developers, builders and energy providers who are saying yes, it's doable, it's desirable, and there's no time like the present,” she said. “Because literally, there is no time left to make decisions like this, we're in a climate crisis.”

Councilors Brown, Eastmure, Geselbracht, Hemmens and Manly voted in favor of the motion while Armstrong, Perrino, Thorpe and Mayor Krog voted against it.

Council also adopted plans to require all building permits to meet measure-only Level EL-1 and that wood-framed residential buildings be required to meet Step 3 of the Energy Step Code for energy efficiency by January 2026.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.