‘Build, baby, build.' Some conditions apply

National Observer

12-05-2025

Shall we begin with a story this week? One from the genre of great Canadian inventions. It's not as well-known as insulin, pacemakers or zippers, not as delicious as peanut butter, Nanaimo bars or poutine (you're welcome, world). But it's newly relevant as our new PM sets off to 'Build, baby, build.'
Our story begins, as of course it must, once upon a time — at a time of grave energy crisis. And in a land that now seems far away: that land of great energy foresight: Saskatchewan.
Oil prices had doubled during the 1970s energy shocks and the public was panicking. Governments were panicking too — these days we remember the old pictures of drivers lined up for gas but, at the time, another crucial question was how they were going to keep homes warm through Canadian winters. The government of Saskatchewan sent out a plea for help, and a hero emerged.
Harold Orr learned to build houses by age 12, swinging hammers alongside his father, a preacher who moved the family around Western Canada. By the energy crises of the 1970s, Orr had credentials to back up the know-how; he'd trained as a mechanical engineer at the University of Saskatchewan and been hired by the National Research Council of Canada, working on obscure topics like infiltration and leakage in homes.
And then, the call: 'The government asked (us) to design and build a solar house appropriate for Saskatchewan,' Orr explains matter-of-factly. And so they did. The team turned conventional design upside down. Instead of asking, how do we heat and cool this thing, they designed a home that needs as little energy as possible. The Saskatchewan Conservation House was built in 1977 by a provincial crown corporation with Orr as lead engineer.
It used 85 per cent less energy and cost about $30 to $40 in electricity per year. No furnace at all but still appropriate for frigid winters in Regina. It even had an early heat exchange system. And it's still there, its building envelope still functioning as designed, all these years later.
(Fun fact: As part of the project, Orr invented the blower door test, another unsung Canadian invention you will have encountered if you've ever had any home efficiency work done.)
'How we build matters,' says Efficiency Canada. The organization calculates the most effective way to minimize additional carbon pollution comes from adopting the most ambitious tier of Canada's building codes (the net-zero energy ready standard).
'So the idea of a passive house was born, and as it turns out the model also inspired the net-zero energy home movement as well. While solar modules cost $77 per watt in 1977, they are a hundredth of that price today, which means solar-powered super-energy-efficient homes are suddenly very doable,' writes David Dodge at Green Energy Futures.
There's some dispute whether Orr and the team in Saskatchewan truly 'invented' super efficient or passive house design (there are even killjoys who contest Canada's claim to the zipper). But in the late 1970s, up to 1,000 people were visiting the Saskatchewan Conservation House every week, including many curious Germans. Today, Germany is the global epicentre of Passivhaus construction techniques.
Orr received a lifetime award from Germany's Passive House Institute. And he was finally named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2017. At 92 years old, he is still spreading the gospel.
It's probably too much to expect the Carney government to require full Passive House standards for the promised surge in home construction. But some conditions should apply. The Liberal platform promised 'to get the federal government back into the business of home building … and double the pace of construction to almost 500,000 new homes a year.' It will be 'Canada's most ambitious housing plan since the Second World War,' we heard repeatedly.
Canadians are demanding new homes but those big promises could also lock in megatonnes of new carbon pollution, and a sprawling network of new hookups for methane gas. A pace not seen 'since the Second World War' is definitely ambitious, but it also coincides with 'the Great Acceleration' — the point in the mid-20th century when human disruption of the Earth surged, and the trajectory of heat-trapping gases skyrocketed.
Buildings are already the third-largest source of fossil fuel pollution in Canada and cutting those emissions has proven miserably difficult. New buildings last for decades, so today's big plans can lock in new carbon emissions for decades.
'How we build matters,' says Efficiency Canada. The organization calculates that the most effective way to minimize additional carbon pollution comes from adopting the most ambitious tier of Canada's building codes (the net-zero energy ready standard) and implementing full electrification. If new construction proceeds under those conditions, 'Canada can reduce emissions by two-thirds and reduce household spending by $5 billion per year.'
Certain uncooperative premiers would fight full electrification, and the gas industry would go berserk. But you might recall that all provinces and the feds have already agreed to adopt the highest tier of building codes. So 'build, baby, build' could come with conditions. Maybe call it the 'Prairie Passive' or 'Saskatchewan Energy Innovation,' standard to grease the skids. But, if we're giving credit where it's due, any gobs of cash would be subject to 'The Orr Code.'
April: the second cruellest month
For those keeping track at home, the results are in for April. Global temperatures continued the hot streak above 1.5 C, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The streak was expected to subside as El Niño — a warming phase of the oceans — faded, but temperatures have stayed near record levels.
"And then comes 2025, when we should be settling back, and instead we are remaining at this accelerated step-change in warming," Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told AFP.
"And we seem to be stuck there. What this is caused (by) — what is explaining it — is not entirely resolved, but it's a very worrying sign."
Twenty-one of the last 22 months have exceeded 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels. "Globally, April 2025 was the second-hottest April on record, continuing the long sequence of months over 1.5 C above pre-industrial,' said Samantha Burgess, Copernicus' strategic lead for climate. She added a veiled dig at the Trump administration's decision to stop tracking disaster costs of climate change: 'Continuous climate monitoring is an essential tool for understanding and responding to the ongoing changes of our climate system.'