Energy-efficient homes in BC: what the rules require, and how a home's energy use is measured.

Two codes: one for energy, one for carbon

The BC Energy Step Code began in 2017. The province's page describes it as a set of performance requirements for energy efficiency in new buildings, grouped into steps, where the minimum step rises every few years to move the industry toward net-zero energy ready buildings by 2032. The first step up came in May 2023, when most new buildings had to be 20 percent more energy efficient than the 2018 minimums. Steps 1 and 2 for smaller buildings are now listed as Reserved in the code.

The Step Code sets an outcome and leaves the design team to choose how to reach it. For a house or small residential building, each step sets a limit on yearly heating demand, a limit on the energy used by the heating, cooling, fan and hot water equipment, and an air leakage limit. In Metro Vancouver's climate, Step 3 allows 30 kWh of heating demand per square metre a year and Step 5 allows 15.

The Zero Carbon Step Code was added in May 2023. It sets four levels, from EL-1 (measure and report only) to EL-4 (zero carbon performance), and the province's stated path is zero carbon new buildings by 2030. The two codes work together: a home can meet a high energy step and a low carbon level, or the reverse, and some cities let builders choose between those pairs.

In a building with more than one home, the rules apply to the whole building. The BC Building Code says so for energy in Sentence 9.36.6.1.(1) and for emissions in Sentence 9.37.1.1.(2), so a fourplex is modelled and tested as one building. The Step Code levels chapter of this guide gives the full tables.

What Metro Vancouver cities ask for

The province sets the minimum, and local governments may require higher steps and levels by bylaw. On 24 October 2026, the cities' own pages showed these rules for new Part 9 homes: Burnaby, Step 3 with EL-4; Richmond, a choice of Step 5 with EL-2, Step 4 with EL-3 or Step 3 with EL-4; New Westminster, Step 5 with EL-2 or Step 4 with EL-4, with Step 5 and EL-4 listed from 1 January 2027; the City of North Vancouver, Step 4 with EL-3 or Step 5 with EL-1; Surrey, Step 3 with EL-1; Coquitlam, Step 3.

The City of Vancouver is a separate case. The province's code page says BC Codes do not apply in Vancouver, which has its own building bylaw. Vancouver's pages refused our requests on 24 October 2026, so this guide states no Vancouver energy rule. If your lot is in Vancouver, get the rule from the City for your permit date.

Two homes on the same street can face different rules if their permits are dated on either side of a change. The step levels chapter has the full table, with the date each rule started.

How the numbers are proven

Every Part 9 home on the Step Code needs an energy advisor or energy modeller. Energy advisors are registered through service organizations licensed by Natural Resources Canada. The advisor reviews the plans, builds a whole-building energy model before the design is final, runs the air leakage tests, and confirms that the plans and the finished home meet the step.

The air test is a blower door test, which uses a calibrated fan to lower the pressure inside the house and measure how much air leaks in. The code requires the multi-point method in CAN/CGSB-149.10. A test partway through construction, before drywall, is optional across the province, but Surrey requires one before the insulation inspection.

Energy advisors also deliver the EnerGuide rating, Natural Resources Canada's measure of a home's net yearly energy use in gigajoules. A rating of zero means the home produces as much energy as it uses. The modelling and testing chapter explains each step.

Where the energy savings come from

The shell comes first. The code counts insulation as an effective value that includes heat lost through studs and other framing, and its tables for buildings that hold only homes list walls at RSI 3.08 and windows at a maximum U-value of 1.22 in Metro Vancouver's climate. The air barrier must be continuous across every joint and around every pipe and wire. A tight house then needs fresh air brought in on purpose, which is why every home needs a mechanical ventilation system; a heat recovery ventilator is one of the ways the code allows to supply that air. The walls, windows and air chapter covers each rule.

Heating and cooling come next. The code asks heating to hold 22°C in living spaces, and, since March 2024, cooling that keeps one living space per home at or below 26°C in summer. The code does not require a heat pump. At higher Zero Carbon levels, the code's fuel-based route accepts only electric heating and hot water, and a heat pump that both heats and cools meets both temperature rules with one system. The heating chapter explains where gas still fits.

Above the code sit two voluntary standards. Passive House, set by the Passive House Institute, caps heating demand at 15 kWh per square metre a year and air leakage at 0.6 air changes per hour. The Canadian Home Builders' Association labels Net Zero homes that produce as much energy as they use. For an existing house, the work starts with an EnerGuide evaluation and can draw on CleanBC and BC Hydro rebates; the last chapter lists what was open on 24 October 2026.

This guide explains the rules. If you are planning a new home or multiplex and want it designed to a set step from the start, our high-performance homes page describes how we build them.