This is Bijan Mannani speaking on behalf of Landmark Homes Canada. I have here Dr. Haitao Yu, who is our lead researcher for Landmark Homes Canada.
Landmark Homes' primary business is building new residential homes in Alberta. We have a small operation in Phoenix, Arizona, as well. We started in the home-building business in Alberta in 1977. We have built more than 15,000 homes in Alberta.
The company started venturing into building energy efficient homes back in 2006, and in 2008 we adopted the four principles of sustainability, as defined by The Natural Step Canada, and we made a business. The strategic driver behind our business was to have environmental sustainability combined together with industrialization of construction processes for the residential construction industry.
In 2011 we started a manufacturing facility, panelizing homes in different sections, different segments like Lego pieces. We focused on reduction of waste throughout the processes, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions during the course of construction by eliminating the need for various contractors and trade partners to travel in individual vehicles to deliver materials to sites and the inefficiencies that we get when building on-site through stick building operations. We also started having very tight building envelopes to one millimetre accuracy, gaining air exchanges significantly below one air exchange per hour—the best we have done is 0.41 air exchanges per hour—and then focusing on making net-zero homes, energy efficient homes, to become the norm for all of our product lines and exceeding the national building code by a minimum of 15% for all of our product lines that we are delivering in the market.
In 2017 we placed our fifth net-zero show home under $400,000. That includes the land, the building, all of the options, upgrades, and GST for a single family home in Edmonton. We are currently on the way to building two other net-zero homes as a normal offering in the Edmonton market. Both are single-family developments.
We have been recognized by CHBA as one of the 22 net-zero qualified builders in Canada and one of the three qualified builders of net-zero homes and energy efficient homes in Edmonton.
Our mandate, what think we need to be accelerating, is to make mandatory labelling and energy modelling of homes both for new homes and for the resale market. The reason for that is to create and raise awareness in the consumer's eye so that it would create a demand for that and change the mindset and the paradigm that the status quo is acceptable. That's a big change that is needed.
The second part is, from the federal government standpoint, investment in research and development in the areas of HVAC and windows, but the biggest part, in our opinion, is the building envelope and the building science side of things.
With respect to funding for special projects or pilot projects, I think that's where the federal government can step in and have a plan for progressively, on an accelerated basis but in a stepwise manner, introducing higher energy efficiency requirements, adding that to the building code, and making that a requirement across Canada. Right now, different provinces are doing different things. It needs a well-coordinated effort from the federal government to be pushing the agenda for energy efficiency in housing.
There have been questions asked about the retrofitting of existing buildings. We currently do not have any particular program in Alberta. We are not in that line of business, but I think that would significantly impact the market by focusing on energy efficiency. If everybody is talking the same language, and the requirements are clearly outlined in a stepwise manner, then we all will be able to benefit from that and make the change that is needed.
With respect to how we can further reduce our carbon footprint and have energy efficiency, we think that in Alberta, where we have set up the manufacturing facility, the off-site manufacturing and panelization facility, it will not only diversify the economy. We are also able to introduce job creation opportunities, and it's a safer working environment. As I indicated earlier, the average home building operation has about 15.4 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions during the course of construction. This is not during the operation.
Through the manufacturing process, we have been able to reduce those greenhouse emissions to 6.42 tonnes. It's a significant reduction. If Canada is producing an average of 250,000 homes, just the impact of that, similar to the automobile industry manufacturing facilities that are off-site, means that we will be significantly reducing the industry's greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon footprints we are leaving behind, and lessening that impact.
I think we need to have a gradual process of introducing higher energy efficiency requirements. That target needs to be gradual, with a specific schedule and timeline identified in order for the whole industry to gear up with business partners—from builders to HVAC to windows to building envelope installation—where everything goes hand in hand.
Beyond this, if you have any questions, I will be more than happy to answer them.