Shelter Skelter | BC green buildings | LEED

Following the logic of Martens and Goodland, it will be the green builders who emerge less weakened from this recession than their non-green counterparts. And when the market rebounds, those green builders left standing will have an even greater influence over the industry as a whole.

That may be a bit too glass-half-full for the skeptics out there, but even the most jaded meat-and-potatoes builder would agree that there is one area where green building will get a boost during this recession: the green retrofit, that decidedly unglamorous world of boiler upgrades, window replacements and weather-stripping. It may lack the flash and pizzazz of projects such as Millennium Water and Dockside Green, but what green retrofits lack in glamour they make up for in government support.

In its January budget, the federal government earmarked $300 million in extra funding over two years for the existing ecoEnergy retrofit program – enough to subsidize an additional 200,000 residential energy efficiency renovations. It will also invest $1 billion over two years for renovations and energy retrofits for up to 200,000 social housing units, plus another $1 billion over five years to support the Green Infrastructure Fund.

While such funding may be a step in the right direction (and will certainly contribute to job creation), green-building advocates such as Goodland believe that the federal government has not gone far enough. “There’s still this distinction between infrastructure and green infrastructure,” says Goodland, “and there shouldn’t be. There shouldn’t be any other kind of infrastructure besides green infrastructure.” And while she commends the government of B.C. for the recent additions to the building code, her congratulations are also somewhat reserved.

“B.C. is certainly at the leading edge of jurisdictions in North America, but line it up with anything in Europe and we just pale in comparison. We have a lot of work to do to catch up to places like the U.K.” Besides, she adds, “building codes are the line below which you’re illegal; they’re not meant to be an aspirational standard.”

But despite her disappointment in various governments’ missed opportunities, Goodland believes that the overall trend toward green building is “inexorable.” And she is hopeful that B.C. will play a pivotal role in driving the green-building movement forward, benefiting from the economic gains that will inevitably flow toward leaders in the field. “British Columbia has the potential: it has some of the world-leading green-building designers, architects and technologies. But if we wait and become a follower instead, we could be facing a very expensive future.”

So where does that leave B.C.’s green-building industry now? On one hand, we can pat ourselves on the back for having more LEED-certified buildings than any other province besides Ontario (they have 51; we have 40) and for implementing some of the greenest building codes in North America.

Green builders across the province can take heart that this recession will not be the death of the green building movement and in fact may provide a kind of backhanded boost that will allow green building to flourish when the economy rebounds. On the other hand, even if green building does make it through the next few years, it still has a long way to go.

The general public may have discarded the notion that green building is only for Gulf Island hippies, but that doesn’t mean we can rest on our collective laurels. B.C.’s buildings are better than they were five years ago, and thankfully they show no signs of backsliding any time soon. But is that good enough? For people such as Helen Goodland and Brenda Martens, the answer is a resounding no.