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The inside sheet of OSB will double as an all-woodvapour barrier. “This is our insulating and structuralwall,” he said. “We won’t penetrate it. No plumbing,no electricity there.”The interior (2x4) wall would contain all the mechanicalsystems. “We won’t pre-insulate this. We can runall our plumbing, our wiring, anything else,” Duerfeldsaid. “When we finish the wall, just before we put thedrywall on, we’ll insulate that as well.”Though it won’t include the sold-wood interior thatmakes the Lost Lake Passivhaus (nee Austria House)so visually attractive, Duerfeld’s affordable wall systemwill provide more insulation.“We have more R-value in this wall than the Austrianshave in that wall,” Duerfeld said. “Our philosophyis: We are going to show that you can do this usingCanadian products and Canadian labour.”In Germany, jobs grew quicklyIn the European Union, all new buildings must be“nearly zero energy” by 2020.“They’re headed toward a Passivhaus-equivalentbuilding code. Your thermal envelope is going tohave to be this good,” Duerfeld said. “I think that willslowly follow here, too.”Guido Wimmers is a Dutch architect who now worksas a designer in Vancouver. He wrote the city’s PassiveDesign Toolkit for homes, and he trains Canadianarchitects, builders and engineers through the CanadianPassive House Institute.“Quite a few European cities are already doing [Passivhausor near-zero building codes],” Wimmers said.“By 2020. A lot, actually.”Wimmers shares Duerfeld’s view that Canada is readyfor Passivhaus.“The time is right. LEED has sensitized the marketover the last few years. They did an awesome job ineducating people. My personal opinion is just thatthey have not focused correctly on energy, but itdoesn’t matter. Overall, they have changed the buildingindustry,” he said. “Now, the market is open forthe next big leap, for something more. And they’veseen that Passivhaus is fairly successful.”Wimmers, who consults on numerous Passivhausprojects, expects to see between five and 10 more Passivhausbuildings in B.C. this year. “I could imaginethat a year later we are already at 50. And double thatthe following year.”He watched it happen in Europe.“These ideas transformed the industry in a relativelyshort period of time,” he said, adding that the rate ofjob creation in Germany was staggering.“The automobile industry in Germany is huge, aseverybody knows. We’re talking about Mercedes,BMW, Audi, Porsche, Opal, Toyota, Volkswagen,” hesaid. “By 2008, there were more jobs in energy-savingtechnologies and the renewable energy sector than inthe whole German automobile industry.”Slouching toward PassivhausWimmers sits on a committee that advises the City ofVancouver on its plan to become the Greenest City inthe world by 2020.He paused when asked whether he believed the cityshould adopt Passivhaus-like standards for its buildingcode.“Over time, yes,” he replied. “But I think the industryis not set up to accept this as a general rule by 2020.We cannot implement it over nine years. That’s toomuch.”In Europe, he noted, “They’ve been working on thisfor 20 years.”Asked what he thought Vancouver should do to meetthe green building component of its promise to reducecommunity greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent (from 2007 levels) by 2020, Wimmers repliedpromptly and in detail.“First of all, push the code. Make it more challenging.So that legally allowed worst-case scenario? Just pushit a little bit higher. Raise the bar,” he began.51