The CHF Cooperative Home Energy Survey (Energy Survey)

2010 – 2012

The Cooperative Housing Federation of BC (CHF BC) Cooperative Home Energy Survey (“Energy Survey”) consisted of the development and implementation of an online energy consumption and building characteristics survey, collection and analysis of utility data, and detailed energy assessments of selected housing complexes.

The project had three main goals:

  • To determine the energy performance of survey respondents from utility consumption data provided by BC Hydro and FortisBC;
  • To ascertain common energy retrofit opportunities by building type, through detailed energy assessments of selected high-consumption buildings; and
  • To utilize the above data to recommend the best approach(es) for engaging and prioritizing energy assessments and retrofits throughout all CHF BC housing complexes.

The Energy Survey provided a high-level overview of cooperative housing strategic and operational performance indicators related to energy performance and compared to provincial baselines for different building types. Analysis of the combined survey results, the energy consumption data from BC Hydro and FortisBC, and detailed case studies provided information on which buildings and building types were consuming more energy than average. This allowed the project operators to gain insights and develop recommendations for how all surveyed buildings could reduce their energy consumption and costs.

CHF BC has informed City Green that this Energy Survey has been used as a foundational document to guide the organization’s building energy improvement programs between 2012 and 2018.