About Me

MASc Thesis:

Using Passive Cooling to Improve Thermal Resilience: Evaluation of a First Nations Housing Prototype Design

There is a need for new culturally-appropriate housing for First Nations communities. Passive cooling technologies may be well suited to this new form of housing as it can align well with the First Nations’ traditional holistic ways of knowing and may be able to address the risk of overheating, which is already apparent through the 2021 heat waves in BC and only increasing under climate change. Thermal resilience performance via passive cooling through operable windows was examined for a prototype housing design created for ʔaq’am First Nation, a community in southeastern BC. Passive cooling improved thermal resilience, although active cooling was still required to meet the BC step code thresholds for overheating hours. Future consideration is needed to improve thermal resilience practices in high performance development, and more research and discussion is required to integrate First Nations thinking into the design of mechanical systems installed in First Nations communities.

Other Publication:

High‐rise residential building ventilation in cold climates: A review of ventilation system types and their impact on measured building performance

J. Berquist, N. Cassidy, M. Touchie, W. O’Brien, J. Fine

Ventilation system performance in high‐rise multi‐unit residential buildings (MURBs) has a significant impact on resident wellbeing. While the importance of ventilation is well established, it is commonly overlooked since underperformance often goes undetected. This article presents a review and synthesis of ventilation system performance in high‐rise MURBs located in cold climates as it relates to the three pillars of sustainability: economic (capital and operational cost), social (airflow control, indoor environmental quality, and occupant behavior and interactions), and ecological (energy and carbon). A meta‐analysis revealed previous ventilation system designs generally prioritized economic sustainability, specifically, capital cost. However, priorities have recently shifted toward social and ecological sustainability. While this shift is positive, there is insufficient empirical evidence showing which ventilation system most effectively supports it. The decentralized heat/energy recovery ventilator (HRV/ERV) system shows the potential to improve upon the social and ecological sustainability of previous designs, such as the centralized pressurized corridor system, but the interconnected nature of performance metrics can cause improvements to one to negatively impact others. Therefore, further research is required to enhance ventilation system performance in cold climate, high‐rise MURBs, and facilitate decision‐making while designing and retrofitting these systems.

Undergraduate Thesis:

What’s missing from LEED regarding construction waste?

LEED Construction and Waste Demolition Credit awards up to two points for redirecting waste from construction sites away from landfill. Using data from 14 sites, I evaluated whether this redirection results in reduced greenhouse gas emissions. I found that no correlation is guaranteed to exist between waste redirection and greenhouse gas emissions: by sending materials to landfill you could decrease your effective emissions, or you could just as likely increase them.