Innovation in construction: ENBIX's role in advancing emissions-neutral buildings

Launched in December 2023, the Emissions-Neutral Buildings Information Exchange (ENBIX) brings together partners to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the construction, renovation and operation of buildings. Hosted by the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation and their local LC3 Centre the Climate Innovation Fund, this initiative is accelerating the transition to an emissions-neutral built environment for new and existing buildings across Alberta.  

The new initiative promotes sharing of innovative ideas, solutions, best practices and lessons among interested parties in the building and construction ecosystem, providing information on industry training opportunities, bringing together peer groups and zeroing in key topics like embodied carbon. It is industry-governed, with foundational support from the City of Calgary, the Calgary Construction Association, the City of Edmonton and its Emissions-Neutral Building Industry Advisory Group, and the Smart Sustainable Resilient Infrastructure Association.   

ENBIX is based on similar models including British Columbia’s Zero Emissions Building Exchange (ZEBx) hosted by ZEIC, the Metro Vancouver region’s LC3 Centre. During the development of ENBIX, ZEBx provided lessons learned from their early years of operations including information about the relationship between ZEBx and industry partners in BC.  

Meanwhile, the Halifax LC3 Centre, the Halifax Climate Investment, Innovation and Impact Fund (HCi3) has provided $80,000 in funding for another multi-party building exchange program that is preparing Nova Scotia’s building sector for a net-zero future. The Building to Zero Exchange (BTZx) is now live, growing capacity to scale up the creation of high-performance buildings.  

With three advanced energy performance building exchanges now launched, we have critical building industry experience being actively facilitated locally and across the LC3 Network