BILL NO. 251
(as introduced)
2nd Session, 63rd General Assembly
Nova Scotia
69 Elizabeth II, 2020
Private Member's Bill
An Act Respecting Energy Efficiency
Susan Leblanc
Dartmouth North
First Reading: March 6, 2020
Second Reading:
Third Reading:
Explanatory Notes
Clause 1 amends the Building Code Act to allow municipalities to make by-laws encouraging or requiring construction to achieve net-zero energy status. It also allows those by-laws to exceed the standards set by the Building Code or the regulations and allows for financial incentives.
Clause 2 amends the Efficiency Nova Scotia Corporation Act to
(a) require the electricity demand-side management program to include goals respecting net gains in energy efficiency; and
(b) require the Efficiency Nova Scotia Corporation to include elements in the electricity demand-side management program that address the needs of low-income homeowners and renters.
Clause 3 amends the Real Estate Trading Act to
(a) require the Nova Scotia Real Estate Commission to adopt a code of ethics for individuals licensed under the Act; and
(b) specify that the code must include disclosure of material facts and energy performance for real estate listed for sale.
An Act Respecting Energy Efficiency
1 Section 7 of Chapter 46 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Building Code Act, as amended by Chapter 18 of the Acts of 1998 and Chapter 47 of the Acts of 2005, is further amended by adding immediately after subsection (2) the following subsections:
- (3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the council of a municipality may pass by-laws adopting programs to encourage or require construction to achieve net-zero energy status.
(4) A by-law passed under subsection (3) may
(a) be inconsistent with this Act and the regulations to the extent that it imposes a higher standard of energy efficiency than that required by this Act, the regulations or the Building Code;
(b) extend to new construction, renovations or both;
(c) apply to buildings or specific components or elements of buildings; and
(d) include financial incentives.
2 Chapter 3 of the Acts of 2009, the Efficiency Nova Scotia Corporation Act, is amended by adding immediately before Section 36 the following Sections:
- 35 The Corporation, in implementing the electricity demand-side management program, shall set as annual goals
(a) a net gain in energy efficiency in the Province of two per cent per year in each of the years 2021 to 2025, inclusive; and
(b) a net gain in energy efficiency in the Province of three per cent per year in each of the years 2026 to 2030, inclusive.
35A The Corporation shall, in implementing the electricity demand-side management program, include elements that address the needs of low-income homeowners and renters with the objective of ensuring that no household's annual expenditures on heat and electricity exceed six per cent of that household's annual after-tax income.
3 Chapter 28 of the Acts of 1996, the Real Estate Trading Act, is amended by adding immediately after Section 8 the following Section:
- 8A (1) No later than January 31, 2021, the Commission shall adopt a code of ethics for licensed individuals.
(2) The code of ethics must include
(a) items that a licensed individual must include in listing information for real estate offered for sale, including
- (i) all facts that would affect a reasonable person's decision to acquire or dispose of an interest in the real estate, and
(ii) where the real estate includes a building, the building's energy performance, as measured on a system to be established no later than May 1, 2021, by the Minister of Environment after public consultation; and
This page and its contents published by the Office of the Legislative Counsel, Nova Scotia House of Assembly, and © 2020 Crown in right of Nova Scotia. Created March 6, 2020. Send comments to legc.office@novascotia.ca.
