Uli
Chorny

Uli Chorny started her career after graduating from the Energy Systems Technology program at Cambrian College. She has been working for the past five years with remote Indigenous communities in British Columbia on demand-side projects designed to reduce reliance on diesel-generated electricity. Uli has assessed and modeled retrofit savings for over 300 homes and has a strong understanding of the unique challenges of Northern living. She has worked closely with Indigenous Leadership to establish and formalize community housing and energy goals. Along with her team, Uli has achieved, on average, a 35% reduction in energy use by implementing building envelope upgrades. She is a firm believer in the power of education and has played a key role in creating and delivering several educational programs designed to reach diverse groups of individuals in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Uli recently achieved her Passive House Consultant designation and is excited at the prospect of introducing Passive House strategies to solve housing issues across the province.

PROJECT

My project looks at developing a pre-fabricated Passive House design that reduces labour costs and can be implemented for low-income housing in Vancouver. Passive design is the ideal option for growing our much needed housing supply while staying on target to meet the city’s climate change goals. Passive buildings reduce heating requirements by 90% compared to conventional models. The project’s ultimate goal is to expand the concept to remote Indigenous communities where the benefits of reduced heating demand have radical implications for greenhouse gas reductions and relieving the social-economic strain of individuals paying for high energy bills.