Industrial Envelopes.
Alberta adopted NECB 2020 at Tier 1 for Part 3 buildings, and no municipality may require more. Zone 7A caps walls at U 0.215 and roofs at U 0.121 — an effective R-26.4 wall and an effective R-46.9 roof.
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Industrial envelope decisions are usually made against a payback number, and the payback number is usually wrong — because the price of a saved gigajoule is not the price on the bill divided by the gas used.
Whole-building airtightness testing is an option in NECB 2020 rather than a requirement, which makes a measured result a differentiator instead of a formality — the two compliance routes and the numbers behind them are set out clause by clause.
What the Energy Code Sets for Part 3.
NECB expresses requirements as maximum overall thermal transmittance rather than minimum RSI. Everything below is Zone 7A, which is where Red Deer sits at 5 550 heating degree days below 18 °C.
- Above-ground opaque assemblies, Table 3.2.2.2: walls at U 0.215 (RSI 4.65, about R-26.4), roofs at U 0.121 (RSI 8.26, about R-46.9), floors at U 0.138 (RSI 7.25, about R-41.2).
- Assemblies in contact with the ground, Table 3.2.3.1: walls and roofs at U 0.284 (RSI 3.52), floors at U 0.757 over a 1.2 m perimeter strip.
- Fenestration and doors, Tables 3.2.2.3 and 3.2.2.4: vertical fenestration at maximum U 1.73, skylights 2.41, doors 1.90, access hatches at nominal U 1.3 or lower under Sentence 3.2.2.4.(4).
- Airtightness route one, Article 3.2.4.2: a normalised air leakage rate not greater than 1.50 L/(s·m²) at 75 Pa, tested to ASTM E3158, both pressurised and depressurised, with the two rates averaged.
- Airtightness route two, Article 3.2.4.3: air barrier assemblies at 0.2 L/(s·m²), conforming to CAN/ULC-S742 or designed and evaluated for the location's 1-in-50 hourly wind pressure, with at least one material conforming to CAN/ULC-S741.
- Component limits in the same article: curtain walls 0.2, fixed windows and skylights 0.2, operable 0.5, doors 0.5, overhead doors 2.0, revolving and automatic sliding doors 5.0, and loading docks required to carry weather seals sealing the truck box to the building.
- Alberta's tier position: Table 10.1.2.1 defines Tiers 1 to 4 at 0, 25, 50 and 60 percent improvement, and AR 5/2024 amends the NECB so that only Tier 1 is required.
- Radiant-heated above-ground assemblies at no more than 80 percent of the table U-value, under Sentence 3.2.2.2.(4) — relevant wherever heated slabs or radiant panels are part of the envelope.
How an Industrial Scope Comes Together.
- 01
Confirm classification and tier
Part 3, heated or semi-heated, and Tier 1. Semi-heated buildings read Table 3.2.2.2 at a 15 °C degree day base under Sentence 3.2.2.2.(2), which for Red Deer means Zone 6 numbers rather than Zone 7A.
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Pick the airtightness route deliberately
The whole-building test route gives a single defensible number for the building. The assembly route avoids the test but pushes the obligation onto material conformity and design. Both are compliant; they are not equivalent commercially.
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Model the payback on avoidable cost
Not on the all-in average from a bill. The avoidable cost of a saved gigajoule is the commodity plus the variable delivery charge plus the variable riders — the fixed daily charge is there whatever you do.
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Schedule against plant conditions
Substrate temperature, dew point, moisture content and ventilation during and after application are all real constraints in a working facility, and they belong in the outage plan rather than in a surprise on the day.
Frequently Asked Questions About Industrial Insulation
What does NECB require for an industrial building in Red Deer?
For a heated Part 3 building in Climate Zone 7A, NECB 2020 Table 3.2.2.2 sets maximum overall thermal transmittance of 0.215 W/(m²·K) for walls, 0.121 for roofs and 0.138 for floors — effective RSI 4.65, 8.26 and 7.25, or roughly R-26.4, R-46.9 and R-41.2. Assemblies in contact with the ground come from Table 3.2.3.1 at 0.284 for walls and roofs. Alberta adopted NECB 2020 at Tier 1 only under AR 5/2024, and an accredited agency, municipality or regional services commission cannot require a higher tier.Do we have to do a whole-building airtightness test?
No. Article 3.2.4.1 requires compliance with either Article 3.2.4.2 or 3.2.4.3. Article 3.2.4.2 is the test route — 1.50 L/(s·m²) at 75 Pa to ASTM E3158, pressurised and depressurised with the results averaged. Article 3.2.4.3 is the assembly route at 0.2 L/(s·m²) with conforming materials, and no test. NRC's own published summary of the significant changes in NECB 2020 states that whole-building airtightness testing is introduced as an option for complying with air leakage requirements. It is worth knowing that, because the test is also a genuine differentiator when a project wants a number rather than a compliance path.How do we work out the payback on an envelope upgrade?
From the avoidable cost of energy, not the average. On the gas side, the commodity portion under Alberta's default rate tariff has run roughly $0.93 to $3.42 per gigajoule through 2026, and ATCO Gas North's rate schedule effective 1 August 2026 puts residential low-use variable delivery at $1.049 per GJ and small-commercial mid-use at $1.045 per GJ, plus riders. That gives an avoidable figure in the region of $2.50 to $5.00 per gigajoule saved. It is not the $4 to $7 you get by dividing a whole bill by consumption, because the fixed daily charge — $0.997 a day residential, $1.909 for mid use — does not go away no matter how little gas you burn. Using all-in averages inflates payback claims substantially.Can spray foam be used on process equipment or hot pipe?
Not above its rated service temperature. CAN/ULC-S705.1 puts closed-cell spray foam's service range at -60 to +80 °C, and manufacturers require foam to be kept at least 75 mm away from any device whose surface temperature exceeds 80 °C. That rules it out for high-temperature process piping and vessels, and it is the reason we do not publish a high-temperature service page — the honest answer would be about materials we have no sourced technical basis to describe. For building envelope work at plant scale it is a different question entirely.What documentation should we get from an insulation contractor?
Article 9.25.2.5 of NBC(AE) 2023 requires spray-applied polyurethane insulation to be installed in accordance with CAN/ULC-S705.2, and that standard places obligations on the manufacturer, the contractor and the installer covering environmental conditions, substrate requirements, quality control, daily testing of the installed product and documentation. A reasonable handover package is the daily work records, the CCMC evaluation numbers for the products used, and the manufacturer's technical data sheets. Asking for it costs nothing and it converts a claim into a file.