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Aerecura Rammed Earth Home Revisited

December 19th, 2011

Completed rammed earth house, near Cobourg, ON

In October, 2010, I had the very fortunate opportunity to visit with Sylvia Cook, owner of Aerecura Rammed Earth Builders and owner of Ontario’s first rammed earth home, just after the beautiful walls had been finished. The roof, windows and main floor had yet to be installed, so it was a bit difficult to visualize the finished product. Just over a year later, Sylvia and her husband held a housewarming party so all of us interested parties could come and take a look at the finished product.

Sylvia Cook (left) Builder, Terrell Wong (right), Architect

To recap: Sylvia, a retired physics teacher, and her husband, a retired English teacher, were determined to build one of the lowest possible embodied energy homes they could. When researching materials and styles of homes, she wanted to find a material that was local, abundantly available, durable, and contained a low-embodied energy. A rammed earth fit home all of her criteria. You can read my full interview with Sylvia here, and read about the goals of the rammed earth home here.

The house itself is on two and a half levels (an open office area above the kitchen looks down onto the living room). It has a beautiful view of the hollow the house sits beside. Terrell Wong, the architect designed it to take advantage of as many passive heating and cooling features it could, so it is oriented to face southwest with large windows on the south side and smaller ones on the north side. The upper clerestory windows can be opened in summer to let the heat escape while lower floor windows will open to draw in cooler evening air.

Now that the house is completel, I asked Sylvia a few follow-up questions:

1. If you were to build again, is there anything you would do differently? ie., lessons learned.

I’m disappointed with the amount of wood used just on the relatively small section of the house between the top of the rammed earth and the roof. In order to maintain the continuous insulation layer we used a double stud wall construction. Next time I would use SIPS for this part of the house, as well as for the roof.

I would overestimate the heating needed and use a radiant infloor hydronic system for the lower floor. I made the decision not to because it was hard to justify the installation expense for the small amount of heat needed, but am now having to get creative with other methods of supplying that heat. Another time I might even consider putting hydronics inside a rammed earth wall. I think it’s important to remember that any initial expense will be amortised over a very long period of time, even though I won’t personally be around for more than a tiny fraction of that.

ERV system

Hot water tank -- used for domestic hotwater and heat pump

part of heating system

2. What in the house is salvaged (I believe the stairs and cross beams are), and where did you source your salvaged material?

The stairs originally came from the Belleville CN roundhouse, circa 1840. The wonderfully quirky welder who made the railings onsite happened to have them stored in his barn. A fantastic piece of serendipity as they fit perfectly!

Some of the beams were re-purposed from our formwork, including the open-ventilation roof support on top of the feature wall.

All of the interior doors are salvaged, collected from yard sales, flea markets, roadsides and Habitat for Humanity Restores. I have my eye on one from Legacy Vintage Building Materials in Cobourg to be used between the great room and master suite.

The supports for the deck (and the sink in the powder room) are logs from the trees removed to make the driveway.

Stairs to Office Loft area (salvaged)

Exterior southeast facing walls

Rammed Earth House by Aerecura

To see more photos of the house visit BEC Green’s Facebook page.
For more information about Aerecura Rammed Earth Homes, contact Sylvia Cook at: sylvia@aerecura.ca or 289-251-6684.
Visit Aerecura’s website for more information.

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Posted in Green Homes, Green People

Tags: passive house rammed earth structures

John Bell’s Green Home — Host of World’s Greenest Homes Greens His Own Home

December 16th, 2011

John Bell's Greenest Home. (photo courtesy of John Bell)

As the host of season 2 of The World’s Greenest Homes, John Bell traveled the world touring the world’s greenest homes, speaking to the owners, builders and designers about the homes and what made them decide to build more sustainable housing. The homeowners had built these homes to lead greener lifestyles and lower their carbon footprint. Clearly his work influenced his next move: after finishing season two of The World’s Greenest Homes, John and his family sold their large three storey home in a beautiful but somewhat isolated Toronto neighbourhood, to a home a little more than a stone’s throw to mid-town Yonge Street with all of its advantages. In the process they cut their home’s footprint in half, and probably their transportation footprint in half too.

The house John and his wife purchased was an old 1970s house on a cul-de-sac with single-paned windows, little insulation and plenty of air leaks. In fact when the energy auditor did the home’s audit pre-renovation, it came it at a leaky 7.7 air changes per hour and an Energuide rating of 33 out of a possible 100. In terms of what those numbers mean, according to the Office of Energy Efficiency, a home’s Energuide rating of 0-5o is an older, unrenovated (uninsulated) home. At the opposite end of the scale, an Energuide rating of 91-100 is an airtight home with proper ventilation that requires no extra heat source. The Air Change measurement measures the number of times the volume of air in the house is being replaced through leaks in the home’s envelope approximately.

The Bells added another 800 square feet to the home’s footprint while renovating the house. Even so, when the energy auditor tested the renovated home, the Energuide rating rose to 80, and the air changes per hour dropped to 1.59 ACH.

Given his experience on The World’s Greenest Homes, John noted that every homeowner he interviewed had the goal of decreasing their carbon footprint by building a well-insulated, low carbon footprint home. So like the green homeowners before him, John concentrated his efforts on his building envelope and improving his home’s energy efficiency.

John hired John Godden from Clearsphere to help him achieve his energy efficiency and green building goals. John Godden has been an active member of the green building realm way before it became the place to be in construction. His firm was one of the partners involved in building the EcoLogic Community in Newmarket, ON, the first LEED Platinum community built in Canada.

Power Pipe DWHR system

Building envelope: The ceilings have an R value of 41, the new construction 2×6 walls of the addition have an R value of 26, the older 2×4 walls, an R value of 22. All are insulated with Roxul batt and rigid board insulation. Roxul is a locally produced mineral-wool-based insulation with a high recycled content that is also a good fire retardant and noise damper. The basement floor and below grade basement walls were insulated with Roxul Drainboard with an R value of 10, and below grade walls have an R value of 32 as they have additional batt insulation inside the house. Roxul batt and rigid board insulating products were used for most of the insulation work. There were spots in the house, however, where the best insulation was sprayfoam, so he used Icynene, a cellulose-based product.

Ridley Windows and Doors, sliding glass door to backyard

Windows are from Ridley, aluminum-clad wood interior windows, double-glazed with a low-EQ coating that helps block strong sun rays and heat in the summer so the air conditioning unit doesn’t have to work as hard.

Phillips LED lights. 7 Watts each, $12 at Home Depot

HVAC: The system is a 98% efficient boiler-fan coil system combined with duct work provided by Airmax Technologies. The boiler heats water for both domestic hot water, radiant heating. It works in conjunction with a forced air system. John also had a Power Pipe installed which is a drainwater heat recovery (DWHR) system. DWHR can save you up to $125 per year depending on how much hot water you use (the more hot water used in the morning for showers, the more money it will save you). Radiant heating was installed in the basement to keep the floor warm, in front of the windows on the main floor at the front and back of the house, and in the two second floor bathrooms. A heat recovery ventilator was installed to capture heat from warm stale air, and to ventilate the now very tight house with warmed fresh air coming from outside.

Solar Air Panel Operation

Solar Sheat 1500G Air Panel. This is an interesting bit of new technology that John admits was installed more for the concept than for a specific return on investment. The way it works is, the panel sits on a south facing roof top where it can absorb the sun’s rays. Cool air is sucked up from inside the house, next it is warmed by the panel on the roof and blown back into the house via a vent. It has an optional solar PV panel used to operate the fan so that no additional electricity is needed. The single solar air panel provides enough heated air to heat 750 square feet, the approximate size of the second floor of John’s home. John said that with the tight envelope of the home, the heated air will help keep the second floor warmer even after the sun goes down, meaning the boiler. The system costs $16oo plus $2000 to install.

Brac Gray Water Holding tank

Dual flush toilets (tank hidden behind wall)

Water Efficiency: Another area John noted where green home builders were concerned was with water conservation. John became interested in gray water recycling, and in fact is now president of H2O Water Technologies, a distributor of Brac Gray Water Systems. He installed a Brac gray water tank in his home and says that it provides more than enough water from showers to flush the toilets in his home. He also installed dual-flush toilets.

Green technologies: John figures that during the renovation, he spent an additional $28,000 on green technologies, including $10,000 for solar panels to be part of Ontario’s microFIT program. The energy upgrades John made will save him $4000 per year in energy costs vs. his previous bills, so his payback point comes in at around 7 years and that’s assuming energy prices stay at 2011 levels — which they won’t. The longward trend for energy pricing is definitely upwards.

In the end, John is aiming for Silver certification level of LEED Canada for Homes and will likely achieve it.

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Posted in Green Homes, Green People, Water Efficiency

Tags: Energy Audits Energy Efficiency LEED for Homes Water Efficiency

Earthquake — LEED Platinum Home revisited — A tour with Rolf Baumann of RGB Group

December 9th, 2011

3rd Street Duplex, The Glebe, Ottawa, ON

A few weeks ago, while in Ottawa, I contacted Rolf Baumann, owner of RGB Group and builder of the first Earthquake resiliant/LEED Platinum duplex in Canada. He took me on a tour of the building and explained what he was doing to attain the LEED Canada Platinum for Homes certification. To achieve Platinum level, the highest level of LEED for Homes Canada awarded, a house must earn between 90 and 136 points in up to 9 categories. LEED for Homes is a designation used for residential dwellings to demonstrate building or renovating with environmental benefits. LEED stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” and takes into account all aspects of building a home from minimizing construction waste, protecting the development site, using local Gand recycled materials and indoor air quality. By contrast, EnergyStar certified homes, are only concerned with how energy-efficient the finished home is.There is no account for construction waste, type of materials used, site location, indoor air quality, etc.).

So, when a builder decides to build a LEED Home, he has a lot of factors to consider. Rolf, however, has already built to LEED Platinum. His Montauk Townhouse Complex (which RGB Group owns and operates) was certified LEED Platinum and is now fully occupied.

When Rolf bought the 3rd Street property, he already had two of the main criteria delivered: “Location and Linkages” and “Sustainable Sites.” The house is situated fifty feet from Bank St. in the heart of The Glebe in Ottawa. It’s a great neighbourhood with access to shops and services, restaurants, tons of coffee shops (Bridgehead is my personal favourite), schools, and public transportation to downtown. Further, regarding sustainable sites, he was building where a single-family dwelling was originally built in the late 1800s, and redeveloping the property into a multi-family dwelling. If, like me, you’re wondering if the previous house was salvageable, it wasn’t. It had been an estate sale, and, as Rolf discovered after purchase, it was still running on a septic system — even after all the sewers had been redone by the city a few years ago! The basement had been dirt, and the wood had rotted beyond repair. So, down it came — but not before Rolf sent out word to all his trades that the house was coming down. The plumber came and ripped out the copper plumbing, the electrician took the copper wiring, architectural salvage shops took the millwork. In fact, by the time the demolition company came, there was so little left to take away, they used half the number of haulages originally estimated.

Steel Framing by Bailey Metal Products

Electric Start Gas Fireplace -- no pilot light

Energy and Atmosphere: The biggest area for scoring LEED points is in energy efficiency, with a total of 38 points possible. This category encompasses both the building envelope as well as the HVAC system used. Using steel-framed construction gives the home a wider interior than the cinder block alternative. Because the house sits on a 25 foot wide property, the fire code plays a big part in the construction. Building with a steel frame allows for an extra two feet of interior space, allowing 19 ft of interior space instead of 17. Further, while the steel frame consists of 80% recycled steel, it can also be recycled at end of life. Rolf used Baily Metal Products out of Toronto for the frame. The walls are insulated to R25, using Roxul rigid mineral wool insulation (R13) used externally, and CertainTEED batt insulation (R12) used inside.

To ensure his building envelope is as tight as it can possibly get, Rolf hired Ross Elliot of Homesol as his energy auditor and LEED for Homes rater. Rolf says that when it comes time to check to make sure the building is air tight, Ross Elliot and the insulation installer are both present. As Ross finds leaks, the insulation contractor can either immediately fix the problem, or at least make a note of it and fix later if it needs more attention. Having both the energy auditor and insulation contractor present means that no holes will be missed. Doing an energy audit before the drywall goes up is one of the most essential parts of creating a tight building envelope.

Lifebreath Clean Air Furnace

Each unit has its own HVAC system that is controllable by the tenant. The LifeBreath Clean Air Furnaces were installed by Boon Plumbing. The HVAC system consists of a boiler that is 98% efficient combined with a fancoil ducted system, so it’s a combined hydronic heating, ducted system.

Doors from Lambden Window and Door

Window from Lambden window and Door

Windows and doors come from Lambden Window and Door, a local Ottawa company. The windows are good quality, aluminum-clad, where Rolf says the seal between the glass and the frame is the key to a good window product. Further, the windows are double-glazed and treated with UVA/B coating to prevent sunlight from getting in in the summer. Rolf notes that heating bills are almost nothing compared to air-conditioning bills, so the more you can do to curb air conditioning use, the better. Rolf estimates that each unit’s heating and hot water bills should come in around $50/month.

Appliances and Lighting: One of the surprising features of the home is the fairly extensive use of LED lights. Rolf is using a local company, DelphiTech, to provide all the LED lights. I say “surprising,” because as the building owner, he is not responsible for his tenants’ electric bills, but they will certainly benefit from his investment in these lights and the energy-efficient appliances he’s installing. The LED light fixtures he’s using are manufactured in Ontario, and use either 1W or 1.5W but have the equivalent output of a 50Watt or 75Watt incandescent bulb respectively. All appliances (not installed yet), will be EnergyStar rated and Rolf is planning on installing induction cooktops in both units. All appliances are sourced through Universal Appliances.

Water Efficiency: Another area to earn points in LEED certification is through water efficiency. In this case Rolf is installing Caroma dual flush 4 litre toilets. One of the key differences between Caroma and other toilets is the diameter of the drainage hole. In most toilets the drainage hole is 2.8″, but in a Caroma toilet, the diameter is 4″. In other words, it NEVER clogs. The faucets are from Delta, one of the leading companies in low-flow water fixtures. The bathtubs come from MAAX, a Montreal-based company. Instead of using standard 60″ tubs,MAAX makes a smaller 54″ tub that limits the amount of water used. Boon Plumbing supplied all the fixtures.

Indoor Air Quality: One area that is receiving more attention lately is the build-up of toxic chemicals in our homes due to the off-gassing of chemicals from materials used in new home construction, furniture, paints and even household cleaners. In addition to paint, building materials include caulking, adhesives, polyurethanes, insulation (many kinds contain ureaformaldehyde), cabinetry and millwork, etc. contain many toxic gaseous chemicals that can off-gas for years. Rolf uses zero or low-VOC materials during construction, then airs out the homes before tenants move in. Once occupied, The LifeBreath clean air furnace contains a HEPA filter to continuously clean indoor air.

Paint: Rolf has used Dulux Diamond Interior Paint on past projects and is sold on its performance. When applied in white, as it is in all of his units, it is a low-VOC paint (less than 10 grams/litre of volatile organic compounds). But maybe most surprisingly, it has a lifespan of 30 years. Because it is a ceramic-based acrylic paint, it is completely scrubbable, even the flat version.

Materials and Resources: Rolf sources materials as locally as possible. For example, both rigid and batt insulation, and the steel-frame, come from Toronto; Windows and LED lighting are from the Ottawa area, flooring was milled in Haliburton. The stainless steel kitchen sinks are Novanni (north of Toronto), and bathtubs are from Montreal.

For more information on the RGB Group, visit the RGB Group website.

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Posted in Energy Efficiency, Green Building Techniques, Green Homes, Green People

Mythic Paint — Zero VOC, 1200+ Colours, Great Price!

August 15th, 2011

A few weeks ago our family was on holiday near Huntsville, Ontario. While there, I dropped in to visit Jonathan and Celine MacKay, owners of Sustain Eco Store and Pure Green Magazine. When I asked about any new products they were carrying, Celine told me that they’ve brought in the Mythic line of paints.

Mythic was developed at the University of Southern Mississippi. It is non-toxic and zero VOC (volatile organic compounds), even when tinted. One of the dirty little secrets of some paint companies, is that their paints are zero-VOC, only until they are tinted.

Volatile organic compounds are bad for our health — in addition to the immediate paint smell you get when you breathe in, paints can off-gas for another 6 years, putting all kinds of toxic, carcinogenic chemicals into our indoor air ready for us to breathe. VOCs are also bad for the environment, and the paint industry estimates that VOCs from paint manufacturing may be contributing up to 10% of chemicals responsible for ozone depletion and climate change.

Mythic paints are different than traditionally manufactured paints because they avoid using the toxic solvents usually needed to dissolve paint and colour tints (hence the absence of VOCs). However, performance and coverage are considered as good if not better than traditionally made paint. It has performed very well in scrub tests too.

But maybe what I like best about this paint is the price. Mythic Classic sells for $42.99-$54.99 per gallon. That is an incredible bargain, considering I just spent $85+ on one gallon of a competitor’s zero VOC paint.

Mythic sells three different lines through Sustain:

Mythic Classic: Homeowner, do it yourself paint for anyone to apply. Coverage is approximately 400 sq. feet. Available in three different sheens: flat, eggshell and semi gloss. Sustain Eco Store Prices: Flat $44.99, Eggshell $46.99, and Semi-gloss $54.99. All prices are per gallon.

Mythic Pro: excellent coverage, made for professional painters. Available in flat, eggshell and semi gloss. Price $32.99 – $42.99. All prices are per gallon.

Mythic Black Label: an all-in-one paint and primer. Made for drywall and first time applications on new material. Available finishes are matte, satin and semi-gloss. Price: $58.99-$60.99 per gallon.

Note: all prices quoted are current prices (2011) at Sustain Eco Store. Prices vary by vendor.

Mythic is available in more than 1200 colours and the palettes are divided into different categories and available on their website (although I’d recommend seeing the real thing because digital colour and real colour will vary by computer). Finally, Mythic has a “room visualizer” where you can “paint” a ceiling, trim and wall from the colours available in their palette. It’s kind of fun. You get to put all kinds of colours together you wouldn’t do in real life; for instance I paired “plenty of sunshine” (orange) as a ceiling colour with a trim of “island magic” (turquoise) and “Sunburst Nose” (deep pink). Let’s just say if you walked into a room like that you’d wonder if I was colour blind!

For more information on Mythic, contact Celine and Jonathan McKay at Sustain at info@sustainmuskoka.ca or 705-787-0362.

Sustain Eco Store

8 Crescent Road

Huntsville, ON

For dealers in other areas, visit Mythic’s website: http://www.mythicpaint.com/searchDealer.aspx

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Posted in Green building stores, Green Homes, Paint and Wallpaper

Tags: Paints

3 Bedroom “Green” Chicago Home for sale: $129,900 (and you thought a green home had to be expensive)

June 27th, 2011

Green House For Sale in Chicago, $129,900

Chris McAuliffe is the owner of CM Real Estate Developments, a Chicago-based company. I had the opportunity to speak with him about an interesting project he’s just finished: Instead of demolishing this home in Cicero IL, a suburb of Chicago, and starting from scratch, Chris not only renovated it, but did it in such a fashion that it qualified for the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) “bronze” level green home. Best of all, he’s able to sell it and still make a profit, for $129,900 (US) — blowing away the myth that “green” is expensive.

We talked about two different aspects of the home: 1. What features it had that made it “green” and 2. How he is able to sell it for such an affordable price.

The house is a 1928 bungalow that’s been completely renovated and consists of about 3300 square feet of living space and includes three bedrooms, one bathroom, a brand new garage, and is fully detached.

The green features of this home include:

Reuse of most wood doors, trim, floors and windows. The exterior back door had to be replaced, and it was replaced with an Energy Star-rated door. The attic windows were replaced with Energy Star-rated windows.
Soy-based all natural paint-removers were used to strip the floors, windows and trim,
Zero VOC paints (Eco Spec by Benjamin Moore),
Low VOC floor varnish,
Insulation to R-30 in attic, additional insulation in walls, improved caulking and sealing of air leaks,
Tankless Hot Water System is used for both hot water and heating the home,
New Kitchen uses FSC-certified Wood kitchen cabinets, Energy-Star rated appliances,
Bathroom uses low-flow Kohler faucets, and tub is made from 93% recycled material, also by Kohler,
New garage uses roofing shingles containing recycled material and siding containing recycled material,
Dimmable lighting and CFL bulbs were used throughout the home,
Materials were sourced locally when possible.

All of these features add up to a low-maintenance, low-energy consuming home that not only is it affordable, but on-going utility costs will also be low.

Exterior "before"

view to dining room "work in progress"

View to Living Room "work in progress"

bedroom "before"

Attic. Note old windows.

Basement "work in progress"

So what were the secrets to being able to renovate and resell this home affordably? Chris told me that there were a few key decisions to making the home affordable.

1. Heating: like many older homes, this one is heated with radiators. The plumbing system was in good condition when Chris bought the home so it remains intact. The boiler, on the other hand, has been replaced by a gas-powered tankless hot water system. That means it only fires up when necessary and it was a lot cheaper to buy and install than a new boiler. Although a tankless system isn’t a practical method for heating larger homes, for something as modest as this bungalow, it works well and kept Chris’ renovating costs down while saving the future homeowners heating costs.

2. Preserving and restoring all wood work: The floors were stripped and refinished, as was all the trim, woodwork, and doors (except for the back exterior door which was had deteriorated too much). Less material used, less material going to landfill, more local labour employed. All of these factors lowered the cost of the renovation.

3. Windows: The windows were stripped and refinished instead of being replaced. This decision also lowered costs. There are trade-offs to this decision of course, while new windows would have offered a tighter building envelope, old windows (if the wood frame is well-preserved), along with additional storm windows for winter, some more caulking and insulation around the frames, not only preserve the historical nature of the home, but also aren’t as leaky as you might think.

4. Caulking: The all important sealing of leaks around door and window frames. This is one of the most effective methods for tightening up a building envelope as well as one of the most cost effective.

"After" Dining Room and view into Living Room

New Kitchen

Living Room

Finished Attic -- "Recreation Room"

Completed Basement

Master Bedroom

Finished Rear Exterior

New Garage

I asked Chris what the feedback had been like on the home so far and he told me there are four interested potential buyers at the moment.

By reusing and restoring as much as possible in the home, it allowed Chris to keep the cost of reselling the house to an affordable price. Think “greening” a home has to be expensive? It’s all about making smart, creative decisions as Chris has done with this home.

To view the complete listing for the house, click here.

For more information on CM Real Estate Development, click here.

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Posted in Green Homes, Green People

Tags: green construction methods

EcoInhabit Brings You the Healthy Home

May 18th, 2011

If you were in the lucky position of being able to build from the ground up, it would be an great time to sit down and have a chat with Tim and Jan Singbeil, the new owners of EcoInhabit, a green building store located in Meaford, Ontario.

Jan and Tim have lived in Meaford for about 20 years, and during that time have been farmers and owned a cabinetry shop. They’re big believers in restoring the land and using benign materials for building. “Benign” in this case refers as much to the off-gassing potential of the product as it does its environmental impact.

When EcoInhabit’s former owners put the business up for sale, Jan and Tim decided it was a good opportunity to expand their cabinetry shop into a full-service green building shop. The store itself offers a variety of green building products, such as American Clay, zero VOC paints and stains and reclaimed flooring. They still maintain their cabinetry operation so they sell solid wood furniture made in their own shop, including kitchen cabinetry and solid wood bed frames. They also sell biodegradable cleaners, reusable produce bags and a line of eco products for babies. It’s a fun place to browse through.

But what you’re really getting when you go into EcoInhabit, is a lesson on building and maintaining a healthy, durable, low-impact home. The Singbeils’ philosophy is that using local, durable materials and building with people from within the community are two of the keys to building durable, healthy buildings. They are also lucky to be able to work with some like-minded customers in the area who are willing participants as Jan and Tim continuously seek out better building techniques so that once built, these structures consume as little energy as possible and don’t off-gas any harsh chemicals.

Tim said that once they were working with a client and their objective was to build a home that would last, at a minimum, of 100 years. Then they decided, “if we’re building a home to last 100 years, why not 300?” The consequence of that target meant that as few mechanical systems were installed as possible; low-tech and no-tech are better than mechanical systems that are definitely not going to last 300 years, or 100 years for that matter. Homes are super-insulated, oriented to take advantage of passive solar energy in the winter and shaded in summer. Heating systems are as small as possible and mechanical cooling systems are avoided as much as possible.

A healthy home is mould and mildew free, sturdy and severe-weather proof, with no off-gassing of toxic chemicals from construction. The Singbeils construct homes with Durisol blocks, and encourage clients to choose American Clay for some wall applications since it works so well with the thermal mass of the Durisol blocks and regulates relative humidity.

They put a lot of thought into home construction and source as locally as possible working with expert trades who are familiar with their green materials. Any particleboard products are NAUF (no added urea-formaldehyde), and now they’re entering a new green area which is EMR, or, electromagnetic radiation, another form of pollution in the form of electricity. I confess that I’m not that familiar with EMR and, so, need to learn a little bit more about it.

To learn more about EcoInhabit and the Singbeils’ building philosophy, visit their website, or better yet, if you happen to be in the Georgian Triangle, make sure you stop by the store.

Website: http://www.ecoinhabit.com/

Location:

121 Old Highway #26
Meaford, Ontario
N4L 1W7

Tel: 1.519.538.0777
Toll-free: 1.888.538.0777
Fax: 1.519.538.0778

Email: info@ecoinhabit.com

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Posted in Energy Efficiency, Green Homes, Green People, Green Websites

Tags: American Clay green building materials Healthy Home sustainable buildings

Blu Homes Prefab Home Manufacturer Comes to Canada

May 6th, 2011

Last Saturday I was invited to a seminar hosted by Blu Homes. I first read about Blu Homes on Treehugger when it was announced that the company had bought Michelle Kaufmann Designs. Michelle Kaufmann is a renowned architect who had her own design/build prefab green modular home site. With the stock market crash of 2008, which decimated the housing market in the US, Kaufmann’s firm was one of its many victims.

Blu Cutaway

Blu Homes designs and builds modern, green, prefab homes. There are a few significant differences between Blu Homes and other prefab manufacturers: The frames are made out of steel and an entire module can be folded into a more compact module for easier transport. This ‘folding ability’ has several advantages over the traditional prefab home. For instance, fewer transport trucks are needed to ship modules (two can fit on one flat bed) which also significantly cuts down on the cost of shipping. In fact, one of their models can be shipped to a building site on just one truck. Using fewer trucks means lower costs and less pollution from transportation. Because the shipments are smaller, they can travel up narrow, windy roads and can be installed in more challenging spaces.

Because of the folding technique, homes are all finished within the factory, meaning they can be reassembled on-site in significantly less time. In fact, Blu Homes sends in their trained assemblers to put the home in place and finish it. Maura told us that usually a house can be delivered, assembled and finished on site in about 10 days.

Another advantage to the folding technique is that modules can be up to 21 feet wide and 18 feet high once unfolded. A traditional prefab home tends to have modules that are no wider than 8 or 9 feet with ceiling heights of the same measurement. The steel framed structure also gives the homes durability to withstand severe weather events including high wind areas, flood zones and even earthquake zones.

The Blu Home philosophy is all about providing a green prefabricated home with excellent design features. They have a team of architects (including Michelle Kaufmann) who have designed the current and upcoming model homes in their inventory.

There are many “standard” green features to these houses, in other words, features that are included in the cost of building the home.

Element Model

Smart Design: Homes are designed to feel big without being big, with open plans and high ceilings. They are also designed so that they can “grow with you.” In other words, if you only have the budget for a smaller unit, but anticipate the need for more space in the future (ie., a growing family, running your business from home, etc.), homes can be designed so that more pods (units) can be added later. Rooms are often designed with multiple uses in mind. Libraries can also be extra bedrooms, office spaces, play rooms, etc.

Orientation: Like any good green home design, Blu Homes will help you site the house so that passive solar gains are maximized and wind patterns are taken into account. In addition, included in their overall fees are basic deck designs and some landscaping design.

HVAC: Maura told us that they spent significant time perfecting the installation of radiant heat flooring so that it was a standard feature in all models. Standard are 93% efficient Viessman boilers in larger models and Embassey boilers in smaller models. HRVs or ERVs (heat/energy recovery ventilator) are also built in to every model. Note, central air conditioning is not included in homes because they are built for the most part without forced air (ducted) furnaces. However, Blu Homes will design a ducted home for you. In general though, the theory of a green home is that central air conditioning should not be necessary if the building envelope and positioning are done properly, particularly in a northern climate. Homes can come with mini-split (ductless) air conditioning units.

Origin Model, Interior

Building Envelope: The tighter the building envelope the smaller the heating and cooling system that’s needed, the less money you will spend heating your home. In this case, the building envelope consists of a combination of rigid foam insulation and eco fiberglass insulation in the walls. Walls are built with an R value of 24.5, Basement with R-19 or r-29 depending on if the basement or crawl space is conditioned. The roof is put together using SIPs for an R value of 38 or 45, depending on the model.

Windows: The windows are Anderson 400 series, which are high quality windows. They are double-glazed, with a low-e coating and filled with insulating argon gas to give a U-value of 0.31 (which is the equivalent of an R value of 3.22).

Material Use: In general, to have as low an impact as possible when building these homes, thought has gone into the selection of all materials. There is extensive recycled content used within the construction of the homes, and because they are built within a factory, there is 50-75% less material waste per home than homes constructed on-site.

Water Use: All toilets, showers and faucets are low flow, and there is the option of including a living roof (or green roof), and rain water catchment systems (additional charges for these systems).

Fresh air: A typical new home can off-gas up to 22 pounds of harmful volatile organic compounds into the air, and the off-gassing can continue for years. All Blu Homes are made with products with no off-gassing potential or mould-generating potential. Indoor paints and stains are zero-VOC, flooring choices consist of wood, tile, and other hard surfaces. Note: Because the foundation is the owner’s responsibility, you should discuss different mould prevention options with your site contractor.

Origin Media Room

Energy Efficiency: With energy use in mind, provided lighting is CFL and some LED where appropriate. All included appliances are Energy Star.

Home Models: There are currently 7 different models to choose from. Many of the models are available in a “mix and match” scenario where one kind of design fits with another. The current trend on larger pieces of land is to develop different “pods”, such as a main house with a separate guest house or art studio or retreat all on the same property.

What the client is reponsible for: First, you need to have a plot of land. If you’re not sure whether it’s suitable, Blu Homes will advise you on whether one of their models can be built on it. Secondly, you are responsible for hiring a site contractor to build the foundation, as well as to get all the necessary permits. Blu Homes will send the home plans to the contractor, but the contractor is responsible for the design and construction of the foundation, whether it’s a crawl space or full basement is left up to you. You are also responsible for landscaping and deck construction, but Blu Homes will help guide you. They will do a complete landscape design for you for an additional fee.

For more information, visit the Blu Homes website, or contact them directly using their contact form.

Origin Model after a snowstorm

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Posted in Green Homes

Tags: Energy Efficiency green building materials green construction methods Water Efficiency

An Interview with Sylvia Cook, Rammed Earth Builder

October 28th, 2010

Completed Rammed Earth Walls. Awaiting doors, windows and roof.

On a clear, sunny day in mid-October, I accompanied Terrell Wong, of Stone’s Throw Design, to beautiful Northumberland County to meet Sylvia Cook. Sylvia was building a rammed earth home and Terrell was the architect. I was intrigued by the idea of a rammed earth home and as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, it’s a lot different looking than I thought it would be. I’ve described the building and the technique in that post, but I was also interested in what made Sylvia decide to build such a remarkable dwelling in the first place. I asked Sylvia a few questions about her motivation and what the future holds, below are her answers:

1. What were the factors or influences that led you to want to build a sustainable house? And, what helped you to determine that rammed earth would be the most sustainable material?

Sylvia: Some years ago I had the pleasure of hearing Gywnne Dyer speak and found myself in agreement with his assessment that the biggest threat to global security had little to do with terrorism or even traditional wars, but everything to do with climate change. He provided convincing evidence that climate change would kill millions of people, impoverish hundreds of millions more, disrupt cultures, foster terrorism and cause wars. And all we really need to do to prevent this is eliminate our dependency on fossil fuels, something we will have to do sooner or later in any case as the supply is limited.

I’ve been interested in sustainability long before the phrase had been coined. I believe it was “caring about the environment” back in my day, but I like the concept of sustainability, defined as what it will take to sustain the planet in such a manner that humans can live on it in comfort. It had long been my hobby to research and design the most sustainable house possible, and I had looked into straw bale, log homes, earthships, cob, adobe, ICF, glass bottles, geodesic domes, and a number of concepts using recycled materials. When I came upon rammed earth, I realized it met all of the criteria I had come to associate with sustainability:

locally available, abundant material – appropriate subsoil is found everywhere, a very small (five acre) pit would provide enough leftover material (after the gravel had been extracted) to build 5000 homes
does not deplete any natural resources – we currently clearcut over a million acres every year in North America to build houses. Even strawbale depletes the topsoil.
non-toxic – there is nothing organic in rammed earth hence nothing for moulds to grow on and no need for chemicals to combat moulds or fungi in the building materials. Nor are there any other chemicals needed: no paints, drywall compounds or plastics.
beautiful in its unfinished state – if a building is not beautiful, no on will want to live in it and every added step of finishing requires more energy to process, transport and apply.
durable – rammed earth has stood the test of time: the Great Wall of China is only one of many ancient examples from all over the world. Modern rammed earth, stabilized with rebar and a small percentage of cement, should easily last hundreds of years, eliminating the stream of waste as houses need repair and replacement. Stabilized rammed earth is impervious to fire and able to withstand hurricanes, floods and earthquakes.
energy efficient – the most important aspect in my view. In the occupancy stage, representing the vast majority of a building’s energy use, rammed earth truly shines. The enormous thermal mass of the walls allows them to absorb and retain solar energy from south facing windows. The house will literally heat itself and, if properly insulated, will stay warm. In the summer a large overhang ensures that the walls stay cool. Add a few solar panels and the house is net zero energy, for every one of its five hundred plus years. If every house on the planet were built of rammed earth we could cut our fossil fuel use in half.
feeds the human spirit – there’s something about rammed earth that makes it very calming. Perhaps it is the solidity of the 18” walls, the natural surface, the quiet of the building, or some less definable quality. If architecture is going to improve the human condition, rammed earth is an excellent starting point.

First and second floor, pre floor installation

2. How important is thermal mass of a building in your decision?

Sylvia: When designing a passive solar house (which is a house heated by the sun shining through the windows) the challenge is always to store the energy. Any house will warm up when it’s sunny, usually too much, but cools down quickly when the sun is gone. Older heat storage solutions included concrete floors, Trombe walls (a thick wall just inside the south windows, blocking the view), rocks, water (in pools or bottles in various locations), underground tunnels, etc. Rammed earth walls give ample thermal mass acting as a huge heat sink. A typical stick frame house has one or two tonnes of mass; 50 – 100 tonnes is considered the minimum necessary for heat storage. In our construction the 6” of insulation in the middle of the wall leaves 6” of rammed earth in the interior of the house, plus the two 18” uninsulated interior walls, yielding 530 tonnes of thermal mass.

3. How labour intensive is it to build a rammed earth wall?

Sylvia: It is certainly more labour intensive to build rammed earth than standard building methods. The majority of the cost of building rammed earth is labour; the material is “dirt cheap.” But why is this a bad thing? Is it preferable to spend money on toxic, energy intensive, highly processed materials or to provide a living to a group of generally young people interested in making a difference in the world?

The lines represent different layers of earth

Natural waves in the walls due to the layering of the dirt mixture

4. What will be your primary heating source?

Sylvia: The sun. (See #2.) The Ontario Building Code insists on some form of heating so we’re installing baseboard heaters as the cheapest alternative but expect that they’ll almost never be turned on. We investigated geothermal and various in-floor systems but just couldn’t justify the expense for the small amount of heat needed.

5. How do you install the second floor, which from the photos, doesn’t exist yet?

Sylvia: There will be ledger boards anchored to the walls with epoxied-in threaded rod. The joists will hang from the ledger boards, just like building a deck. I’ll send pictures of the process if you’re interested.

6. You have a lot of window space in the design. How are you dealing with the contradictory goals of maintaining a constant comfortable temperature within the house, while allowing for natural light? In other words: most windows are the weak points of a home’s thermal envelope — why do you feel they won’t be a significant issue affecting your home’s interior temperature?

Sylvia: If you look at the net heat gains and losses from windows, south facing windows represent an overall heat gain, north-facing windows are a heat loss while east and west are neutral. Terrell Wong’s brilliant concept has allowed us to create the perfect solar (that is, south-facing) house that completely fits the naturally east facing slope. There are no north-facing windows. Our windows are also exceptionally good: Alphawin windows come from Germany with the Passiv Haus standard. You should talk to Terrell about the windows.

Composition of 18" thick walls

7. Can you talk a little bit about your business goals? Is your house the first in a series of rammed earth buildings?

Sylvia: Several years ago I retired from teaching to take on the project of building a sustainable house. I knew I wanted rammed earth but the highly technical nature of the process, from soil selection to forming systems and tamping techniques, seemed somewhat daunting. I also realized that my original concept of building one house as an example of what could be done was not as important as offering a genuine alternative in an attempt to change the built environment. To that end I incorporated aerecura sustainable builders and enlisted the help of an experienced rammed earth builder to construct the rammed earth garage as the first part of a steep learning curve leading toward the goal of a rammed earth industry in Ontario. Long before we put a shovel in the ground, and with no advertising effort on my part, I have received emails and phone calls from people interested in rammed earth. People are drawn to rammed earth for many reasons. Some, like myself, are attracted to the sustainability of rammed earth. Others, including many architects, are entranced by the natural beauty of the material as well as the creativity afforded in designing with rammed earth. Still others are seeking the health benefits of a building system with no toxic materials and no organic matter, thus nothing for moulds, insects or other pests to eat or burrow into. One family approached me after losing their house to fire; rammed earth is rated as non-combustible, another benefit of using only inorganic materials. My husband was entranced at the possibility of a fabulous music studio, using the superior acoustic properties of rammed earth. I have been contacted by people in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia, though aerecura’s initial business plan will keep us in southern Ontario. aerecura sustainable builders believes that rammed earth has the potential for widespread mainstream acceptance in both the residential and commercial realms.

For more information on rammed earth buildings, please contact Sylvia Cook at sylvia@aerecura.ca

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Posted in Green Building Techniques, Green Homes, Green People

Tags: embodied energy green construction methods rammed earth structures

Ontario’s First Rammed Earth House

October 26th, 2010

Rammed Earth House -- Walls finished

When Sylvia Cook retired from being a high school physics teacher, she had the goal of building the most sustainable house possible. After a lot of very thorough research, Sylvia determined that the best material to build a house with was dirt. Think about it: it’s local, there’s plenty of it, it has a low embodied energy, it has a significant thermal mass, and is extremely durable. It was these last two criteria that sealed the deal sustainability for Sylvia. When all is said and done, Sylvia estimates that her house will last, at a minimum, for about 500 hundred years. That’s not a typo. Five hundred years is a far cry from the minimum standard Ontario’s current building code demands which, if built to minimum specifications, is only about 30 years. So I applaud Sylvia’s vision and far-sightedness to undertake the building of a home that will outlast her great, great, great grandchildren, and hope that the Policy Developers-That-Be will consider upgrading the building code so that homes are built to last even half that long.

But I digress. I confess that when I imagined a rammed earth home, I imagined something out of the wilds of northern England or Scotland, sitting on a desolate wind-blown moor amongst the heather….but as it turns out I was way off. Way, way off. Instead, this rammed earth home has a more “adobe,” southwestern feel to it, but that could also be because Sylvia tinted the mixture with natural terracotta pigment to give it a warmer tone than its natural cool gray concrete appearance.

The basic building block for a rammed earth home: dirt.

Rammed earth walls consist of a mixture of dirt and sand with about 5% concrete mixed in. I asked if the dirt was off the property, but Sylvia said that the stones in the dirt on her property were too big to settle properly and would affect the structure of the hardened material. So, instead, she located a gravel pit about 5 km down the road from her property that has provided the dirt for her house.

Design: Sylvia worked closely with Terrell Wong, environmental architect, on the project. As this was Terrell’s first rammed earth home design, she mentioned that the design really came together when the two of them brainstormed. It was critical that Terrell knew what the material could do in order for her to design the most energy efficient home possible. The house consists of three “blocks” with rammed earth walls built on the inside of the home as well as for the exterior walls. The walls, which are 18″ thick provide a significant amount of thermal mass. Thermal mass allows for a more consistent temperature throughout the house regardless of the season. The walls have an R value in total of about R50. Because of this design, Sylvia is convinced that she will need only a heat source of a small wood stove and an ERV (energy recovery ventilator) for the entire house. She must have seen the look of skepticism on my face because she said that Terrell had incorporated some baseboard heaters into the design “just in case.” I’m cheering for her.

SE facing windows. Future music room (bottom), Living Room (above)

To help out the thermal mass walls, the design calls for some significant windows on the south east side of the house which allow for light and passive solar heating in the winter. Terrell made sure the home was oriented so that the sun was captured through the south-east facing windows from October through April only, thereby avoiding direct sunlight during the hottest months. There will be clerestory windows above the second floor, with a mezzanine that looks down to the main entry and living room. These windows will open to allow any rising heat in the summer to escape easily. All the windows were ordered from Germany and meet Passive House standards, meaning that they are the most thermally efficient windows on the market today.

In fact, with respect to the orientation of the house, Terrell had this to say:

The building faces perfectly on the cardinal compass points NSEW. The views are all to the east and the sun is to the south. What to do… So it’s 3 volumes (2 shoe boxes)set apart and splayed 8 degrees from one another and, they are also shifted so that there are south facing windows in every main room. These windows occur either in the jogs created by the shift of above in the clearstory mezzanine and those south facing windows project light and heat on the main 24’ high interior rammed earth wall. The windows facing east are for views and will require some external shading (yet to be determined) so that the building does not overheat. What we suspect though is that the rammed earth will absorb much of the excess and retain it when the reverse is true.

Construction method: Dirt, sand and concrete are mixed together in specific proportions to create a substance that will last when compacted, as mentioned, for at least 500 years. The mixture is shoveled in to a mold which is set up in 4′ x 8′ x 0.5′ sheets. About 8″ in height of dirt is added to the mold and then tamped down with a hydraulic tamper. The process is repeated until the top of the mold is reached. It’s topped off and leveled, then the next panel is constructed. Construction consists of a 6” exterior rammed earth, 6” polyiso insulation and 6” interior rammed earth, giving the entire construction an over all R value of around R-50. The roof consists of Thermapan SIPs panels, with an R-value of 40 plus the metal roofing material.

The home’s walls are now finished, but the first floor still needs to be constructed, then the windows, doors and roof. I can’t wait to see this house when it’s fully put together.

Sylvia’s home is the first of many rammed earth structures to be built by her company, Aerecura. For more information on rammed earth buildings, please contact Sylvia Cook at sylvia@aerecura.ca, or, see her Facebook page.

Natural waves in the walls due to the layering of the dirt mixture

Close up of the layered dirt.

: Sandwich of rammed earth, insulation, rammed earth

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Posted in Energy Efficiency, Green Homes, Green People

Tags: embodied energy rammed earth structures sustainable buildings

A Tour of the First LivingHome or, My Trip to Santa Monica, CA

September 29th, 2010

When you think of Santa Monica, California, you most likely think of the Santa Monica Pier, or may the 3rd Street Promenade, eating at the Ivy (over-rated, ahem), or the possibility of bumping into a celebrity of some sort, but for me it’s the site of the first LivingHome, Steve Glenn’s brainchild — the super duper green prefab home company that he started a few years back. Since I was going out that way for my sister’s wedding, I thought that while I was there, I’d take the opportunity to see if I could get a tour of the place, and lucky me, LivingHomes said yes!

Let me back up a little: in May, 2010, I was invited to the press launch for a community of four homes that are being built at Yonge and Sheppard by Nexterra Homes. You can read about the project more in-depth, here, but basically, the group of homes is dubbed an “eco-enclave.” They’ll have a spacious feel, yet won’t be over-the-top large — through the use of excellent architectural design. The first rule of a “green” home has to be superior design. After all, if it isn’t nice to look at or functional to live in, then it isn’t green because no one will want to be there. These four homes will have, or be ready for, the most current green design features available including solar panels and gray water recycling. What’s exciting about these homes is that they are prefabricated in a factory and then assembled on site. And guess who is supplying the designs? That’s right, LivingHomes!

So, back to present day. I met Aldo from LivingHomes outside of the Santa Monica house on a gray and chilly Monday. (It was 29C in Toronto and 17C in Santa Monica — there’s something wrong here.) We toured the house and Aldo went over its green features, and introduced me to a few green building products I hadn’t heard of before. We talked about each of our goals of helping to demystify green building to people and also show that it’s not so hard or expensive to do.

The Santa Monica LivingHome has some great green features: first it’s an efficient use of space incorporating about 3500 square feet of living space into a tight land area. Materials are selected as locally as was reasonable and are recycled, recyclable or renewable where possible.

The structure: the home is made from 11 prefabricated boxes that were built in a prefab home factory and assembled on site in 8 hours. You can watch the assembly video here. The boxes consist of a steel frame with wood siding. All wood used in the framing in the house construction is FSC certified American Cedar. The steel is an energy intensive product, but has the qualities ofbeing long lasting, and can be recycled at end of use. The insulation in the house is Greenfiber, a blown cellulose product used in the roof, and Ultratouch cotton insulation in the walls. The design of the home by Ray Kappe, known as “the architect’s architect,” took into account the moderate coastal climate of southern California. There is plenty of natural light that comes in through south facing floor to ceiling windows, skylights in the second floor washrooms, and even on the north side of the home, which is butt up against its neighbour, light is allowed to shine in through plastic sheeting that allows for privacy, but also lighting (more on the product below). Kappe also designed the home to capture and use the coastal breezes. Windows and doors open wide and the stairwell that goes to the roof also acts as a heat tower, trapping the heat until it’s expelled by the ceiling mounted fan, or more simply, opening the door to the roof top garden.

Naturally, these design features, so great in California, will be modified in the homes being built for the harsher Canadian climate.

One of the other neat things about this house was the consideration of flexibility of room use. For instance, there are floor to ceiling sliding panels on two of the bedrooms that can open them up or close them off depending on the room’s use. One could be an open area TV or play space, the other a bedroom. The “floating” office/guestroom above the media room could also be enclosed easily for more privacy. Aldo told me that LivingHomes has some home designs that actually grow with the family, so you can add on with little inconvenience as your family or needs change.

Main floor features: The main floor’s flooring is a poured concrete floor which incorporates 18% fly ash, a waste product from burning coal for electricity. As mentioned, a wall of Polygal — a material made of composite plastic sheeting that can be recycled at end of life runs along the north facing wall allowing light in, but maintaining privacy. Polygal allows almost the same amount of light as glass, however it has a U value that is twice that of a double glazed, low e argon gas window, while still allowing natural light into the space. (The U value is the inverse of an R value and is used to measure the heat transference efficiency of windows. The lower the U value, the better the insulation.)

HVAC system: The radiant in-floor heating which is the heat method used throughout the house is provided by the evacuated tube solar thermal panels on the roof. The back-up system is a conventional natural gas system that only goes on on the cloudiest day in the winter when the solar thermal panels can’t produce enough heat. The solar thermal panels also provide hot water for the house.

Water conservation: Santa Monica and Los Angeles are inherently a dessert climate, so addressing water use was an important point for the LivingHome. Landscaping is done with indigenous, drought-tolerant plants while a 3500 gallon (US) (approx. 13,200 litres) underground cistern captures rainwater, and gray water from showers, washing machine, dishwasher and sinks is captured and reused in toilets. In addition, all faucets are Kohler and shower heads are Bricor, and are low-flow, decreasing the amount of water consumed. Toilets are from Sterling, are dual flush (3 litres and 6 litres).

Wood: All wood used in construction of the home is FSC-certified American Cedar. In addition, the home is designed for flexibility. The second floor consists of rooms with walls made of panels of wood that can be closed off or opened up to enjoy the views. Wood panels are Europly, a combination of FSC-certified Baltic birch and Alder, glued together with an FSC-certified veneer applied (note: website for Europly says formaldehyde adhesives are used in amounts of 0.3ppm — amount required by the EPA). Millwork throughout the house is also FSC-certified and can be relocated to different rooms if required as it is modular.

Lighting: Lighting throughout the house is a combination of LED spotlights and CFLs, in addition to the abundance of natural light available during the day. Note: In the lighting industry, LED lights are still “not quite ready for prime time.” That is, while they are uber efficient and use 4-7 Watts per light and last 100,000 hours, the amount of lumens they emit is still not quite there for general lighting purposes, and the beam tends to be a straight tube instead of in a cone shape as CFLs and incandescents cast….but they are improving all the time. Currently, however, they’re still best left for decorative lighting.

As mentioned, natural daylight is not just added through windows, but skylights in every bathroom provide plenty of natural daylight for getting dressed in the morning, and walls on the north side have areas of Polygal that provide light, while doubling the insulation value of windows, and providing privacy at the same time.

Speaking of natural lighting, the curtains are made of Mechoshade Ecoveil fabric, a fabric that is endlessly recycleable. This fabric is not only used for bedroom blinds, but also, as blinds for the skylights (operated by remote control). Without the shade, the washrooms would become uncomfortably hot during the heat of the day.

All finishes can be found on the tour of this home (narrated by Steve Glenn) with links to the individual manufacturer. The homes being built in Canada will try to use as locally sourced manufacturers as is reasonable, because, really, isn’t that part of building green?

Monitoring system: In the kitchen there is a computer that’s hooked up to electricity and water monitors so you can always see your consumption rates and patterns. Also, it monitors the effectiveness of your solar PV panels so that you can see how much electricity you are generating for one day, week, month and year. It can even forecast your useage patterns and generation patterns for the future. This house generates about 1/3 of the power it consumes. But it only consumes about 8500KWH per year (the average family of 4 uses about 12000KWH per year).