In the heart of Edmonton’s river valley lays a very unique home. A home designed like no other in this city. In fact it was the first of twelve projects across Canada striving for a net zero energy consumption. Meaning the house generates all its own heat and electricity on an annual basis. To achieve this, the house is air tight and highly insulated. The strategic use of passive solar heating combined with low energy appliances, lighting and equipment also work towards an end goal of net zero. The water and home heating needs are supplied by an active solar heating system with a backup electrical heater. All electrical energy for the house is from a solar electric power system.
I was fortunate to partake in a tour of this amazing project recently. Saying that I was thoroughly impressed would be am understatement. The project left no stone unturned. The use of numerous recycled products was noted all over the house. From the beams used from a demolished liquor store, to the some of the floors made from an old school gym floor, and even the base boards were from another building in the city. Some of the wood from the old preexisting house was also used in the new house. The concrete in the basement used fly-ash, a byproduct of coal producing plants. The paint on the walls was organic and even some of the floors were as well.
I was genuinely surprise at all the energy saving designs throughout. For starters the house is air tight and highly insulated. The strategic use of passive solar heating combined with low energy appliances, lighting and equipment also work towards an end goal of net zero. The water and home heating needs are supplied by an active solar heating system with a backup electrical heater. All electrical energy for the house is from a solar electric power system.,
What impressed me most was not the house itself. What impressed me the most? Well it was the revolving door of people coming in and out of the house. All of them bright eyed and amazed at all the ideas the saw as they looked around. At the end of the tour they would all come up to Peter Amerongen the project manager. A modest man by nature, Peter was a bastion of information for all who came in. Answering as many questions as possible for all who were willing to ask. The common thread in all the questions, were people wanting to know how to improve there own homes in a similar manner. Of course none of them had millions of dollars to spend on there own homes. They new they could incorporate at least some of the designs. Every topic from insulating there basements, upgrading their furnace, to adding a simple real-time energy monitor to see where they consume the most power was discussed.
You could see the excitement in everyone’s eyes including Peter’s as they spoke. Here was a man that whole heartedly enjoys what he does for a living. I asked Peter what was his inspiration for the project. He merely stated that, “it was a long time coming.” The project was to showcase some of the design used in recent projects to create a unique stand alone project. He also wanted to mention all the sponsors and volunteers that contributed. He stated, “The biggest concern I have is that we failed to mention someone,” referring to the list of contributors on the wall as you enter.
I asked him what we as individuals can do at home besides the obvious things like upgrading our furnace, improving insulation, and reducing overall consumption. He said, “The best place to start is to have an Eco analysis done.” There are numerous people who can come into your home and tell you where the best place to start improving your home is. He also recommended a program known as Hot2000 available free from the Natural Resources Canada Web Site. I managed to download and try it out on my own home. I found it to be very accurate at predicting my current utility bills. What I enjoyed most was seeing the difference made by changing a few R-values or upgrading my windows. I recommend this program to anyone planning on renovating or upgrading their homes. It was well worth the hour it took me to enter in my own specs.
We can all see from this example that there are many things we can do to improve our own homes, lower energy consumption, and save money. The world defiantly needs more homes like this one. As I left I asked Peter if he had a message for all of us. He just turned away blushed and with a smile said, “this was really fun.” I found that to be a great point we should not look at doing good things as hard or difficult. Even if they are time consuming, we should enjoy them. Then he turned to another gentleman he had been previously talking to about job prospects in his field and said “these are very exciting times.” He was referring to the career opportunities and the demand for designers, engineers, and builders in the Eco friendly construction field. That is a refreshing statement in these so called slow economic times.
