architecture

Edmonton Housing: The Bad and the Good

I work in Windermere (on the southwest edge of the city - south of Henday Drive) and see the kind of houses that are being built and find it kind of depressing.  Houses are framed with significant thermal bridging, there’s no thought towards orienting the streets or individual houses for maximum solar gain, many homes have just double pane windows and there’s not a single solar panel anywhere.

 
It’s not possible to squeeze another north-facing window on this house. These will be a net energy loss every year for the entire life of that house.


When I was a boy if we didn’t close the entrance door fully in the winter time, my father would chastise us by saying “What are you doing, trying to heat the great outdoors?”.  Apparently that’s what this house is designed to do as it has an outward facing gas fireplace built in to its side.

It was against the backdrop of the above that I ran across Oxford Phase 2 - a neighbourhood that requires all homes to be certified by either BuiltGreen Canada Gold, LEED Canada for Home, ENERGY STAR, R2000, or achieve a minimum EnerGuide rating of 80. Not only that, but people lined up overnight just for a chance to buy a lot!

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Land+rush+hits+Edmonton+hopefuls+camp+overnight+individual+lots/9820878/story.html?__federated=1

http://www.edmonton.ca/business_economy/land_sales/oxford-subdivision.aspx

There is a demand for energy efficient homes in Edmonton.  I suspect that one of the primary reasons for someone to buy a lot in Oxford is the fact that you wouldn’t have to risk developing an advisarial relationship with your builder by pushing them to build a high efficiency home.  By building in Oxford, you can make the city the bad guy and say “I’d love to buy your standard home but, gosh darn it, the city is forcing me to get a certified house” then get the house you really wanted in the first place.

Ken

Congratulations to Peter Amerongen and Habitat Studio & Workshop Ltd.

Congratulations to Peter Amerongen on winning "Net-Zero Energy Home Champion of the Year" and to the team at Habitat Studio & Workshop Ltd on winning "Net-Zero Energy Home Product of the Year" for their PV Awning.  I believe this is the very awning that is on Conrads house.

Check out: http://netzeroenergyhome.ca/2011-award-winners

 

Home Re-use-ables

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Embodied Energy

    the available energy that was used in the work of making a product (from Wikipedia)

Once we use energy to make something, we should keep using that thing as long as possible. It provides a service to us, and once we stop using it to provide that service we generally need to spend more energy to create whatever replaces it. Home Re-use-ables exists to extend the life of building products – to maximize the value that we get from their embodied energy.

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This is Sherry at Home Re-use-ables. It’s located at 8832 62 Avenue, and it may just have what you’re looking for for our next renovation project.  read more... »

MCNZH - Flex House (Part 2)

MCNZH, Second Floor. As built on the left, and "flexing" on the right.

Durability is absolutely key to sustainability. Everything we buy, every precious drop of fossil fuel that we burn, should be put to best use by creating as much value from it for as long as possible.

I see no reason why the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) can't stand for hundreds of years. To be as useful as possible during its long lifetime, we designed it to flex with the changing needs of its occupants.  read more... »