The new microwave in the Mill Creek NetZero Home tries to burn 35 Kg of coal every year to display the time.

When discussing the environment with non-converts, the debate often degenerates to someone commenting “you want us to go back to living in caves”. The sentiment reveals a shocking but widespread ignorance about the vast quantities of energy and materials that we squander. Energy is cheap and ubiquitous, and it seems that humans are doomed to waste whatever is abundant.

The answer to the living in caves comment is that we could reduce our materials and energy consumption by 50% in a heartbeat without touching our standard of living. In fact, we could reduce consumption by over 90% and still live better than kings and emperors did 300 years ago. (Yes, monster truck rallies would have to go. If by “living in caves” you mean “stop driving my Hummer around while Tweeting on my cell phone”, then I stand corrected.)

The microwave at the top of page is state-of-the-art; we purchased it this year from IKEA, a company that makes claims of environmental responsibility. The problem is, it draws four Watts of electricity, all the time, day or night. The useful work that it manages to produce out of the 100 grams of dirty coal that it needs every day is to display a digital clock.  Quick! Raise your hand if you need another clock in your house!  read more... »

image from sears.ca

Induction stovetops are the most efficient in existence. With induction cooking, an electromagnetic field turns the pot or pan itself into the heating element, so there’s no coil to heat up, and no therefore no heat to lose from the coil. Induction stoves have long been available through commercial or specialty outlets only, and usually only as cook tops (without ovens attached). However, Sears has recently changed the efficient heating appliance scene.

With Kenmore Elite Induction Ranges, Sears has brought the induction cook top to the residential scene. Although more expensive than regular ranges (all of Sears’ stuff can be had for significantly less than their listed online prices, by the way) these super-efficient ranges are at the very bottom end of the Energuide scale.

A new electric range will consume from 330 kWh to 647 kWh per year according to Natural Resources Canada. The Kenmore Elite Induction Ranges consumes about 350 kWh.

When we purchased our appliances for the Mill Creek NetZero Home, we were a bit too early for this brand new range. The problem is, it requires a special 50 amp breaker and special wiring. We missed out, but maybe you won’t. If you choose an induction range when purchasing your next super-efficient appliance let the rest of us know how it went!

P.S. I was worried about health issues due to radiation from the electro magnetism that's involved in induction cooking, so I asked local great Godo Stoyke, author of The Carbon Buster's Home Energy Handbook, for his take. He tested his brother's induction stove and said:

"I measured about 80 milliGauss near the pot, about 10 milliGauss from 40 cm away, dropping to an undetectable/background level from about 1 m away. So, comparable to a cell phone."

Given that stove is so much further away from your body (and your brain) than a cell phone, this put the health issue to rest for me.

When we need to "consume", we should be buying stuff that uses as little water and electricity as possible. Comparing the different products for these attributes can be difficult. Here are the best resources:

Searchable Canadian Government Energy Efficiency Ratings of all available:

• ranges
• refrigerators
• dishwashers
• washing machines 
• freezers

The (user-unfriendly) master page is here. I always have trouble finding these databases, so I thought that I would post them here for easy reference. After you've run your initial search, click on "Energuide Rating (kWh/year)" twice. This will order the appliances by the smallest consumption first.

For cars, if you simply must buy one, refer to the U.S. Government's Fuel Economy comparison website.

MCZNH Solar Awnings (summer and winter positions)

The Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) will have a ground-breaking solar awning installed on its south face (introduced in Solar Awning Part 1). Essentially, it's a movable awning made out of photovoltaic (PV) modules. It will serve two functions: to shade the south windows in the summer and fall, and to tilt the modules so that they are always at an optimum angle to the sun. An analysis of the solar awning's net energy benefit follows.  read more... »

Andrea from Edmonton-owned website/marketplace raisingspaces.com recently informed me that Edmonton has it's very own local manufacturer of light pipes: Sunscope Natural Light Systems. We'll be considering their product first for the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) because buying locally helps to create the vibrant local, green, living economy that we need.  read more... »

B. Heath recently sent me a link to a great local-ish company from Saskatchewan. WSE Technologies cutting-edge energy efficiency and renewable energy products. Particularly interesting is their selectio nof LED lights.

Check it out:

WSE Technologies

The Riverdale NetZero Project, one of twelve projects to emerge from CMHC's EQuilibrium Housing Initiative, is now complete. It is a groundbreaking project that is the result of many people putting in many volunteer hours. It looks like the duplexes will each actually be NetCredit homes, because their performance is exceeding expectations so far.  read more... »

I've thought about the heating system for the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) for months now. The home will need a very tiny amount of heat because it's so superinsulated, super sealed, and passize solarized. The computer model that simulates the energy performance of the house (using HOT2000) has the MCNZH using 2500 kWh. That's roughly 6% of the heat that my renovated (with new insulation and windows) 1950s bungalow uses.  read more... »

The proper term is "ground source heat pump" (GSHP). I often get questions about this technology, and I think that there are some misconceptions out there, so here goes.

How It Works

The way I think of it, there is a magical black box that can take heat at low temperatures and "pump" it up to higher ones. In Edmonton, the ground a few feet below the surface remains at about six degrees Celsius all year round. This is seasonally-stored solar energy - it accumulates in summer and doesn't cool very much during the winter because there's just so much dirt.

So, a contractor comes and drills long holes (150 - 200 feet, I think) in the back of your yard, and runs tubing down the holes. Then, when heat is needed, the heat pump runs a fluid through the tubes in the earth, and pulls solar heat from it. The exact same effect happens in reverse.

With a GSHP, you can pull 3 - 3.5 units of heat from the earth for every unit of electricity that the heat pump uses.

The Hype - Imported From Elsewhere

Using a GSHP is a brilliant idea in Manitoba or Quebec or Vancouver Island - somewhere where no natural gas is available. The thing is, if your only choice is heating with electricity, a GSHP is in effect 350% more efficient than regular electric heating. That is, with regular electric heating (like from a resistance heating baseboard heater), you get one unit of heat for every one unit of electricity invested. As stated above, the GSHP will give you up to 3.5 units of heat for every one. That's pretty good.

The brilliance of the GSHP in other locations, though, doesn't necessarily translate to Alberta. Here, natural gas is available ubiquitously. AND our electricity is mostly derived from burning coal - the enemy of the human race.

So in Alberta, the only fair comparison for a GSHP is a super-efficient natural gas furnace.

Electricity vs. Natural Gas

Most of Edmonton's electricity is generated by burning coal near Wabamun lake. The generators burn the coal, and convert about 30% of the energy in the coal into electricity. Then, it gets sent down the power line to our great city (some of it gets lost along the way, but we'll ignore that for now). If we use the electricity in a GSHP that is 350% efficient, we get 3.5 units of heat back for every 1 put in. The thing is, we're using electricity that contains only 30% of the coal's original energy value. 30% * 3.5 = 105%. A coal-fired GSHP is 105% efficient, then, when considering the energy that was initially in the fossil fuel.  read more... »

We get a lot of sun in Edmonton. In fact, I've heard that we have as many sunny hours as Miami. Moving into the uncertain future, that's an asset.

On May 6, I decided to leverage that asset into a sun-cooked potato salad.

Solar Ovens

The concept of a solar oven is very simple: a black, insulated box with glazing (plastic or glass) is aimed towards the sun. It's amazing how the simplest concepts can be so powerful. It's a cinch to get my solar oven up to 200 degrees fahrenheit, and during the hottest months it will hit 300 degrees.  read more... »