It's been a long road but my system is now up and running! I expect that a lot of people will ask how much energy my installation actually collects so I ended up taking the $600 Government of Canada Eco-Energy rebate for my high-efficiency boiler and bought a BTU meter (http://www.wsetech.com/btu.php) from the guys at WSE Technologies (http://www.wsetech.com/). So far the BTU meter is up to 84kwh which means I've collected (84 kwh * 3400 BTU/kwh =) 285,600 BTUs of heat. The temperature sensor at the _bottom_ of my storage tank didn't drop below 58 degrees C all week so I'm pretty sure that my boiler hasn't run since I completed the installation.

There are a few outstanding things I have to take care of: Insulation and cladding on a portion of the exterior runs and insulation on the piping in the house. Also, I've talked to IBC boilers and they don't yet have a controller module that integrates the boiler and the solar so I'll try and rig something up so that I can use the collectors to help heat my home. At 9:40 this morning (August 28, 2010) the outside temperature was 12 degrees C and I was suprised to hear the collector pump start. Despite the fact there was light cloud cover, the temperature sensor in the collectors was reading 68 degrees C.

Here are some pictures:

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In October of last year we bought our first house in Edmonton--and we've been renovating ever since.  Sound familiar?

Our initial attraction to the property was it's three-fold potential:

•  Potential to make this old house (1942) into a energy-efficient family home (hopefully for many years to come);

•  Potential to make this huge double lot (8000+ square feet) into a more environmentally sensitive/edible landscape (we love growing our own food); and finally,

•  The potential (and challenge) of being good neighbors/citizens in an older and struggling North Edmonton community (Build better communities, stop urban-sprawl, "improve, don't move", etc.).

Idealistic? Yes, whatever...

One of the biggest challenges to renovations and landscaping we are constantly up against is cost. Not making a lot of money, the cost of creating a space we can enjoy without guilt has called for some genuine creative thinking... and I hope some of the ideas we've come up with will be of interest to readers who can relate.  read more... »

The Greater Edmonton Alliance (GEA) is the most exciting thing to happen to Edmonton, sustainability-wise, in forever.

The alliance, composed mostly of churches and unions, has taken on local food and energy efficiency retrofits for existing houses as its two main initiatives.

They have produced some amazing results so far. Among other things,  they packed a city hall meeting with almost 700 people to help save some of Edmonton’s priceless agricultural land last year, and they also organized the very high-profile potato giveaway last summer.

Sustainable Works Launch on Wednesday

If you’ve wondered how to go about retrofitting of your older home, the Sustainable Works program is for you. GEA plans to help retrofit thousands (thousands!) of homes in Edmonton over the coming years. The big launch is on Wednesday . I’ll be there, and I hope that you’ll consider showing your support.

The Greater Edmonton Alliance (GEA) invites you to the launch of  read more... »

The solar collectors on my house will not be parallel to the roof but will stand up at an angle of approximately 40 degrees.  With some of the recent wind storms around Edmonton and other places in Alberta I've been quite concerned about my house if one of those storms hits again after the collectors are up.  read more... »

Eco Reno Demo Days
Join Raising Spaces on Saturday July 18th, 12:00 pm - 4:30 pm at the Eco Ammo Headquarters (#102, 10436-81 Ave) for an afternoon dedicated to exploring Green Home products and practices!
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Note from Conrad:This is a guest post by fellow Edmontonian Alice Harkness. Thanks for your excellent work Alice!

I experimented last winter with a very simple way of upgrading the insulation value of the beautiful original windows of my house: I added a third, Low-E glaze between the double hung window and the storm window.

Method

There is a 3/4 inch thick space inside the storm window created by the stop (the strip of wood that serves as the outside edge of the channel for the upper double hung window, and backing for the storm). Here’s what I did:  read more... »

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.

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... »

BC may well be the best province to live in when it comes to available federal and provincial support for greening your home.

Sales tax exemptions on Energy Star windows, insulation and more, plus Livesmart BC - a rebate program that matches federal Ecoenergy rebates for BC residents, all make living greener more affordable out West.  read more... »

Here is a diagram from the IBC boiler installation manual showing the specifications for the venting.

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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... »