BUILDER TAKES HIGH PERFORMING HOME TO NEXT LEVEL FOR COUPLE IN AGASSIZ
Energy-efficient House constructed with help from LEEP
As a home builder seeking to make his residential developments energy efficient but also affordable, Odessa Group co-founder Nathan Stone was excited when he was invited to become one of the builder participants in the Local Energy Efficiency Partnership (LEEP) program in April 2015.
That’s because LEEP helps builders identify the best energy efficiency solutions for their regions as well as provides access to resources for designing and constructing high performance homes.
The program, which is administered through Natural Resources Canada and implemented through provincial partners such as BC Hydro, enabled Stone to upgrade one of the ENERGY STAR® certified homes he was already constructing in Harrison Highlands, Agassiz, to an ENERGY STAR “plus” standard. All of the homes in this subdivision are at least 20 per cent more energy efficient than homes built to the BC Building Code. The upgraded home achieved a 30 per cent better energy efficiency rating than a typical home.
Stone credits Dave and Judy Douglas for encouraging him to achieve the higher energy efficiency rating when building their home. “They viewed it as a great opportunity, and thanks to LEEP I was able to give them a true showcase,” he says.
Prior to moving to Harrison Highlands, Dave and Judy Douglas “lived in a house that barely scraped past Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation approval for insulation,” says Dave. “When we met Nathan we were impressed by his passion, and when the topic of LEEP arose we encouraged him to take our new home to the next level.”
LEEP allows builders like Stone to explore, model and evaluate different building and mechanical system options. The LEEP process focuses on improving the building envelope to reduce heating and cooling loads, and then exploring what efficient heating and ventilation systems work best for a particular home.
Gary Hamer, residential specialist engineer, conservation and energy management for BC Hydro, says, “Building a better envelope reduces the amount of energy needed to heat and cool a home. It also results in smaller energy bills and provides owners with a more comfortable home.”
Stone adds, “We used oneinch thick Owens Corning Styrofoam insulation on the outside walls to reduce heat loss and air leakage. Then we chose to use an efficient air source heat pump to heat and cool the home.” The Douglases also opted to have 11 solar panels placed on their roof to lower their electricity bills.
The extra features in the Douglas home cost an additional $30,000 and required a few weeks more building time, but Stone notes that part of that time was spent educating trades on how to properly deal with the insulation and mechanical components: “Educating the trades is crucial and will result in an easier and quicker construction process of ENERGY STAR “plus” homes down the road.”
Stone stresses that it would not have been possible for him to build a custom high performance home without LEEP and BC Hydro: “They were available to me every step of the way, which is a great asset for any small builder.”
Through the efforts of all LEEP partners (including BC Housing, BC Hydro, Fortis BC, Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Home Builders Association of BC), builders have been able to connect with others in the industry to share ideas and drive innovation in building practices.
The Douglases moved into their new home last September. “Many people have asked us what kind of payback we get from making our home so energy efficient, and our automatic response is, ‘the payback is planet earth,’ ” says Dave. “It’s great to receive $40 twomonth BC Hydro bills, but we obtain far greater satisfaction knowing that we could do the right thing environmentally.
“As for the all-important envelope and mechanics, they were inexpensive because they were installed during construction, as opposed to being a retrofit,” he adds. “We couldn’t be happier with or more comfortable in our new home.”
Because Stone adopted high performing building construction techniques early on, he is well prepared to meet future housing requirements. Hamer explains, “By 2032, British Columbia’s goal is to be building all homes to a ’Net Zero Ready’ level of efficiency. LEEP has helped Stone and other builders prepare for that goal by exploring how to build better homes today.”
Perhaps the best news is that as more homes are built to ENERGY STAR “plus” levels, the incremental costs drop for all higher performance homes. “That’s the prevailing trend in high performance housing,” says Hamer. “We’ve seen a dramatic drop in the last few years to the cost of building a Net Zero home. The Douglas home — and other LEEP projects — has shown that, with planning, it is possible to build a more efficient home at little extra cost.”