SAVE ENERGY EASILY
An Ecohome will reduce bills
Just $507.35 a year: That’s the projected total energy bill for The Edelweiss House, an ultra-efficient bungalow built by Ecohome near Edelweiss, Que.
Not only does that translate into less than $43 a month for everything from heating and cooling to lights, but the 1,552-square-foot home is also the first LEED v4 certified project in Canada. The new version — v4 — upgrades the already-stringent Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design standards with greater emphasis, for example, on actual performance through energy and water metering.
Ecohome has also received LEED’s highest certification, platinum. That makes it only the second LEED v4 home in the world to reach that level, according to the Canada Green Building Council, which holds licence for the LEED green building rating system in Canada.
The four-bedroom, slab-ongrade home will eventually go up for sale, but for now is being used as a green-building demonstration home and rental vacation property.
“We said, ‘Let’s build a house showcasing what we can do,’ ” says Mike Reynolds, a former builder and co-owner of Ecohome. “That’s the (idea): Take the mystery out of high-performance; it’s not that hard, it’s not that expensive.”
Ecohome, co-founded by Reynolds and Emmanuel Cosgrove, aims to reduce the environmental impact of homes through education and advocacy. That education includes workshops for builders and those interested in owning a deep-green home.
With its tightly sealed, superinsulated envelope — the ceiling, for example, is R95, triple the Ontario Building Code for this kind of design — the “focus is on heat retention instead of heat generation,” says Reynolds.
In fact, Ecohome is counting on the sun to do much of the warming in the winter via generous, southside glazing and a concrete floor to absorb and slowly release solar heat.
There’s also a Mitsubishi heat pump that feeds a radiant floor system and hot water heater. In the summer, the pump will extract heat from the home, using it in part for the domestic water supply.
Deciduous trees on the south side and back-up sun shades will keep the home cool in the summer.
The home is also meant to demonstrate the affordability of building green. The construction cost was about $250,000 exclusive of lot, excavation, sewer and septic system. Insulation and other energy-efficient components cost more than they would in a home built to code, but operational costs for the home should more than compensate for that, according to Reynolds.
The home boasts a cavalcade of other green features from a quartz countertop manufactured from recycled porcelain plates, bottles and mirrors, to wooden ceilings made from reclaimed river logs and rainwater harvesting for gardening.
As well, the home features a charging station for electric vehicles. Estimated energy cost for an electric-powered round-trip to Ottawa from Edelweiss: 91 cents.
For more information on the house, including a video series following its construction, visit ecohome.net.
That’s the (idea): Take the mystery out of high performance; it’s not that hard, it’s not that expensive.