This weekend marks the NetZero Home tour.  Last year a couple friends and I went on an exciting bike tour to see the different styles and design elements of each gorgeous home.  This weekend, Raising Spaces will be showcasing some fantastic products and materials at 7615 111 st.  The Belgravia Homes, as seen in the Raising Spaces “Building the Ultimate Green Effect Homes” will also be a part of the tour, so if you missed the construction tour, now’s the chance to check out sustainable home building at its finest.  Click Here for details on tour information.

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Imagine the ultimate dream home.  A home that produces its own heat and electricity, perfectly designed to generate as much energy as it needs to function annually.  A home with a tangible monetary payback.  Dreams of this perfect home are no longer dreams at all.  As our perspectives on sustainability rapidly adapt with fantastic innovation through design, it is becoming more evident that green design will save the world.  The dynamic Edmonton Net Zero home projects are transforming those dreams into reality, and they’re doing it in style.  Typical home design can find itself lost in a cookie cutter labyrinth lacking both efficiency and creativity. The Net zero home projects in Edmonton are anything but typical.  Effect Home Builders are changing the way we see the home  from the inside out. Each innovative design has a specific function that is carried out with delicate precision and glorious teamwork.  This coming weekend, join the Effect Home builders on an informative construction tour to learn more about the projects.

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Ever since I was a young lass I’ve cringed at the idea of waste and landfills. To this day if you show me a product born from the scrap material of another time and place, you’re sure to win my heart. Add the eco features of ‘Canadian-made’ and ‘Produces renewable energy’ and you can’t go wrong!

Made from recycled pop cans, Cansolair’s solar heater is a unique product out of Newfoundland that blows extra solar heat into your home on less energy than a refrigerator lightbulb! With heating season on the horizon, I’d say the Cansolair solution sure beats plugging in an electric space heater and paying for dirty grid energy.

If you can get past the initial purchase of the unit for roughly $2500, have it shipped to your home, and installed, Cansolair estimates that the energy savings will pay you back in eight years or less! The company has also calculated that through the use of their solar heating panel you’ll prevent 13,000 LBS of emissions from being released, depending on where you live and the electrical grid you rely on of course.

Visit Cansolair’s web site to find a dealer in your area.

Resources

http://dailyhomerenotips.com/2008/10/24/solar-air-space-heating-part-1-another-type-of-solar-energy/

I ususally put events strictly on our events listing page, but this course deserves an extra announcement. In Edmonton we have an amazing Solar Energy Society that puts on regular informative events that are packed to the gills. One of the key reasons solar energy is reaching the masses in this city is Rob Harlan.

Rob is this amazing person filled with knowledge and expertise on all things solar and sustainability. i had the good fortune to hear him speak last night and was blown away by his knowledge, experience, and dedication. This man has built an off-grid house and a solar electric truck! He’s full of ideas on how to live sustainably individually and at the community level, and he’s also the instructor of this course.

If you want to live greener but need some guidance, you will get it in this course!

To register, visit: http://solaralberta.ca/classes.php

How to Green Your Home Without the Stress

Spring is in the air – the geese are coming back, and with more than 3 hours of sunlight a day, you’re ready to don your beloved flip flops and hop in the hammock!   But do you secretly dread confronting your household ‘to do’ list? This Spring, avoid those stressful jobs with a green helping hand! Visit www.GreenPros.ca – A fresh online directory where you can connect with leading green home professionals like Ecological Homes, Geo-Flo Energy Services and Shelterbelt Architecture!

Andrea Jones, founder of eco home resource Raising Spaces shares that, “home building and renovation projects can easily elevate household stress levels and lead to burnout. This is especially true for eco and health conscious do-it-yourselfers, since the extra challenge of researching more sustainable products and building methods is time-consuming and challenging.” With Green Pros, you can now skip the stress, avoid expensive mistakes and find the right professional for your home and values, inside and out. Continue Reading →

The best way that I can think of to add a large amount (20+ tonnes) of thermal mass to a solar home is by adding concrete floors. By doing this, one can get two uses, thermal storage and a finished floor,  out of the same investment. Furthermore, since the mass of a concrete floor is so spread out around the home, thereby giving it a large surface area with which to absorb and release heat, it really is the ideal thermal storage medium for a house with large solar gains. Continue Reading →