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Mill Creek NetZero Home, December 15, 2009, 14:00.
As we approach the winter solstice and the three-month anniversary of our moving in, we continue to learn about our new house. These observations are mostly qualitative, because we don’t have the rest of our solar modules up, and we haven’t set up monitoring equipment yet. We are tentatively planning to remove the door of our wood stove on July 1st, 2010 and then monitor the house’s energy use for a year. Read the rest of this entry »
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Observations (Part 01)
November 12th, 2009 by Conrad in Blogs - Mill Creek Net Zero Home, Energy, Green Building Blogs, Renewable Energy, Solar
Mill Creek NetZero Home Living Room - finally some autumn sunshine!
Have you ever noticed that as soon as you move in to a solar house the sun stops shining? It’s been overcast since the beginning of October here in Edmonton – since just after we moved into the Mill Creek NetZero Home – and the fact that Edmonton has as many hours of sunshine as Miami has seemed hard to believe at times. Finally we have the return of sunny days, and the house is great to be in right now. Read the rest of this entry »
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MCNZ - Progress (part 7)
October 12th, 2009 by Conrad in Blogs - Mill Creek Net Zero Home, Green Building + Design, Green Building Blogs, Green Homes, Products + Materials, Reclaimed + Recycled Materials, Renewable Energy, Solar
The Mill Creek NetZero Home is substantially completed.
The stucco is finished on the outside. We went with a cement-based stucco because of its looks and durability.
Peter Amerongen built a brick wall behind the wood burner. We used the bricks from the foundation of the house that used to be standing on the property. This wall adds more thermal mass (to capture both solar and wood heat) to the house, as well as a bit of history. Read the rest of this entry »
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Eco Reno Inspiration - Part 1
July 29th, 2009 by Deborah in Energy, Energy Conservation, Green Building + Design, Green Homes, Insulation, Renewable Energyby Deborah Merriam. Deborah Merriam is an eco-consultant, interior decorator, allergy mom, and indie crafter living in Edmonton, Alberta. Her decor & consulting business can be found at www.ecoDomestica.com.
Reams have been written about green building from scratch, and renovations that are essentially from scratch (like gut-jobs and pop-tops). Checklists and wish-lists of eco-friendly building features and renovation practices abound, including the USGBC’s ReGreen guidelines and my own Sustainable Staging article, but what does a sustainable renovation actually look like?
This isn’t a trivial question. Reimagining existing suburban neighborhoods (as in the current ReBurbia contest from Dwell and Inhabitat, deadline for entry is Friday July 31st) is a crucial step toward building more sustainable cities. Furthermore, decreasing the environmental footprint of our existing housing stock is critical if we’re going to tackle the anthropogenic climate change crisis. (Our buildings are currently estimated to be responsible for 35% of North American greenhouse gas emissions, with about 20% of emissions coming from home energy use.) Read the rest of this entry »
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The Hottest Trend in New Home Construction is Solar Power
June 10th, 2009 by andrea in Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar
(NC)-As more and more Canadians become aware of the environment and look for ways to reduce their ecological footprint, the benefits of incorporating renewable energy into new homes is irrefutable. If you are planning to build a new home in the coming months, some recent developments may help you with your research.
Solar power, for example, is the hottest trend in new home construction these days; in fact, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)’s Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE), responsible for licensing builders to construct energy-efficient homes, has completed an 18-month pilot project in Ontario to fund the construction of 100 new “SolarReady” homes. The project was a huge success and now the OEE is encouraging all Canadians to incorporate Solar Ready features into their building plans. Read the rest of this entry »
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The Ontario Green Energy Act
May 29th, 2009 by andrea in Energy, Energy Conservation, Green Building + Design, Renewable Energy, SolarWritten by Eco3
“Ontario’s Green Energy Act could propel the province past California as the most innovative North American leader in the renewable energy field.” - Denis Hayes, former director of National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and lead organizer of Earth Day.
On February 23rd, 2009, the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, George Smitherman introduced Bill 150 - the Green Energy Act (GEA). The intent of the new bill is “to make Ontario a global leader in the development of renewable energy, clean distributed energy and conservation, creating thousands of jobs, economic prosperity, energy security, and climate protection”. Although the GEA is in its infant stages, it plans to achieve this goal by focusing on making renewable energy projects, mainly hydroelectric, wind, solar, and biomass more feasible and lucrative for a larger demographic of developers.
In addition to green power generation, the bill will also encourage the development of an improved “smart” grid that will better facilitate the interconnection and transmission of electricity from renewable energy sources. In contrast to increasing green power production, the GEA also establishes goals to improve overall energy efficiency and conservation by requiring that all buildings, both private and public, to be more energy efficient through a variety of regulations and incentive programs. Read the rest of this entry »
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New Ontario Solar Water Heating Program Cuts Energy Costs & Eco Impact
May 27th, 2009 by andrea in Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar, Water
Bullfrog Power, together with Enbridge Gas Distribution, EnerWorks, and the Government of Canada today announced the launch of a new Solar Water Heating Program.
Solar water heating allows homeowners to reduce their energy costs and environmental impact by harnessing the sun’s energy through the installation of their own solar water heating systems.
At the time of purchase, qualifying homeowners will receive a substantial savings on the purchase and installation of their own solar water heating systems. These savings are made possible through the Government of Canada’s ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat program and volume discounts from EnerWorks. Interested homeowners may also qualify for further rebates and credits through the ecoENERGY Retrofit-Homes program, provincial rebates and the new Home Renovation Tax Credit.
This limited-time offer will give homeowners in the Enbridge Gas Distribution franchise area the opportunity to save up to 50 per cent on their own solar water heating systems. They may also reduce their ongoing water heating energy costs by up to 60 per cent and financing for the installation is available from as little as $56 dollars a month. Read the rest of this entry »
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Solar Hot Water (Part 2)
May 12th, 2009 by Conrad in Blogs - Mill Creek Net Zero Home, Energy, Green Building Blogs, Insulation, Renewable Energy, Solar, Water
The lessons that I learned from the computer model of our solar hot water system are as follows:
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Passive Solar Design
April 22nd, 2009 by Conrad in Blogs - Mill Creek Net Zero Home, Energy, Energy Conservation, Green Building + Design, Green Building Blogs, Green Homes, Insulation, Renewable Energy, Solar
(MCNZH concrete floor being bathed by sun through a 9’x6’ window)
The most important design considerations for cold climate building are insulation, building envelope, and passive solar design. Given our lofty goals for the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH), we pushed hard to maximize our return on every one of these fronts.
The MCNZH collects 54% of its annual space heat through passive solar design – that’s 8747 kWh or 31.5 Gigajoules. It does so by:
- having huge south windows that are specially manufactured to maximize solar heat gain
- containing a large amount of thermal mass to absorb the solar heat when the sun shines
- having movable solar awnings that allow 100% of the sunlight to hit the windows during the heating season (the awnings are strictly speaking not a passive part of the solution). Read the rest of this entry »
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Save Money on Home Renovations Now!
April 12th, 2009 by andrea in Energy Conservation, Green Homes, Renewable EnergyMinister Raitt Announces Limited-Time Offer for Canadian Homeowners
New Economic Action Plan investment to create jobs; save homeowners money
TORONTO - Canadian homeowners are being urged to act now to take advantage of a new opportunity to save money on home energy retrofits. The Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Natural Resources, announced today that effective today, for a limited time, grants under the ecoENERGY– Retrofit Homes program will increase by 25 percent.
“This is a great chance for Canadians to save money on home renovations that will cut their energy bills for years to come — but I do encourage homeowners to act quickly,” said Minister Raitt. “This special increase in grants is for a maximum of two years only, putting money back in Canadians’ pockets when they need it most.” Read the rest of this entry »
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