Planning & Designing Sustainable Green Homes

LEED Homes

The top 10 countries outside the U.S. certifying buildings with the LEED rating system

The U.S. Green Building Council releases list of the top 10 countries building LEED outside of the United States, and Canada is # 1. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has released its list of the top 10 countries for LEED® outside of the United States, on which Canada ranked No. 1. The list demonstrates the…

Passive solar home design

Ecohome Kenogami House wins Home of the Year Award

The Kenogami House holds the highest LEED score achieved in Canada (106), meets Passive House performance of 15 kWh per square meter and won a Home of the Year Award from Green Builder Media. Along with its unprecedented achievements, the Kenogami House continues to act as a laboratory for resilient, cold climate…

LEED Homes

What is different with LEED V4?

What does LEED v4 mean to Canadian project teams? Who better to break it down than the Canada Green Building Council. See the first LEED V4 Platinum house in Canada here. As a movement and an industry, green building is evolving rapidly. Recognizing leadership in this field means periodically moving the goal posts…

Tiny house

The tiny house movement may have gotten tinier with the arrival of Otis

With independent power and water supply, 70 square feet and a set of wheels, Otis is ready to hit the road. Three years ago, professor Lucas Brown’s students in Green Mountain College’s Renewable Energy and Ecological Design (REED) class built a custom-designed tiny house, a 96-square-foot structure with a sleeping…

LEED Homes

Canada Green Building Council Leadership Awards

The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) invites National, Chapter and EGB members to submit nominations for the 2014 CaGBC Leadership Awards. Each year the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) recognizes individuals and organizations who have made a significant contribution to the CaGBC’s mission and goals in…

Efficient home design

New Brunswick's most energy efficient home is Passive House designed

With a $77 CAD annual heating bill, the Naugler House has earned its bragging rights as a Passive House design for cold climates. With a heating bill of $77 CAD for an entire winter, the Naugler House is without a doubt the most energy-efficient home in New Brunswick. Not only will it save money long-term, it is…

PSI

Case Study: Kenogami House, Saguenay, Quebec

See the LEED Platinum Kenogami house with a Passive Solar Index rating of 15. Performance: Passive Solar Index 15 Registration date: February 12, 2015 Region: Saguenay, Quebec Type of construction: Single-family New home PSI rating: 15 kWh / m² Method of calculation: Modelled Built by owner Alain Hamel, the Kenogami…

Lifestyle, location and commuting

Vancouver developer leads the way to more sustainable communities

Some forward thinking developers are designing homes that are ready to handle the more severe weather caused by a warming climate. While governments have a role in shaping and improving the built environment through zoning, development bylaws and other means, developers also play a large role. They choose where to…

Tiny house

NOMAD Micro home fuelled by crowd funding, takes green building world by storm.

Not only are these sustainably manufactured tiny pre-fab houses affordable, they're ready to go off grid and look good doing it. With write-ups in Gizmag, Inhabitat, Tiny House Design, FastCoExist and well, too many other places to recount, one could say it's clear that the green building world is enamoured with…

Lifestyle and environment

How to future proof homes as we face a changing climate

The risks and costs of climate change: since insurance companies are becoming more aware of the greater threats posed by more severe weather, we had best become more aware as well. How to build homes ready to face climate change? We often think of the land underneath our feet as fixed and unmoving. On a calm day, if…

Passive solar home design

Ecohome design wins House of the Year Award from Green Builder Magazine

With the help of the Ecohome design team, home builder Alain Hamel builds "The Most Resilient House in North America". The most resilient house in North America The first house designed under our Passive Solar Index (PSI) program won "Most Resilient House" in the 2013 Green Builder® Home of the Year Awards. The…