"Passive solar"

Passive solar / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Lifestyle, location and commuting

A sustainable executive home near Toronto GTA built for comfort, efficiency, and future resilience

...passive solar residence on a 125-acre property that offers not only modern luxury but also a model for how executive style homes can be built more responsibly. Passive solar orientation reduces heating demand and supports comfort The home is oriented along a true east-west axis, with its primary living spaces facing du...

Off-grid and Net-Zero Housing

A Toronto Off-grid home 20 years later; how did it fare? How could it be optimized?

...Solar energy collection A successful strategy to power a home with solar energy begins like the water system, with the core principle of first reducing demand. To that end, the appliances and systems of this house were designed and chosen for their reduced operational demand of energy. On the roof are eight photovoltai...

Passive House

The Passive-aggressive house - our history of a Passivhaus build

...passive solar house appropriate for the local climate. The result was the world's first Passivhaus - The Saskatchewan Conservation House, which not only incorporated passive heating from the sun, but also many of the elements that make up the current Passive House standard: careful sealing with tape for air-tightness,...

Greenhouses and Sunrooms / Solariums

Solariums in cold climates won't heat your home

...solariums: Some solariums are bought as kits and used exclusively as living space, others are used for growing vegetables and even fruit. Strictly speaking, a solarium is not a greenhouse, but can be used as such. The typical solarium is usually a glazed space adjacent to a dwelling, separated by an exterior wall and a...

Passive House

Everything you need to know about Passive House certification

...Passive House Institute) and PHIUS (Passive House Institute US) and for Canada there is Passive House Canada and the Canadian Passive House Institute. This guide aims to describe the origins of Passive House certification, which can be accredited to a very futuristic Passive Solar heating design home built in the 1970'...

Architecture and plan design

Lockeport Beach House wins Canadian Green Building award

...passive solar orientation. The three-metre deep cantilevered roof provides shade in the summer, and allows the low winter sun to warm the concrete floors in the cold season. Other complementary strategies include a continuously insulated building envelope, with high performance low-e double-glazing and heat recovery ve...

Concept and design

Prefab Passive House & LEED ready kit homes - the future of buying a new home?

...solar heated radiant floor - see this one go together here: This is the solar heated floor slab-on-grade foundation form kit being assembled for this LEED & Passive House ready prefab kit home, see many more sustainable home building tips & guide videos for LEED, Zero Energy & Passive House on the EcoHome ...

Tiny house

Tiny houses - Washington State promotes tiny homes & eco-villages for affordable Housing in WA

...Solar, Blacktail Solar Homes etc - EcoHome recently enjoyed a reunion of the original "Domies" at UC Davis at the Whole Earth Day celebrations, which we'll be writing more about later. Wouldn't it be great to see self governed tiny home communities like this all over university campuses in Washington State? Next steps...

Passive solar home design

Passive solar home construction

...passive solar home design and construction here This is the first in a series of videos on passive solar home construction, we begin with passive solar design basics, orienting the future house on the site to take full advantage of the free heat available from the sun while keeping it cool with natural shading in the s...

Passive solar home design

Ecohome Kenogami House wins Home of the Year Award

...Passive Solar Index program (PSI) of energy modelling designs from the benchmark of complete passive solar heating, this is not a rigid target. Depending on climate and other considerations (such as with the Kenogami House), achieving zero heat demand is not always the best use of resources. Regardless of your building...

Passive solar home design

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

...Passive House? A key difference between Passive House and Net Zero Energy homes is that while Passive House prioritizes extreme energy efficiency through airtightness and insulation, Net Zero homes focus on producing as much renewable energy as they consume. Not satisfied with that, they set out to create a building en...