There’s a lot going on this fall and we want to be sure you know exactly where you can expect to meet up with us. Please note that Green Energy Doors Open will fall on the same weekend as the Ottawa Fall Home Show this year, so we’ve decided to move our fall open house to the next weekend, in early October.
We’ve got lots going on this summer across our homebase, the Ottawa region, but we’re also working on a new passive home in the Toronto area. We’re delighted to share a little about that project now.
The home is being built for a young forward thinking family who had to grapple with whether to replace the previous home on their property, which was built in the 1920s. Ultimately, this older home was sacrificing their health with poor indoor air quality and affecting their finances with extremely high heating bills.
We know you’re in full-on summer mode, but we want to be sure you can save these dates for this fall. Please note that Green Energy Doors Open will fall on the same weekend as the Ottawa Fall Home Show this year, so we’ve decided to move our fall open house to the next weekend, in early October.
We field requests constantly from people interested in building a passive house, including using one of our 13 energy efficient house plans. We’ve been working towards having cost analysis documents for complete house builds for all 13 of our plans, and now they are ready!
Next stop in our new series on retrofitting older homes: changes to attain Passive House standard. We have received many requests from readers on how to transform an existing home into a passive home.
The transition from winter to spring has made our laneway a little interesting, but we’re happy to say the Open House is very much on!
Spring EkoModel Home Open House
96 Libbys Road, McNab/Braeside, ON K7S 0E1
Sat, April 6, 2019
9am – 3pm
Come on out to experience a passive house, ask your questions and just generally get a chance to see the quality of work done by EkoBuilt.
We had more than 100 folks out in January and look forward to meeting many more of you this weekend!
We’ve had tremendous feedback on our Open House at the EkoModel Home this Saturday, 26 January 2019. Paul Kealey is already fully booked for conversations with some of you throughout the day; if you haven’t snagged a time to speak with Paul, don’t worry, there is still much to come out for:
EkoModel Home Open House
Sat, January 26th, 2019
9am to 3pm
96 Libbys Road
McNab/Braeside, ON K7S 0E1
Please come to feel and see for yourself the incredible comfort of a beautifully built Passive House.
EkoBuilt’s demonstration PassiveHouse was built on a 10-acre property just west of Ottawa during 2016. This 2,506 square foot home includes 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, and beautiful, sun-filled rooms.
Come out to see the EkoBuilt team and offerings at these shows in spring 2019:
One of the top questions we regularly receive is when our next Open House will be at the EkoModel Home, our passive house demonstration property (4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2500 sq ft) just west of Ottawa. Mark your calendars!
EkoModel Home Open House
Sat, January 26th, 2019
9am to 3pm
96 Libbys Road
McNab/Braeside, ON K7S 0E1
Please come to feel and see for yourself the incredible comfort of a beautifully built Passive House.
EkoBuilt’s demonstration PassiveHouse was built on a 10-acre property just west of Ottawa during 2016. This 2,506 square foot home includes 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, and beautiful, sun-filled rooms.
When we talk about ‘smart homes’, there is a general bias towards technology. Consider this definition:
Standard smart home definition: noun “a home equipped with lighting, heating, and electronic devices that can be controlled remotely by phone or computer.”
At EkoBuilt, we see the smartness in homes very differently, using a sustainability lens.
EkoBuilt smart home definition: noun “a home designed to be autonomous without the use of electronic devices for heating or ventilation control.”
We also think the smartest homes can be affordably net-zero, taking their energy from renewable energy sources. Truly there is much confusion over what a smart home really is. Conventional thinking holds that a ‘smart home’ is one that uses more technology for control. But is that really very smart?
We feel that a smart home is one that uses the least technology possible. It’s possible to design homes that don’t require all kinds of devices for control.
For example, a home should not need to be heated when the occupants are not there, and blinds should not be required because unwanted heat needs to be kept out. In a true passive house excess technology is not required because the space requires little heating or air-conditioning to be comfortable.
Using energy from the sun as a heat source, the home can be heated naturally even in extremely cold conditions. To reduce the need for air conditioning in hot summers, windows are strategically located to naturally shade themselves so unwanted heat is not coming into the home. This is a smart home!
It is more sustainable, and much smarter to use less technology, both environmentally and physically. There is simply no need to have a wi-fi thermostat. Why spend money to operate a furnace in an occupied or unoccupied home when you don’t have to? It is smart to spend as little money and to acquire as few devices for your home as possible.
Our point is of course, to communicate the intelligence of building to the passive house standard. It is, after all, the only truly resilient home known to man.
It is a home that uses so little fuel to heat and cool the space that the electric bills are approximately the same amount every month of the year, whether the home is being heated or not.
Not to be coy, every house, even a passive house, requires a heating system – especially in this part of Canada – but the passive house leaks so little heat (even during extreme cold conditions) that it costs very little to keep the space heated. Less energy, in fact, than a refrigerator uses in a year. Now, that’s a smart home.
A passive house is as close as you can get to living in a thermos! The key difference is the passive space has constant access to fresh air, while a thermos does not.
Seriously though – a good thermos can keep keep tea extremely hot for 24 hours, which is really quite unbelievable when you think about it. Well, a passive house is basically the same thing in a home. And that really is a smart home.
From a health perspective, it’s much safer to live in an environment virtually free of interior toxins or exterior pollution (propane or gas emissions), full of ample fresh air, and designed to last generations. Again, that’s a smart home.
Another vital feature of a truly smart home is that it be electrically operated. We’ve come to the point where a home designed to operate by propane and/or gas, is a home designed for the past. Fossil fuels are not the way forward. Homes for today and tomorrow need to be 100% electrically operated — it’s simply the only fuel source for sustainability. It’s also the best for our health and for our pocketbooks.
A home that helps to create a healthier environment is a home that is healthier for us, and energy savings translate into lower operating costs, and that means more money in our pockets.
In conclusion, a truly smart home designed for today should be one that is built to passive house standards. Realistically, every home in the near future will be required to be built this way, but why wait when you can start now!
Contact us if you’d like to learn more about building your passive home.
We’ve been delighted with the interest in EkoBuilt’s development of five townhomes in the PerthWorks Community in historic Perth, Ontario. Two units have already been claimed, leaving only two middle and one end unit for prospective buyers.
Photo from Downtown Heritage Perth
These units represent exceptional value – $289k for an end unit, $279k for a middle unit – for homes that will be net zero in their energy consumption and built to the Passive House standard.
Situated centrally in charming Perth, homeowners will be able to enjoy all that the town has to offer as well as being within commuting distance of Ottawa.
click to enlarge
EkoBuilt is working with homeowners to fully customize their units’ plans to best suit their needs and lifestyle.
The sample floorplans we offer are a great starting point and make tremendous use of the nearly 2,000 square feet of living space on these two-storey towns.
December 2019 Occupancy
Purchase contracts to be finalized by late February 2019, groundbreaking in May 2019, occupancy December 2019.
Purchasing your new home in Perth can be a reality that quickly.
Get all the details from the Perth Town Homes for Sale section on our website, and then please do get in touch. We’re here to answer your questions!
