Five Mini Net Zero Communities Spring Up Across Canada | Alternative Energy | Forums

Surprised this isn't taking off more here in the states

The race to build net-zero homes across Canada is on. Natural Resources Canada has a program that's helping five builders build five net-zero homes each to support a rapid evolution to affordable net-zero homes.

And the prize is one everyone can appreciate: a home that produces as much energy as it consumes over the course of a year. A net-zero home is not a passive consumer in the energy system -- it is a clean and green participant.

Owens Corning was hired by Natural Resources Canada to recruit the builders and help manage the project.

"It's not a question of if net-zero homes are going to be built -- it's a question of when they're going to be built," says Andy Goyda of Owens Corning.

So we went to Cambridge, Ontario and met up with Reid's Heritage Homes, one of the builders selected for the program. They have completed one net-zero home, have another under construction and the foundation for the third will be dug out soon.

Reid's Heritage Homes already builds Energy Star homes that clock in at EnerGuide 83, above the Ontario building code that mandates Energuide 80. And for their first effort at net-zero, Reid's took their most popular plan, a 1,700-sq.-foot split level, and built it in Guelph, Ontario. From the outside the home looks pretty normal, aside from the roof and covered back porch that is packed with eight kilowatts of solar PV modules. And heck, solar PV isn't even all that unusual in Ontario these days. There were two other homes with solar within sight of the home.

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