“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
This quote by American poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson captures the spirit of the mission taken on by a small but innovative Edmonton home builder.
Effect Home Builder Ltd’s latest project, Belgravia Green, is a trailblazing “Net Zero” undertaking, meaning that the three houses under construction in the city’s south end neighbourhood will produce as much energy throughout the year as they consume, while not using any gas for heat.
Each of the three neighbouring homes is uniquely suited to take advantage of the site on which it is built, with each demonstrating distinct methods of harnessing energy from the environment and consuming as little from the utility grid as possible.
“Edmonton is a wonderful area, we get lots of sunlight throughout the year,” says Les Wold, a partner in the company from its beginnings in 2001, as he stands in the unfinished living room of one of the homes.
“Before we start building, there’s a design process that focuses on energy efficiency, plus what it’s going to look like to make it aesthetically pleasing.”
Wold explains that in this particular home, with its wide, south-facing windows unobstructed by large trees, a consumption-free method called passive solar heating will be utilized. The sun, when low on the horizon during the winter months, emits solar heat that is absorbed and gradually released by a structural concrete slab on the main floor.
This method alone will provide 32 percent of the heating needs for the home. The windows are sheltered from the sun at its highest point during the summer.
“You also see a wide view of the playground and rink across the street, so you have this great view, and it really lets in the light, so you don’t have to turn on electric lights,” Wold says.
The building envelope, or the enclosure of the home, is the cornerstone of its energy efficient design and what regulates how much heat is allowed to enter and leave the space from the outside.
The walls are each over 30 cm thick with polystyrene insulation sporting a high insulation value—significantly more than the average home—to cope with the Edmonton’s frigid winter climate. Under the basement slab is 10 cm of polystyrene, reducing the ground-emitted cold.
The windows are three panes thick and filled with high insulation argon gas, with low e-coating, which allows more heat in and less to escape.
“With these three homes, what we’re showcasing is that there’s not one way to achieve energy efficiency—each of the three homes has different heating systems,” Wold says.
The corner lot house will use geothermal heating which absorbs heat from the ground using fluid pumped through piping that will generate 3.5 units of heating for every one unit of electricity used. The house with the large south windows will use an air source heat pump, with 200 to 400 percent efficiency, depending on outside temperatures.
With a tight, well-insulated building envelope and features like passive solar and electric baseboard heating, the pumps need only be used sparingly.
The pitched roofs are equipped with photovoltaic cells for solar electricity generation, producing excess electricity during summer and feed energy back to the grid. In the winter with less solar energy available, electricity is drawn from the grid, but over the course of the year it will all even out.
“So in theory, all your power is produced with electricity being generated over the course of the year from the modules on the home. So it’s very sustainable green power that’s driving it, there’s not very much demand on the system,” says Wold.
Other benefits include the deadening of sound thanks to well insulated walls and consistent, comfortable temperatures throughout the house. The homes are largely self-regulating, acting as an organism—a complete integrated unit.
“One of the big things clients mention about these homes is comfort,” he says. “You walk into one of these well insulated homes and you walk onto the main floor and it feels like you’re walking into a cool basement, but it’s the main floor, and the middle of summer. In the winter it retains the heat, so you walk in, and it’s a nice cozy feeling.”
Among Effect’s clientele is former Alberta MLA and opposition leader Kevin Taft, future owner of one of the Belgravia Green homes. Taft’s wife Jeanette Boman is involved in developing the project’s landscaping plan, which will include all native vegetation that requires less watering, and plots for growing food.
The response to Effect’s projects has been strong, Wold says. An open house in March drew a large and enthusiastic crowd.
“We did a tally and there were 800 people that came through on the Saturday and Sunday that we had it open. There were great questions, people were just excited about the concept, and it’s not even a completed home yet. People are just really interested in it, and we want to encourage that.”
The process is one of constant collaboration—“we’re all learning as a group, as a community”— trial and error, and evolution, he adds.
“One of the big lessons we’ve learned from previous projects is just to keep things as simple as possible. You don’t need intricate systems, where if something goes wrong, nobody knows how to deal with it. Concentrate on the envelope of the home and make the home consume as little as possible, and what it does consume, supplement it with alternative energy generation. That keeps it simple.”
The Belgravia homes will be open for public viewing again on June 4. It will be the last chance to see the homes before they are finished.
