Self-sustaining building strives to be Canada's greenest home
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E-mail Xinhua, June 1, 2013
Imagine living in a home that not only generates its own electricity, but also filters rainwater and turns human waste into fertilizer.
This self-sustaining building is now a reality in the Canadian city of Peterborough, some 150 km east of Toronto. The newly built home that's now up for sale for the price of 649,000 Canadian dollars is as green as it gets, said Chris Magwood, project manager and executive director at the Endeavor Center, a local non- profit sustainable building school.
Painted with a nature-themed palette inside and out, the spacious, open-style layout is not only aesthetically pleasing, but offers up a myriad of innovative and eco-friendly options. Naming their project Canada's Greenest Home, Magwood told Xinhua in a recent interview that they wanted to push the envelope and create something that's never been done before.
"We really wanted to try building a house that had a lot of green components to it, but that met a sort of modern, more conventional appearance, and fit into the regular construction market more than some of the alternative houses that have been done in the past," he said.
The 2,300 square-foot three-bedroom home, complete with a wheelchair accessible main floor and 23 windows - at least two in each room - was built completely from scratch over an eight-month period. Each and every detail was taken into careful consideration, Magwood stressed.
"We really tried to cover all the bases with this one. I myself have been doing green construction for almost 20 years, and this is sort of the culmination of all that experience," he said, adding "This is the one building where we've been able to put everything together to try to make it the best it can be."
One of the biggest differences between their project and other green homes that already exist is that it doesn't focus on just one aspect of green building, according to Magwood. Instead, it strived to have it all.
The builders integrated a number of mechanical systems into the home to help create a living space that was energy-efficient, had optimal indoor air quality, generated renewable energy and produced minimal waste. Having those features combined all into one building, especially a home, is a rare sight, said Magwood.
One of the big features is the human waste composting system set up in the basement. With the composting toilets using only one tenth of a liter of water per flush, the system not only minimizes water usage, but the easy-to-use and odour-free composter also completely eliminates sewage output by sending all clean compost to the front of the house as fertilizer.
Besides the composting toilets, the house also collects rainwater and treats it so that it doesn't need to rely on city water.
Overall, the house will cost buyers 60,000 to 80,000 dollars more than an average home of that size in the area just because of all the mechanical systems they've built into the home. But Magwood stressed that most of initial cost will be offset by the money saved in the long run.
He estimates that the homeowner will only pay about 350 dollars in their heating bill every year, instead of 1,500 dollars for a home of that size. All the excess energy created by the renewable energy system on the rooftop through the solar panels also gets sent out to the grid. It's not only enough to power the building, but the owners are paid back by the city for the energy generated by the house - an income that could add up to about 4,000 dollars a year, based on Magwood's calculations.
High-tech systems aside, none of the smaller details were spared. Even the location of the home was strategically planned out. The team made sure that they built a home within walking and cycling distance to the downtown core to minimize the use of cars.
They also sourced out non-toxic and environmentally-friendly materials from suppliers within a 250 km radius to reduce the transportation impact on the environment, a goal Magwood said is the most challenging part of the project. He and his team had to go through the ingredient list and research every single material that was used throughout the building process.
"You can't just necessarily go to a building supply yard and find a healthy non-toxic glue, or paint with no chemical content in it," he said. "Tracking down who makes these things, where they come from, verifying that it's not just a green-washed product, but that it really is better, and get it here, takes a long time."
It was well worth the effort though. The straw bale walls, triple-glazed windows, and many of its other building materials ensures that the house is solid, airtight and well-insulated.
The eight students involved in the project hope that the home will pass the Canada Green Building Council's Living Building Challenge, one of the toughest green building standards in operation right now. But it will have to be occupied for at least a year before it gets certified.
Just last weekend, over 250 potential buyers got a first hand look at all the features on offer during an open house.
"People walk in and are 'wowed' by the fact that it looks really nice and sharp," said Magwood. "I think a lot of people still think that green homes are somehow going to be smaller, or dingier, or crooked, or in some way compromised in their appearance."
Magwood said they set out to create the greenest home in Canada, and believes that they've managed to do just that. Besides being a great challenge for him, he hopes that it'll inspire other builders to opt for greener options.
"Maybe in 10 years this will just be a normal house and you'll just be a normal house builder doing it," he said. "But right now, it's pioneering work and it's exciting to be involved."
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