Dec 4, 2014 | Canada's Greenest Home, Construction Blogs, Sustainable Building Projects
We set out with some pretty lofty goals for our Canada’s Greenest Home project. The idea was to use only the healthiest, most ecologically friendly building materials and use them to create a home with outstanding energy performance. And we wanted to do it in a...
Sep 9, 2014 | Construction Blogs, Straw bale building, Teachers' Union offices
Over 20 years of building with straw bales, I have constantly experimented with new ways to integrate bale walls into buildings that are simple, cost-effective and energy/resource efficient. From load bearing to prefab panels to a variety of framing systems, I thought...
Apr 4, 2014 | Canada's Greenest Home, Construction Blogs
When it came to choosing a cooking appliance for Canada’s Greenest Home, we were faced with a conflict in approach. Most homes that aim for net zero energy consumption will choose to use natural gas ranges and ovens, and take the cooking loads away from the...
Jan 19, 2014 | Circle Organic Farm Building, Construction Blogs
Our 2013 project at Circle Organic farm involved constructing a large, root cellar-style vegetable storage facility attached to the vegetable processing barn. Our research showed us that small subterranean root cellars have a long history, but that the principle has...
May 18, 2013 | Canada's Greenest Home
Canada’s Greenest Home is about to go on the market, and as we switch out of construction mode and into the process of selling the home on its merits we figured this is a good time to reflect on whether or not we’ve met our goals. Not a Competition We were initially...
