Ideas We Can Take Home From The Archetype Sustainable House

By Toby Heaps

We can all learn something from the Archetype Sustainable House at the Kortright Centre

The Archetype Sustainable House located in Vaughan, Ontario is a treasure trove of ideas for every Ontarian who wants to green their home: from a coat of eco-paint to solar water heaters, to real-time energy meters that show how much energy you are using. Our Green Home took a tour through the Archetype Sustainable Houses earlier this month to see what we could learn. Below are five ideas.

 Smart Meters Make Cents

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. With an in-home smart meter, you can see exactly how much energy your home is using on a real-time monitor, which makes it easy to track progress for a home conservation plan. Just by doing the simple things, many homes can reduce their energy consumption by 20 per cent without any inconvenience. The kids can join in too, as little Green Captains tracking down the sources of unnecessary power consumption, and in the process learn a conservationist ethic that will yield a lifetime of savings.

The Archetype House uses two smart meters.

The Centameter is a wireless electricity monitor for the home that displays real-time electricity usage in cents/hour and greenhouse gas emissions in kg/hour on an LCD monitor.

The PowerWatch is quick and easy to install, and allows you to instantaneously see the cost and power use reductions as electrical devices are turned off.

While costs vary, smart meters generally pay for themselves within 6 months.

Good Wood

Half of the world’s forests have already been altered, degraded, destroyed or converted into other land uses, and much of the remaining forests today suffer from illegal exploitation and otherwise poor management. The good news is that The Forest Stewardship Council label (backed by leading conservation groups including the World Wildlife Fund) provides a trusted certification that allows you to buy wood that has been harvested in a socially and ecologically responsible way. Canada is now one of the world’s richest suppliers of this ‘good wood.’ Next time you are doing work at home, whether it’s a new floor, banister, siding, beams, doors, or cabinetry, ask if the FSC option is available.

The Archetype House uses FSC wood siding by Maibec, FSC wood trim by Muskoka Timber Mills, FSC maple flooring by Nadurra Wood, FSC Maibec siding by Nicholson and Cates, FSC kitchen cabinetry by North On Sixty, FSC lumber by Upper Canada Forest Products, FSC interior doors by Harring Doors, and FSC Beams by Timber Systems.

Ecopaint

Recycled paint is made from unused, left over paint normally destined for the landfill.

Government and manufacturing subsidies allow for Boomerang Recycled Paint to be competitive in price. According to the company website, it is produced from 99 per cent post-consumer recycled content.

The Archtype House makes use of Boomerang paint (provided by Ontario-based Ecopaint).

Geothermal

Going geothermal is the environmental equivalent of swinging for the fences, but with an excellent batting average. Here’s how it works: Throughout the year, outdoor temperatures fluctuate greatly with the changing seasons. However, about four to six feet below the earth’s surface, temperatures remain relatively constant year-round. A geothermal system, which consists of an indoor unit and a buried earth loop, capitalizes on these constant temperatures. While it does take electricity to operate the pump, the leading geothermal systems deliver $4 worth of free earth energy for every paid $1 of electrical energy used.

Going geothermal takes a hefty investment up front, but if you have the $25,000 or so, you can lower your annual heating and cooling costs by 70 per cent.  The financial blow can be softened by taking advantage of rebates. In total, tapping The Eco Energy, other rebates and the Home Renovation Tax Credit, will get you $10,000 + a tax credit of $1,350. This will knock about 40 per cent off the cost of a new geothermal system. The Archetype House uses a Water Furnace ground source heat pump supplied by Eden Energy Equipment, with the drilling and installation by Geothermal Solutions.

Solar Water Heaters

Twenty-five per cent of the average Canadian household energy bill goes to heating domestic hot water. A solar water heating system can save between 50-70 per cent of those costs, while reducing your home’s greenhouse gas emissions by 1-3 tonnes. Government incentives can bring the price down from approximately $7,600 to a final cost of $4,300, according to Bullfrog Power (check out www.bullfrogpower.com/solar). Even with these incentives, the payback period is generally more than five years. If you don’t have the initial $4,300 sitting around, there are financing options which make it easy for you to purchase your own solar water heater for as little as $48 per month on approved credit.

The Archetype House uses Solar Ontario, Solsmart, and Your Solar Home.

www.gosolarontario.ca is an excellent resource if you are considering going solar.

While there are many parts of the economy that are hard for one person to change, at home, we are all kings and queens of our own castles. We have the power to make big changes that that are both good for the environment and–increasingly with rising energy costs and generous eco-rebates—the pocketbook.

Let us know how any of these tips from the Archetype Home work out for you at editor@ourgreenhome.ca.

Toby Heaps is editor of Corporate Knights.