Whether you think Kyoto is a brilliant response to global necessity or politically motivated junk science, using less energy is a good idea either way. And it has a business case in terms of a payback.

Witness the first three houses built under the Built Green Alberta program, rolled out last week by the Calgary Region Home Builders Association (CRHBA), just 14 months after work on the program began.

The homes, in the Cranston subdivision at the southeast edge of Deerfoot Trail and Marquis of Lorne Trail S.E., were built by Jayman Master Builder. Jayman’s president Jay Westman, one of the sparkplugs for the Built Green program, was president of the 550-member CRHBA last year and this year heads the Alberta Home Builders Association (AHBA).

“If everybody does a bit, we can make a difference,” Built Green chairman Dave Bengert said at the green ribbon-cutting ceremony last week.

Dave Olecko photo, Business Edge
Jay Westman shows off one of the Built Green Cranston homes.

The homes will likely be seen by many people, as they’re also prize homes for a Calgary Health Trust lottery.

Each home has been rated based on an EnerGuide rating – 77, 75 or 72 – plus a selection of items with rated point values from a checklist. The Foothills home model achieved gold-level certification from Built Green Alberta, while the Infusion and Resolve took home silver.

Built Green homes require training for builders’ staffs in “green” techniques, as well as using special software to analyse house designs. The training is delivered in Alberta by Enervision, a non-profit corporation owned by the AHBA that delivers environmental new housing programs.

Jennifer Talsma, an account manager with Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) office of energy efficiency, said Built Green is a program that other provinces can adapt.

The EnerGuide label applied last week in the utility room of the first house delivers the same message as the labels on appliances – it tells how energy efficient the product is.

Talsma said a new house should be rated at 65 to 85, where high numbers are better and 80 is considered a very good score. The Foothills achieved 77.

Bengert, who is also purchasing director for Jayman, said officials didn’t know until just two hours before the press conference what the final test results would be.

“We were amazed the home came up as airtight as it did . . .” he said.

There are openings for ceiling lights, windows and so on in the design of the Foothills. The result is a testimony to how well the tradespeople did their jobs, said Bengert.

Environmental measures are affordable for all, he noted.

That point was echoed by Jay Westman, who said a bronze rating might add as little as $800 to what a house might otherwise cost. From now on every Jayman home will be at least bronze, he added. Kevin Gunn, executive director of Enervision, said the next step in green building could be to build a house in which the utility savings offset the slightly higher mortgage payments.

Building green, by the way, doesn’t have to result in something that looks like a set for a science fiction movie or an experiment in environmental friendliness.

“It’s not dark, it’s not cold, and it doesn’t have macrame on the wall,” said Simon Knight, director of energy solutions for Climate Change Central, a provincially funded, private-public partnership that co-ordinates activities to reduce greenhouse gases in Alberta. “It’s a beautiful home that everyone would want to live in.”

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Homeowners and contractors can now reach up to the sun or delve into the earth for the means of heating or cooling houses. The next two companies aren’t part of Built Green, but they do have technologies that could save energy.

One method of heating and cooling is using geothermal energy. Contrary to my initial expectations, you don’t have to live next to a geyser in Iceland to take advantage of the earth’s temperature.

The temperature is about 46.5° Fahrenheit at 200 feet, says Larry Peters, marketing vice-president of REACT Energy Corporation (Renewable Energy and Conservation Technology).

Geothermal heating and cooling systems penetrate the earth as deep as 60 metres, circulating a liquid such as ethanol, methanol or glycol between underground pipes and a heat exchanger inside the basement. The constant temperature from below ground cools the building in summer and heats it in winter.

Everyone already has a heat pump in the kitchen, says Peters – the coils on the back of the refrigerator remove heat from the interior.

“It’s a very interesting technology and it’s just starting out,” he says.

The technology is effective enough that REACT has installed it in several Calgary homes and even a couple of office buildings in Edmonton that stayed toasty warm without the help of furnaces during January’s cold snap.

A system could cost about $20,000, depending on circumstances, and ought to pay for itself in five to 10 years.

It will provide heating, air conditioning and all the hot water for a house.

But homeowners can also look up instead of down for their heating needs.

David Kelly, president of Calgary firm Sedmek Inc., says you can also tap the sun for your hot water needs. At his house, collector coils on the roof transfer the sun’s heat indoors using propylene glycol. The heat can be used in fan coils, radiant floor heat or hot-water heating systems. Silicon collectors can produce electricity from sunlight.

Newer systems cost about $3,000 plus installation, and the payback time is about 10 years.

The house still needs a gas hot-water heater for backup on cloudy days, adds Kelly.

Web watch:
www.enervision.tv
www.builtgreenalberta.com