University of Calgary professor and architect Tang Lee and other homeowners aren’t waiting for government help to reduce their energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

Lee’s own home in Calgary has a “sun space” – a large, south-facing wall of glass that captures and uses the sun’s heat. One of his many current projects is the 30,000-sq.-ft. Sandstone Valley Ecumenical Centre in northwest Calgary.

The joint Catholic-Lutheran church features a majestic front wall made of thermal solar collectors that provide about 35 per cent of the building’s annual heating needs.

The collectors, integrated with the building’s design, were built onsite from off-the-shelf materials for about $8 a square foot – the same cost as the bricks that would have been used otherwise, Lee notes. “So in essence, you’ve got a free solar collector.”

Mike Sturk photo, Business Edge
University of Calgary professor and architect Tang Lee stands in front of one of his energy-saving projects – a solar-powered church

Lee also just completed work on two Calgary townhouses that use solar collectors as well as his “earth tube” innovation.

The earth tube is a 100-metre-long flexible air intake duct, buried about a metre below the earth, that loops out under the yard and back into the house. The tube gathers subterranean air – which in Calgary remains year-round at six to eight degrees Celsius – and routes it to the home furnace/air conditioning system.

In the winter, instead of having to heat outside air that frequently dips to -20°C, the furnace is supplied with “pre-heated” air that’s already at six degrees. In the summer, the air helps cool the house.

“This is just using the natural temperature of the earth,” says Lee, who thinks Ottawa’s new incentive program for homeowners should encourage the use of such simple, yet proven technologies.

Edmonton residents Anna Bubel and Marshall Hopkins have also put their money where their climate change beliefs are.

The couple owns a virtually utility-free solar cottage in Entwistle, about an hour’s drive west of the city.

Paul Belanger and his Edson-based company, Living Design Systems, designed and built the 1,060-sq.-ft. cottage, which Bubel and Hopkins have dubbed “The Kyoto House.”

It is powered by a $12,000-solar system, with six solar panels producing the electricity for all the lighting and appliances. A small gasoline-fuelled backup generator is occasionally required.

The super-insulated dwelling requires about one-fifth the heat of conventional construction. It relies mainly on a wood-burning stove, with a minimal backup propane-powered, hot-water baseboard heating system.

The octagonal structure is a prefabricated post-and-beam system. The spaces between the posts are filled with barley straw bales, providing R40 insulation, with walls covered in cement stucco. The prefabricated galvanized steel roof system is insulated with R50 blown-in cellulose.

The cottage isn’t connected to the municipal water supply and treatment facility. Instead, it has a waterless composting toilet, underground disposal of “grey water” from sinks and showers, and a rain-catchment system.

Belanger hopes to see similar environmentally friendly homes on the mainstream market soon.

Enviro Custom Homes in Calgary plans to officially open its first showhome July 26 in Norris Coulee, just south of the city limits.

The 2,842-sq.-ft. home’s main heating system is a low-energy geothermal pump that uses pipes running into the soil to collect and transfer energy to heat and cool the house. To conserve water, rainwater is collected in a huge “rain barrel” in the basement. It is treated with ultraviolet light and run through a sediment filter, making it ready to handle all the home’s bathroom and laundry requirements.

Air in the home is recycled every 45 minutes, while recycled products, salvaged stone, low-emission materials and insulation made from recycled newspaper and wood fibres are integral in the design.

“We wanted to build a completely friendly and savvy environmental home,” says Enviro Custom Homes vice-president Craig Bischke.