Efficient Passive House Built in Calgary

Published on December 04, 2018

A new neighbourhood in Calgary has a unique and highly efficient home in its midst - a Passive House.

A Passive House is a highly efficient home that is built to a world leading standard of energy efficient construction.

The home in Calgary was constructed with high efficiency building techniques, so that it would meet the International Passive House Standards, and was prefabricated and shipped from Germany.

Doug Owens, of Brookfield Residential - the project’s developer - has said that the building has been constructed to take advantage of Calgary’s abundant sunshine.

This includes a large window that faces south that will help heat the home throughout the year.

“We have solar panels across the roof, so it could truly go off-grid,” said Owens.

The home is also serving as an example for people from Southern Alberta Institute of Technology’s (SAIT) Green Building Technologies program, as they toured the home to find ways that may help the construction industry in Alberta take on some of their energy saving strategies.

Ben Hildebrandt, of SAIT, said that the home was amazing as it has almost no heating system at all.

“They have a couple of little supplemental heaters here for the extreme cold of winter to supply that little bit of heat they might need,” said Hildebrandt.

Saeed Kaddoura, analyst on Pembina Institute’s clean economy team, extended his support for Passive House construction as a way to possibly help diversify the economy in Alberta.

As more homes like this one are built, Kaddoura believes that it will create a local manufacturing industry for the materials that the homes require.

According to the developer, the home will most likely go on the market sometime next year; an asking price has not yet been announced.

High Levels of Energy Efficiency in Your Own Home

If you are a homeowner in Ontario who is interested in green energy initiatives such as Passive Houses or Net-Zero homes, or if you are someone who would like to help reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, then you may be excited to know that you can significantly contribute to helping Canada mitigate the effects of climate change by improving your home’s energy efficiency.

There are many different ways that a home can become more efficient, but by having a Home Energy Assessment conducted by our Registered Energy Advisors, you can be certain which energy saving strategies are not only the best fit for your home, but also which will net you the most energy and utility savings per dollar spent.

Quite often the most effective way of improving a home’s efficiency is through simple and affordable modifications, such as improving the level of insulation in the attic, or by having an Air Tightness Test done to find and seal air leaks.

Improving your home’s efficiency and air tightness is not only helpful in reducing your utility costs, it can also help to make your home more comfortable, less drafty, have better air quality, and have a higher value on the housing market.

Both Enbridge and Union Gas are also currently offering a number of home renovation rebates to make it even more affordable for Ontario homeowners to upgrade their home’s efficiency - having a Home Energy Assessment conducted can help you qualify.