Scorpio
I have recently purchased some property on Lillooet Lake, BC, and started plans to build a vacation/retirement home. This area is “off the grid” and so it creates some unique challenges for me in terms of energy efficiency.
My goal is to build this house so that it will use the least amount of energy possible. It’s my desire to lead the way for others who are interested in a sustainable way of living and are looking for ways to make their homes more energy efficient.
I did not set out purposely looking for the challenge of building off the grid (no hydro power, or gas) but when the challenge came up it peaked my interest. It doesn’t scare me off because I work with this all the time and for the past 20 years I’ve been talking to people who have been building this way.
I am also a certified R-2000 builder and have been involved in associations including the Canadian Home Builders Association. I’ve attended any workshops I can get my hands on, including various UBC courses, and I’ve done this once before. So this project is a logical extension of what I do. It’s also lake front property and anything on the grid with lake front in BC is over a million bucks so this was something I could afford.
In 1979, as a principal of Solace Energy (now Homeworks), I worked on a cutting-edge, energy efficient house in Burnaby that I still live in. My home was not only featured in the Vancouver Sun, but also open to the public to demonstrate how ‘house as a system’ worked. In the following 26 years, I never spend more than $100 a year to heat my home (as opposed to say $1,000 a year the average home owner spends).
COMMENTS (5)
RATE THIS STORY
Nude photos of the MTV reality star surfaced on the...
Real vampires are used to being eclipsed by the immortal allure of the vampire film....
Comments
Re: Going Green Off The Grid
By luyen, March 31, 2008 at 15:09This has really interest me of late after reading an article on the CBC, about all the things that are ending up in our landfills...particularly batteries that *will* leak, electronics, prescription drugs, chemicals, but also items that are considered green but aren't free from harm either.
Namely the revolutionary fluorescent bulb which contains about 1mg of mercury, but is ending up in landfills because it's only recycled at a handful of places (Ikea and Home Depot recycles them) - so what's scarier than CO2 emissions from regular bulbs, is tons of mercury in our water supply!
Another article talked about organic waste recycling, which took place outside of metro Toronto in a pilot project that saw that municipality reduce its landfill waste by 78%.
I think it will take efforts from individuals, but really importantly from the municipalities to put our hard-earned property taxes to work. I'd really like to see organic composting AND things like batteries, electronics etc...being recycled on a monthly basis let's say as a municipal service.
There's this amazing Zero-Waste initiative taking place in a few cities in BC and across Canada: http://www.rcbc.bc.ca/resources/hot_topics/zerowaste.htm - that recycles waste by turning into a resource for other uses.
I'm not sure how to go about this, maybe i will talk to our local councilors, I think if the GRVD could adopt something like this, it'd go a long way - especially with our landfills totally full, we don't have a choice.
Re: Going Green Off The Grid
By Robyn Stubbs, March 31, 2008 at 13:24BTW, you're location looks amazing!
Re: Going Green Off The Grid
By Robyn Stubbs, March 31, 2008 at 13:23My husband and I have been working on "greening" up our home - we're purchasing a tankless hot water heater in the next few days, which is step one for us. We had discussed installing solar panels on our roof to generate some of our own energy, but then heard it wasn't a great investment because of all the cloud-cover we get here in Vancouver (well, Burnaby actually). Thoughts?
Re: Going Green Off The Grid
By luyen, March 31, 2008 at 15:12I'm afraid to ask you how much your tankless hot water heater cost...or will cost, i'd like to go the same route (if I have money)...i've also been mulling changing from forced air natural gas, to room-by-room electrical heaters.
Old BC homes are so inefficient when it comes to heat retention, that heating with forced air is like letting money slip away...in addition it's kind of noisy, and leads to dust and allergen problems.
Re: Going Green Off The Grid
By Robyn Stubbs, March 31, 2008 at 15:24Well, we've done a lot of research looking for the most cost-effective but reliable model... I think we're going with Bosch, and it's going to be between $2,000 and $3,000 (unit and installation) for the one-appliance heater. The cost of installing the unit as about as much as the unit itself. It's not a cheap one-time cost, but it will start saving us money right away. It just doesn't make sense to heat water you're not using and keep it heated ALL DAY, even if the one-time expense is hard to swallow. Plus, I've read that you don't have to replace it like you do a regular hot water tank, so you're not looking at another several hundreds bucks in 5 to 10 years.