Energy-efficient homes garner awards and sales

Ontarians are buying energy-efficient homes in record numbers, more than 200 home builders, energy experts and construction professionals at the 2005 EnerQuality Excellence Awards Ceremony at the Ontario Building & Renovation Forum in Markham heard.

Residential Market

Events honours builders who hit the mark

“Ontario’s housing market is changing for the better,” said Lenard Hart, Director of Business Development for EnerQuality Corporation. “We’ve had a record number of new, energy-efficient homes in Ontario.”

New homes built in 2005 included 81 R2000 homes, 448 EnerGuide rated homes, and 83 ENERGY STAR® certified homes. “This will save a total of 83,000 kwh of electricity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1,224 tonnes in 2006, and each year after,” added Peter Love, Ontario’s Chief Energy Conservation Officer who hosted the awards.

“In 2005, energy-efficiency became a highly sought upgrade in new homes. There was a 200 per cent growth in energy-efficient homes this year, with 200 energy-efficient homes built in 2004 to over 600 in 2005 (in terms of the number of homes tested and labeled),” said Love. “In 2005, we piloted a federal new housing initiative called ENERGY STAR for New Homes to fill the growing need for recognizing and supporting energy-efficiency in Ontario’s production built housing market,” said Hart. “I’m pleased to say that this new program has generated much interest among both builders and home buyers.”

Awards and Winners

Technical Excellence (Under 2000 sq. ft.)

•Teixeira Construction Inc.

This 1930 sq. ft. home, exceeding the R2000 target by 20 per cent has many advanced energy-saving features, including a separately ducted Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV); a combo-heat/hot water unit; radiant floor heating; R60 insulation in the attic; insulated concrete form for the exterior; steel studs for internal walls; and, a solar hot water heater.

Technical Excellence (2000 to 4000 sq. ft.)

•Passport Homes Ltd..

This 2300 sq. ft. home exceeds the R2000 target by 20 per cent. It is composed of R54 ceilings; R24 underslab insulation; steel stud SIP walls; insulated concrete form foundation walls; energy efficient lighting; ground source radiant floor heating; and a passive solar design.

Technical Excellence (Over 4000 sq. ft.)

•Steve Snider Construction Inc.

This 4100 sq. ft. home exceeded the R-2000 target by 43% and received an 89 on the EnerGuide scale, one of the highest ratings in Ontario this year. It features a ground source heating and cooling system; two inches of Styrofoam under the basement slab; radiant floor heating; insulated concrete form on the foundation and the external walls; Low-E argon windows; R50 insulation in the ceiling; a high-efficiency Van-E heat recovery ventilator (HRV); and, energy-efficient lighting.

Tightest House

•Steve Snider Construction Inc.

This home is draftproofing at its best. It is much more airtight than even houses built to the minimum ENERGY STAR and R2000 requirements. A typical new house tests at about 5 to 6 air change per hour (ACH) @ – 50 Pasc. An ENERGY STAR home must test below 2.5, and R-2000 houses must be below 1.5. This house came in at 0.41.

The external walls and foundation were constructed using ICF (insulate concrete form) technology and there are two inches of styrofoam under the basement slab. The builder also used radiant in-floor heating with a 94 per cent efficient instantaneous boiler.

Environmental Leadership

•GreGor Homes Ltd., Barrie

GreGor Homes is not only a leader in the Greater Barrie Home Builder’s Association, having built the most ENERGY STAR homes in Barrie, they built the first barrier-free ENERGY STAR home in Canada, worked with other builders in the area to improve the quality of the homes built in their community, and championed water conservation techniques in indigenous landscaping.

ENERGY STAR Industry Leader

•Mason Homes Ltd., Concord

Mason Homes is the industry leader with the largest number of media hits, openings and advertisements in 2005, significantly advancing energy-efficiency in Southern Ontario. Mason Homes was also the first in Southern Ontario to begin building all of their homes to ENERGY STAR qualifications.

EnerGuide Builder of The Year

•Multi-Area Developments Inc., Stoney Creek

Multi-Area Developments has been selling EnerGuide labeled homes in the Stoney Creek Area for close to two years, and has been a leader in the promotion, sales, and labeling of EnerGuide Homes in Ontario. With numerous ads, public events and media stories, Multi-Area has led the push to empower consumers to make better choices around energy-efficiency.

R-2000 Builder of The Year

bull;Bert French & Son Ltd., Port Sydney

Bert French and Son have a reputation for quality as the leading R-2000 builder in the area. They have not wavered from their dedication to energy-efficiency and have long been one the leading R-2000 builders in Ontario.

ENERGY STAR Builder of The Year

•Urbandale Construction Ltd., Ottawa

Within weeks of the announcement that the ENERGY STAR for New Homes program was underway, Urbandale Construction decided to make ENERGY STAR a key sales strategy.

They approached all of their existing customers whose homes had not yet been built and offered them the chance to upgrade to ENERGY STAR at a reasonable price.

There was a 90 per cent uptake.

Now, they build all of their homes to the ENERGY STAR standard and are leading the province in terms of the number of ENERGY STAR homes built and certified.