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from Natural Life magazine,
January/February, 2008 
ÉcoTerra™, a new 1,500 square-foot home in Eastman Quebec, not only produces as much energy as it consumes in a year (a net-zero energy home), but also features a healthy indoor environment, low environmental impact, significant resource conservation and affordability. Factory pre-engineered modular sections were used to optimize construction quality and reduce construction as well as environmental impact at the site.
The R-2000 house, by builder-developer Les industries Ste-Anne de la Rochelle, Inc. (Alouette Homes), was chosen as one of the winners in Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporations’ Equilibrium project. Formerly known as the Net-Zero Energy Healthy Housing program, the initiative brings the private and public sectors together to develop homes, and eventually communities, that address occupant health and comfort, energy efficiency, renewable energy production, resource conservation, reduced environmental impact and affordability. Houses built with the assistance of the program are monitored to assess their performance, and are open to the public for tours. The total annual energy requirement for the home is predicted to be equal to the on-site annual production from renewable energy sources: active and passive solar space and water heat, a geothermal heat pump and photovoltaic electrical panels. That energy requirement is predicted to be only 17 percent of that for the average... To read the rest of this article, subscribe to Natural Life's digital edition, which includes access to this and other back issues. |
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