A net-zero home in Edmonton, Alberta stayed toasty warm this week when the polar vortex brought bitterly cold temperatures to town, enabling Darryl Zubot and his family to stay comfortable and safe—without having to turn on the furnace.
In pure dollar terms, net-zero homes can be a costly venture, with homeowners looking at up to 20 years before they recoup the up-front investment, writes CBC News. But the trend toward climate-friendly, self-sufficient houses is gaining momentum—even in a region where winters are wild, and oil and gas is still perceived as the economic bread and butter.
Zubot and his family recently built a net-zero home south of Edmonton, CBC says. The structure features south-facing, triple-paned windows, added insulation, extra-efficient appliances, and a heat pump—all working together to sharply reduce the home’s energy consumption. In Alberta, that means they can sell electricity to the grid when they have a surplus, then buy some back when they need it.
The windows measure six by 10 feet and provide “about 30 to 35% of the home’s heat” during bright, sunny days, CBC says, helping to keep things cozy and warm during the worst of winter. Add the heat pump, and the house remained a toasty 23°C indoors this week, even as the mercury outside plunged below -30°C during the recent stint of bitter cold.
“This house is a testament to how you can be completely self-sufficient in this day and age, with no reliance on oil and gas,” Zubot told CBC.
Zubot plans to add solar panels this spring, after which the house will generate as much energy as it uses. “We need to do our part to reduce our oil consumption,” he said. “I know it’s not going to change overnight and we still need oil, but it’s definitely slowly transitioning.”
This particular net-zero project was expensive—Zubot paid “roughly C$40,000” more than what an equivalent non-net-zero house would have cost. But “we plan to be here for a long time, and it’ll pay back in the long run,” he said. “It’s definitely not a short-term investment game, but long-term it definitely pays off.”
Then again, the strict financial calculation was not the Zubot’s primary concern—nor is it for many net-zero homeowners, said Dale Rott, co-owner of Effect Home Builders in Edmonton.
“They are aware of climate change and they have an ideological reason,” he told CBC. “It’s not because of cost savings on utilities and all that. We’re not hearing that yet.”
I love stories like this – someone needs to share with folks in Texas right now! But a caution about pricing net zero construction: the economics are more complex than simple construction costs vs energy payback. Net zero construction will become better known as Cdn building codes move in that direction – familiarity will lower construction costs, as will Cdn mass production of e.g. triple pane windows and tapes and sealants. Codes, subsidies and education will spur the uptake. And imagine how appealing this type of construction would become if the grid was to fail in Edmonton during a cold snap due to a climate disruption like now across much of N. America?
We need federally mandated building codes to get us to net zero! This needs to be done.
Well, yes, thanks! And watch this space. We’ve just got wind that the latest building code update — in 2021, mind — will still treat airtightness as an optional feature. We’ll be publishing that story next week.
Well, go. I’m in America, in the state of Virginia in the southwestern corner where coal and gas has dominated our destruction for over a century. Still, we purchased some solar panels a few years back. I find change is difficult with leaders who have minds stuck in the past century. Even slower is the fermentation of changes in building codes, etc. Preparation for anticipated anomilies in the face of climate change is unheard of generally because of the costs but look at the costs now in Texas and who pays for their failure of imagination.