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Zero Energy = Urban Vitality Design Based on Creative Use of Renewable Resources
April, 2008
By Duane Sharp
The first North American Zero Energy EcoCondo - the Abondance Montreal Project - is targeted for completion in late 2008 or early 2009. It arises from the national Equilibrium Housing Initiative led by Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CHMC), which brings the private and public sectors together to develop homes that combine resource and energy-efficient technologies in order to reduce development's environmental impact.
The designer is EcoCité Developments, a partnership formed by two Quebec eco-entrepreneurs in 2004 to encourage the building industry to build greener multi-residential buildings. Together, Christopher Sweetnam-Holmes - an environmentalist, architect and real estate developer - and Cheryl Gladu - a community/environmental activist and marketing specialist - have been working to promote and prove the benefits of green housing and mixed-use commercial/residential development.
Prior to forming the partnership, Sweetnam-Holmes built a prototype of the subsequently trademarked EcoCondo. Known as Habitat 1, it is located in Montreal's Point Saint Charles neighbourhood and encompasses eight multi-storey units and a large common area. Energy-efficient features include radiant heating and cooling, visible structural systems to minimize wasteful building materials, sustainably harvested and healthy finishes such as bamboo flooring and organic compound paints, sealants, glues and finishes.
For prospective homebuyers, the idea is to provide affordable housing choices that make it easier to reduce one's impact on the environment. These features include energy efficiency and using fewer precious natural resources, with healthy indoor air quality, within walking distance to parks, stores, recreational venues and public transit.
A follow-up development, EcoCité on the Canal, a 25-unit residential project with a single commercial unit is in development in the central Ottawa neighborhood known as the Glebe. Meanwhile, EcoCité was invited to participate with a team of specialized and experienced designers - including MMA Atelier d'architecture, Pageau Morel and Associates (PMA), Constructions Sodero, and l'Ecole Polytechnic's researcher Michel Bernier - to develop a building that produces as much energy as it consumes.
There are two buildings on the Abondonce condo site encompassing 20 units of EcoCondos and EcoLofts(r). Le Soleil is modeled after the popular Montreal triplex and intended to be a net zero building, consuming no more energy than it produces. La Terre is a 17-unit courtyard EcoCondo project, designed to be easily net zero-energy ready.
"Part of the dialogue around climate change and the coming climate crisis is around the idea of running out of both certain sources of energy and certain kinds of important materials we need to maintain our current standard of living.
While we recognize these are very important issues that must be addressed, we wanted to focus the vision of this project on the positive notion that there is an abundance of materials, energy and creativity that is currently not being used often enough or applied in an effective manner," Gladu explains. "For example, there is an abundance of renewable energy available from the sun and from the earth, both of which we capture with this project, and there are numerous products currently available on the market that are healthy and environmentally responsible."
"We wanted to show with this demonstration project - a representation of the building of the future - that there is the potential to use all the material and intelligence to not only maintain our current standards, but to raise them," she adds. "The future doesn't have to be a story on what we've run out of, but it could be one of how we finally took notice of everything that is available for us."
In partnership with another developer at Shuswap Lake Resort in Scotch Creek, BC, EcoCité is working with existing developers to design more units using green concepts. Gladu reports a good response from developers across Canada and anticipates that EcoCondos will soon be built in other provinces.
Sweetnam-Holmes sees each project somewhat as a laboratory to test features and facilities. "One of the challenges I encountered on the first project was not recognizing the value of good commissioning of each system in the project," he recalls. "Small issues can create substantial problems which can be quite critical. The failure of a pump, for example, can cause significant project delays. It is important to conduct thorough testing of mechanical systems, and in fact, LEED has mandated basic commissioning regulations on commercial and industrial building projects."
The preceding article is excerpted from Building Strategies, Winter 2008.
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