GreenBuild 2011 in Toronto

By Ross Elliott

After a long blogging drought I hope to get back to writing to you all once again. There's a tremendous amount of new developments in green building, and the pace of change in residential energy design is speeding up, particularly as we move into the new R-2000 standard. Passive House is capturing the imaginations of builders and buyers alike, and the specter of imminent peak fossil fuels has been replaced by shale gas and tar sands discoveries (as well as plentiful coal) that may be leading us to something far worse - the times they are a'changin'. But the primary message I bring back here from GreenBuild is one of hope.

I was incredibly fortunate to be invited to speak at GreenBuild, and presented on the Passive House / LEED Platinum candidate project built by Vert Design in Ottawa. Several hundred people attended my talk despite Amory Lovins speaking at the same time. Those of you who are in the know may be aware CanPHI (the Canadian Passive House Institute - specifically Malcolm Issacs and Guido Wimmers) contested PHIUS' (Passive House Institute of the US') certification of this project some eight months after the Passive House label for the home was delivered in Nov. 2010, with this dispute eventually contributing to the PHIUS / PHI split. Bottom line at our end, which I explained in the presentation (which I will post here if I can obtain permission from GreenBuild) is that this house, the first certified Passive House residence in Canada, WILL succeed in keeping its Passive House designation, once we make a couple of minor changes. More to follow...

Homesol was also represented at the GreenBuild trade show, as a member of Passive Buildings Canada (of which I am Vice President). Although the PBC booth was tucked away in a far corner in the non-profit section, in the BIGGEST trade show I've ever seen (too big for just the main show venue at the Toronto Convention Centre, so there were actually two trade show venues, all on green building products - amazing how far this industry has come!), we still attracted quite a crowd as people actively sought out our booth, because everyone wants to know more about Passive Buildings. At every presentation I was at, there was at least one question about Passive House. And I had a very interesting conversation with Vancouver architect Richard Kadulski of Solplan Revue about how Passive House is being represented quite poorly by some well-meaning proponents who are woefully ignorant of the Canadian context, a topic that will certainly continue to develop. As one of only six Certified Passive House Consultants in Canada at this time, I can see this is really going places faster than any of us ever imagined.

What I came away from GreenBuild with was a sense that we are on the cusp of a new era in buildings, well beyond the baby steps we've taken so far, to where energy saving technologies are going to rock your world and change the building industry in ways we can scarcely imagine. I will tell you more about that soon....

I want to keep this post short, although with so many months since my last post I have a lot more to say. I'm heading to Ireland tomorrow for 3 1/2 weeks; will be visiting several Canadian-built SuperE projects over there as part of our Passive House research we're doing for CMHC; heading over to Darmstadt, Germany for a few days of Passive House Trainer Training with the Passive House Institute; then over to The Eden Project in the UK before heading back home, so watch this blog space for more Homesol Building Solutions news!

San Francisco Affordable Comfort Conference Highlight

By Ross Elliott

When it comes to “higher education”, I have tremendous respect for anyone who completes all the schooling required to become an accredited professional, like an engineer or architect – or physician, which at one time was the path I was on. Five or ten years in university will teach you a lot of things you’d never learn “on the street”. It’s not easy, and only the strong survive, so although a degree may not always signify brilliance, it at least proves perseverance.  

On the other hand, a lot of smart people find traditional classroom learning too slow, too rigid in thinking and too focused on regurgitation rather than knowledge. Many people in the latter category have no degrees to show for their knowledge, yet have life experience credentials to rival many PhDs. Unfortunately, most of those folks applying for high level jobs in government and industry get turned away from the door quicker than a Harper bouncer will bar someone seen with Ignatieff on Facebook, but I digress into Canadian election politics... 

Last week I went to San Francisco for the 25^th annual Affordable Comfort conference, and while I was there I dropped by to see Fred Stitt, the founder of the San Francisco Institute of Architecture. I wanted to talk to him about receiving advance academic credit towards completing my masters degree at his non-traditional design school.  

I met Fred on a warm and sunny late-March day at his marina-view office in Alameda, California, an architect, professor and author I have long known of but never previously met. I’ve read some of his works, including the Ecological Design Handbook, and particularly remember him saying "the only problem with all other architecture schools is…. everything". That got me intrigued, and I read through the entire SFIA website, at www.sfia.net . Since residential designers make peanuts it really makes no economic sense for me to go back to university full-time to become an architect just in order to design houses. And I’d like to design a lot more Passive and Net-Zero houses… Hence my meeting with Fred.

Fred subscribes to the notion that walking into a building should be like entering a piece of music. Good architecture should sing to us. Responsible architecture is deep-green regenerative, not just sustainable any more (the Earth is already past the point where breaking even will do – I love the analogy to a marriage: if someone asked how your relationship was and you said “it’s sustainable” would that be a good thing?… we should aim beyond that!).

According to Fred, traditional architecture schools stifle and destroy the creative thinking we need to bring to designing innovative organic, ecological, nature-based buildings. He says 20 years ago (and perhaps still to this day) the higher education needed for future-based architecture simply didn’t exist, so he founded the San Francisco Institute of Architecture.

We had a very pleasant chat, and he gave me a lot of good advice. For example, don’t waste my time learning to be good at AutoCAD, hire an architectural technologist instead. Don’t be afraid to design, I’m already far ahead of most people who claim to be designers. And that I’m unstoppable. I like that last part, it does pretty much sum it all up. He suggested I create my own program of study, and submit it to SFIA for approval, along with some of the design work I’ve done over the years, and get started on learning more about ecological architecture. I guess I'm going back to school!

My first assignment I've set for myself is to read A Pattern Language cover-to-cover and write a report on every chapter explaining what I learned and what I feel about the information presented, since although I’ve never read the book in any formal sense I have skimmed through it enough to know it’s a basic residential design text. I already know I disagree with the way some designers get obsessed with meeting every detail in the book, and I can always recognize a house designed by someone who has taken A Pattern Language a bit too much to heart; the unnecessary ceiling level changes and silly extra corners flying in the face of the simplicity of someone like Frank Lloyd Wright (an architect I can also disagree with in a lot of ways) who said: “Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.”. Sounds like Passive House, I think Fred Stitt would agree… and I look forward to having him as my mentor along with the rest of the faculty at San Francisco Institute of Architecture.

High Performance & Sustainable Building Summit takes green construction and building design to the next level

By Ross Elliott

After driving from Eastern Ontario to Toronto in a classic Canadian snowstorm, I can safely say my passion for next-generation green building remains steadfast. The 401 Highway route approaching Toronto continues to sprout suburban tract housing projects in various stages of completion. I'd wager that few if any of them has a LEED Platinum rating, and not a one could be certified as a Passive House.

And yet, I'm going to spend the next two days learning from, presenting to and enjoying the company of similarly committed people who are going to help solve this problem at the High Performance & Sustainable Building Summit.

In my role of Vice President of Passive Buildings Canada I will be co-presenting with Terrell Wong, who is President of that organization in addition to being an Architect at Stone's Throw Design Inc. We're going to prove to our colleagues from the building industry that Passive House design can and does work in the Canadian climate. Our goal is to assess the successes and challenges for passive buildings in Canada, show case studies that meet the passive house standard from various climates and suggest a strategy for expanding the use of passive buildings in Canada.

If you're in Toronto Wednesday morning come and see us at the conference!

(Ross Elliott, CPHP, LEED-AP, RASDT, RHSD, is CEO and President of Homesol Building Solutions Inc., located in Almonte, Ontario, Canada.)

Homesol clients dominate Ottawa Citizen Homes green building issue for Passive House and LEED Platinum accomplishments

By Ross Elliott

The Ottawa Citizen's "Green Issue" was published on February 19, 2011 and Homesol clients received great coverage.

One story, on page E1 (front page) of the Homes section - Deeper shade of Green: Tough energy standards are the new normal for rental townhomes - profiled Ontario's first LEED Platinum certified multi-unit residential project. The RGB Group’s LEED Platinum project in Ottawa’s south end features nine 1,750 sq. ft. executive townhomes that boast green building features such as locally sourced L.E.D. lighting, extensive use of “chain of custody” lumber (traceable to responsibly managed forests), energy star-rated appliances and low-flow toilets and water fixtures.

Homesol Building Solutions consulted to The RGB Group throughout its LEED Platinum Certification process, and I certified the project. In the Ottawa Citizen story I also commend the company President Rolf Baumann. More builders should learn from the dedication and persistence it takes to achieve the highest standard in green building. Rolf does, and he makes it pay.

Another story, same issue of the Citizen profiled Canada's First Certified Passive House. I've already blogged about Ottawa architectural designer, Chris Straka's project and the role Homesol played in getting this house to certification here. After read that, please also read the Ottawa Citizen article by Patrick Langston on this green building success story: The Green Issue: Not So Passive

(Ross Elliott, CPHP, LEED-AP, RASDT, RHSD, is CEO and President of Homesol Building Solutions Inc., located in Almonte, Ontario, Canada.)

First Bubble Greenhouse Plans Roll Off The Line!

By Ross Elliott

Last summer Kat and I were invited to beautiful St. Johns, Newfoundland, to give a presentation on our bubble insulated and shaded greenhouse, which we built back on Sept. 11, 2001 (strange how you remember what you were doing on that day.... in our case we were pouring concrete while listening to CBC's coverage of events).

Following that wonderful visit to one of the very best parts of Canada, complete with the hospitality (and pubs) Newfoundland is known for, we developed a set of construction drawings and specifications so anyone can build a bubble greenhouse like ours. It took quite a while for us to get around to posting these plans on the website, since we had to first figure out how to allow people to contribute a bit of money towards the sweat & tears & cash that went into developing this idea and then putting it all on paper, but we finally got the plans out there last month.

Last week, we shipped out our first set of plans, to an innovative greenhouse grower in North Carolina.

Some day I really do believe people will be driving down the road and will say "Look Martha, it's going to be a cold night / hot day, the greenhouses have their bubbles in!", because using soap bubbles to shade and insulate greenhouses just makes sense.

For more on this interesting twist on cooling and shading greenhouses, check out our bubble greenhouse section...

(Ross Elliott, CPHP, LEED-AP, RASDT, RHSD, is CEO and President of Homesol Building Solutions Inc., located in Almonte, Ontario, Canada.)