Comments on: Shades of Green

By: Heather Angus-Lee

Heather Angus-Lee — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:14:21 +0000

Seems you two are on the same type of green-renovation journey as my husband and I.

We recently started our blog, http://www.ecorenovate.ca with many of the same goals in mind, except we aren’t building a new home. Rather, we are upgrading our 1950s drafty home to an EnerGuide rating of 82 from our currently paltry rating of 61.
In the process, we hope to reap as much of the $10,000-plus government rebates resulting from our home energy audit we got this past summer.

Keep up the good work!

Heather and Doug Angus-Lee

By: JFRPRR

JFRPRR — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:58:44 +0000

I’m thrilled to stumble upon your website. My partner and I are going through a very similar process—determining that we need a home for the two of us, that renovating makes most sense, and that sustainability is essential but the budget is the main constraint.

We settled on very similar choices to you regarding what we will be doing and what things we consider nice to haves but can’t afford right now. Particularly, we had to put solar water heating and PV power generation on hold, but overall we feel that we’ll have a very energy efficient house once it’s built.

We’ll keep track of your progress, you keep track of ours.

By: 10K in Rebates? Not exactly. | 360 Winnett Ave

10K in Rebates? Not exactly. | 360 Winnett Ave — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:45:34 +0000

[...] about the project and what we were planning. Of course I spoke about the website and our green plans, but I also mentioned that we qualified for about $9,500 in government [...]

By: Pacha Mama

Pacha Mama — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:48:25 +0000

Right on. We are currently in the process of balancing renovation and ecological impact. Add the real-life constraints of time and budget, and “greenovating” is not as simple as it looks on television. Having said that, when thinking about materials and projects for our home, we now carefully and seriously consider the environmental impact – and that shift in mainstream thinking shouldn’t be underestimated.

By: Movin’ On Up | 360 Winnett Ave

Movin’ On Up | 360 Winnett Ave — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:24:37 +0000

[...] moving. In fact, I’ll go as far as to say I hate it. I know I’ve spoken about wanting more room, but deep down I suspect the real reason we’re building this house is so we won’t ever [...]

By: Colin

Colin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:26:37 +0000

With rainwater collection you could look into using this as grey water storage as well to fill the toilet tanks for flushing etc. The other item to consider is low VOC emitting chemicals such as paint etc. and a hepa filter system for the HVAC.

By: Jeremy Bell

Jeremy Bell — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:34:06 +0000

Thanks Michele! I hope our experience will provide some insight for your mom… if she’s got any questions, I’ll gladly answer what I can.

By: Michele Champagne

Michele Champagne — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:39:18 +0000

This project is absolutely fascinating – both the house and the blog. I’ve shared this with my mom, as she is planning to build her second home in Ottawa, as environmentally-friendly as possible. Cheers, M.