Category Archives: Eco / Green

A Wire Runs Through It

Posted on February 17, 2009 by jeremybell

Most of the electrical has been run throughout the house, although we’re not quite finished yet. The city is coming this week to connect the meter, and the panel hasn’t been installed yet… but everything else is looking pretty good. … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction, Eco / Green | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments

Letting The Sun In

Posted on December 30, 2008 by jeremybell

Things have been a little slow around the house this past week (‘tis the season, right?), so there hasn’t been much progress of late, however I did manage to climb up on the roof again to take a closer look … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction, Eco / Green, Materials | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Roof Torch Down

Posted on December 4, 2008 by jeremybell

We began weatherproofing the roof this week, despite a continued beatdown from Mother Nature. The sky has been perpetually grey and in between the snow and rain, we’ve been rolling out and torching down a SBS modified bitumen membrane (I … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction, Eco / Green, Materials | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Of Insulation & HVAC

Posted on November 26, 2008 by jeremybell

One of our goals with this project has been to construct the most energy efficient and eco-friendly building envelope possible. This has required that we pay close attention to the various insulation values and invest in the most efficient HVAC … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction, Eco / Green, Financial | Tagged , | 9 Comments

How Green Is Green Enough?

Posted on October 31, 2008 by jeremybell

The 2nd of 5 articles I’m writing for the Globe and Mail was published today, in which I reflect on our environmental commitments. As I mention in the article, one thing I’ve learned during this project is that ‘being green’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Eco / Green | 6 Comments

Poured Foundation

Posted on September 22, 2008 by jeremybell

It’s been a few weeks, and we’ve made quite a lot of progress on the house. We had evaluated a number of manufacturers, but ultimately decided upon Nudura for our ICF foundation. Paul Stevens and his crew from Stevens Construction … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction, Eco / Green | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

10K in Rebates? Not exactly.

Posted on September 4, 2008 by jeremybell

Well, for those that watch the evening news, you probably just found out that we don’t exactly qualify for the ecoENERGY rebates that we once thought we did. I’d been contacted by CityTV a number of weeks ago about wanting … Continue reading →

Posted in Eco / Green, Financial | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Drain Water Heat Recovery

Posted on August 31, 2008 by jeremybell

I’d read very little about drain water heat recovery (DWHR) systems prior to this weekend, but after seeing it referenced in some Energy Star documentation I decided to look into a little further. Put simply, a DWHR unit captures heat … Continue reading →

Posted in Eco / Green, Financial | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

ICF to the roof?

Posted on July 15, 2008 by jeremybell

I’ve already discussed the benefits of using ICFs for our foundation, but we’re now considering using them to construct the entire building envelope. We had originally expected it to be cost probative, but after getting a few quotes it appears … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture & Design, Eco / Green | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Energy Audited

Posted on July 6, 2008 by jeremybell

In order for us to qualify for the ecoENERGY grant program, Dritan Sahatci of GreenTech came by the house today to administer an energy audit. The audit was incredibly straightforward, cost $341 (although we’ll get $150 back) and took all … Continue reading →

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