cirs / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

UBC's Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability
LEED Homes

UBC Lab Exceeds LEED Platinum becoming one of North America's greenest buildings

...CIRS heats itself and returns 600 megawatt hours of surplus energy back to campus. Operational carbon: CIRS’ operations require no fossil fuel and the surplus energy CIRS returns to EOS removes an additional 150 tonnes of GHG emissions annually through reduced natural gas use. Structural carbon: CIRS’ wood structure lo...

The birthplace of Passive House solar home design The Saskatchewan Conservation
Passive solar home design

Saskatchewan: The birthplace of Passive House and passive solar home design

Passive House design, how does it work? If you've ever sat in a car with black leather seats in the summer, particularly when wearing shorts, you already understand passive solar heat gain. It is a very simple concept that as a building technique dates back thousands of years. You simply need to find out where south is...

The Best Electric Car - Discover which EV is best for You
Lifestyle, location and commuting

The Best Electric Car - Discover which EV is best for You

Buying an electric car (or EV) is on the increase For a lot of people though there's a nagging question in the back of everyone’s mind - When is the right time to make the switch to an Electric Vehicle - & which is the best EV? Over decades, and even more so over the last few years, the purchase prices of EV's cont...