leed-ontario / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Beautiful LEED home in Mulmur, Ontario.
LEED Homes

A beautiful lakeside LEED Platinum home

LEED Platinum home in Ontario  As described by the Architects: Designed for a client with environmental sensitivities, +HOUSE is a manifestation of a sustainable and healthy approach to building that does not sacrifice design. Sited facing the bank of a stream-fed pond, this four-season house is nestled into a natural ...

Backyard solar panels
Grants and incentives

The Ontario MicroFIT program

  Are there incentives for installing solar power in Ontario? According to Natural Resources Canada, over 20% of the energy consumed in Ontario is used to run homes. Of that 20% chunk, 80% is used for space and water heating alone. That means that making the right energy choices for your home has a significant effect o...

Ontario’s first LEED certified hospital
LEED Homes

Ontario’s First LEED Certified Hospital

Bluewater Health announced today that it has been selected as one of the first Canadian hospitals – and the first acute care hospital in Ontario – to achieve LEED® certification. Bluewater Health’s construction of a 588,000-square-foot complex at the hospital’s Sarnia location consisted of a new addition attached to th...

Ontario climate change action plan
Grants and incentives

Ontario announces ambitious climate change action plan to reduce emissions

Learn how the Ontario Climate Change Action Plan can benefit you directly.  In June 2016, the Ontario government adopted a new Climate Change Action Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation, industry and building sectors. This will be backed by an investment of $ 1.9 billion annually over the nex...

Modern two-story laneway house with garage and living space in Toronto GTA ON
Accessory dwelling units (ADU)

The Ontario Homeowner's Guide to Laneway Homes, Garden Suites & Bill 23

The Ontario homeowner's guide to 'as of right' zoning of laneway homes, garden suites & Bill 23 The Canadian federal government as well as provincial governments are promoting increased rates of home construction to aleviate the housing crisis, to stimulate the economy, and to increase urban density. This makes it ...

Water efficient Boulevard FloWise toilet from American Standard
Bathrooms

Efficient toilets for LEED homes

Toilets usually account for about a third of the indoor water use in a home, so toilets that carry the EPA WaterSense® label are a great place to start looking. Then comes the choice of either single flush or dual flush- it's a bit of a toss up but in the end we chose to go with single flush models, because when human ...

LEED for Homes for Homes Rating System.
LEED Homes

What is LEED?

What is LEED for Homes about? LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an internationally recognized rating system for commercial buildings and homes administered by the CaGBC (Canada Green Building Council)  to encourage sustainable building practices. While the commercial program has been in effect for...

LEED v4
LEED Homes

What is different with LEED V4?

        See the first LEED V4 Platinum house in Canada here. As a movement and an industry, green building is evolving rapidly. Recognizing leadership in this field means periodically moving the goal posts, and rethinking the measures by which leadership is assessed. That’s the reason for LEED Version 4, the next exc...

LEED for Homes Checklist
LEED Homes

The LEED for Homes Checklist

The checklist will help you understand the requirements for each LEED category, and help you decide on your targeted level of certification. It will not only be used for the evaluation of your project, but you can use it for tracking your progress. The checklist will allow you to: Meet the criteria for each category D...

Off grid, passively heated and cooled house in the Gatineau Hills, Que
Off-grid and Net-Zero Housing

Off grid living blog, part 2: passively heated, this house in Quebec aims for LEED certification

With their house about three kilometers from the nearest paved road and hydro pole, so truly off-grid, Craig Anderson and France-Pascale Ménard had no option but to go for extreme efficiency in design, product selection and construction. Craig and France-Pascale went for LEED certification through the CaGBC, and this i...

Why build LEED?
LEED Homes

Why build LEED?

Are there LEED Certified builders? There are no LEED certified builders, only LEED certified buildings. To build a home to LEED certification is something that is accessible to anyone, no accreditation is required to undertake the process. It is simply a matter of registering your project and successfully completing th...