platinum-plaque / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

A quick update: as of September 13 Beachaus II has officially been awarded LEED Platinum, the highest possible achievement in the LEED for homes rating system. Designed for active living and built to last – this ultra modern 2000 square foot, 3 bedroom, 4 bathroom home includes a large separate office/studio space and ...

Why pay for a green home certification? As more people pursue high efficiency green home rating certifications, they become increasingly well known and trusted. Consequently, more people seek them out. Developers build smarter homes when consumers demand them, and the existence of certification programs raises the bar ...

Prefab LEED Platinum kit house in Montreal   Ellen and Roman Szumski earned LEED® Platinum certification for their home in Labelle, in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec and EcoHome took a look. LEED is a point-based green building rating system, so we must emphasize the exceptional performance of this house, particula...

  Prefab homes are a very credible option for high performance home construction. When it comes to high efficiency sustainable housing, until recently prefab homes didn't even show up on the radar. A few companies in recent years have taken huge steps to change that, notably with the recent completion of the Beachaus I...

The University of British Columbia has opened the most sustainable building in North America, a $37 million 'living laboratory' that will help to regenerate the environment and advance research and innovation on global sustainability challenges. The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) is one of onl...

The Rainbow Duplex in Whistler is the first Passive House in BC The passive solar design and orientation of homes is anything but new. Solar heat collection is a technique that has been used in home construction for thousands of years. What is relatively new is the rating system developed to certify them. The Passive H...

Prefab home kits are ideal for Passive House or LEED certified homes Écohabitation the French language Quebec affiliates of Ecohome, in conjunction with experienced architects and kit home manufacturers, have launched a series of Canadian manufactured stylish and affordable, prefabricated sustainable green kit homes th...

Affordable prefab eco homes are a growing green home building trend across the US and Canada, as you may have already seen on our pages or in the press. Economies of scale, the savings in materials and the speed and quality of construction are certainly motivating factors persuading homebuyers to take a fresh look at p...

Net Zero Energy homes pilot program goals The goal of the R-2000 Net Zero Energy homes pilot program in Canada was to improve the performance standards of homes, and to raise awareness of energy-efficient green home building techniques among builders. Through participating in this pilot project, every builder became li...

Prefab home kits are ideal for Passive House or LEED certified homes Écohabitation the French language Quebec organization, in conjunction with experienced LEED Architects & Passive House or LEED standard Kit home manufacturers, have launched a series of stylish & affordable prefabricated sustainable green kit ...

After certifying its first LEED project in 2005, the CaGBC collected data over the next eight years, measuring the direct impact LEED Canada made on various aspects of the environment, including greenhouse gas emissions, national energy and water consumption and waste diversion. The results were compelling: A 312,006 C...