Planning & Designing Sustainable Green Homes

The Ontario climate change action plan will invest in renewable energy, green infrastructure and incentives to reduce GHG 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…

The tiny house movement is an inspiring green home trend, but are tiny houses on wheels green? Find out more about tiny house living in cold climates and whether they are a good or bad idea. Are tiny houses worth it? Are Tiny houses a good investment? That depends on your lifestyle and how well you build them. Here…

Bring nature into your home with a living green wall, but don't count on it for air purification. It is well-documented that the indoor air in homes is filled with contaminants, mostly due to cooking (specifically burning) and improperly vented combustion appliances like woodstoves and gas ranges. Other significant…

Living in a recycled shipping container home may not be all its cracked up to be. Here is a look at the ups and downs of this housing trend, and whether we think shipping container homes are good or bad as a tiny home choice. Shipping container homes are gaining popularity globally, especially as Tiny Houses , as…

The BRE Innovation Park will be expanding its facilities to conduct research into advanced building products and technologies. The BRE Innovation Park (Building Research Establishment) that lies 15km north of Toronto will soon build a new series of houses in which emerging building products and technologies can be…

The Cardboard Wikkelhouse from Fiction Factory falls under our 'too cool not to share' category. Seriously, no pun intended - it's just hard not to describe the cardboard Wikkelhouse as anything other than an extreme case of thinking outside of the box. It's like there is some kind of one-upmanship going on in the…

Despite the good intentions, Earthships in cold climates can't work because they contradict the laws of physics. I'm not the Mike Reynolds who invented the Earthship, I'm the Mike Reynolds who thinks Earthships in Canada and other cold climates are a bad idea. A coincidence of names; just putting that out there so…

Badly needed infrastructure for charging electric vehicles coming from the provinces, along with financial incentives for purchase. There is no question that the best way to lower emissions as we scurry about a city is to travel by foot, bike or public transportation, yet it’s unlikely we will see the end of the…

Canada continues to demonstrate its progress in fighting climate change with 204 registered and 211 certified LEED projects in Canada between May and September 2015. This brings the current total number of LEED certified projects in Canada to 2,466. Canada continues to demonstrate its progress in fighting climate…

Better houses can be cheaper to live in from day one. Why build a less comfortable, and less efficient home if it actually costs more. Is it worth insulating a home past building code requirements? There are probably only two general desires we share when imagining a dream house - we all want the nicest one…

The fully off-grid Ecocapsule has its own micro-power generation and rainwater treatment system. If your fantasy is to live totally off the grid anywhere around the world, that dream just got one step closer to reality. Nice Architects just unveiled the first photos of their incredible egg-shaped Ecocapsule home…