Planning & Designing Sustainable Green Homes

Rising to the global challenge of creating a more sustainable society, the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability doesn't just push the bounds of sustainable building innovation and execution, it also serves as a 'living-lab' for ongoing resear. The University of British Columbia has opened the most…

We spend an average of 90% of our time indoors, where air is usually 3 to 4 times more polluted than outside air. Building practices and building materials can lead a building up of VOCs, chemicals, mold and mildew in our homes. Mold in homes is a bad sign, so how to get rid of it or prevent mold in drywall? Mold…

Prefab homes make choosing an Architect designed LEED or Passive House high performance house design easy. All the important choices of non-toxic Sustainable materials have been made, add a building lot & in a few months you're home & dry (& warm!). Prefab home kits are ideal for Passive House or LEED certified…

Decommissioned aircraft getting second life as recycled metal is used as exterior cladding. They might be parked a little more precisely than an auto wrecking yard, but that doesn’t mean theses planes will ever fly again. Decommissioned aircraft have been declared so, because they have reached the end of their safe…

built with 105 recycled shipping pallets, this innovative structure by b sq. Design Studio Inc. included walkways, a playhouse, a water feature, and vertical herb gardens that delighted visitors at the flower and garden festival. b sq. Design Studio Inc. is a Toronto-based landscape design and build firm that…

An emerging technology that can make use of waste plastic. Though we all diligently cart our plastic to the curb for recycling, the sad reality is that only about 7% of it is commercially viable for recycling, the rest ends up as landfill. Plastic is a petroleum product that until now has been very inconsistent and…

With the goal of enhancing the natural healing environment of their hospital while minimizing their ecological footprint, Bluewater Health in Sarnia will be the first acute care hospital in Ontario to achieve LEED certification. Bluewater Health announced today that it has been selected as one of the first Canadian…

A development near Wakefield, Quebec called Edelweiss Lakes will soon be entering the first phase of what is intended to be a community of LEED certified homes. Developer Luc Bélisle will be partnering with Matthew Smith of Mapleridge Homes to build the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)…

Alberta’s first Net Zero Energy community will comprise include 27 pre-fabricated homes. Landmark Homes Inc. In Calgary Alberta, In partnership with Brookfield Residential Properties, has just started construction on a community of 27 prefabricated net zero energy homes , the first of its kind in Alberta. A ‘ Net…

The Endeavour Centre in Peterborough, ON sets its sights on the Living Building Challenge. The Living Building Challenge is one of the toughest green building certifications to complete, and has yet to be achieved in Canada. The Endeavour Centre, a not-for-profit trade school in Peterborough Ontario, is setting out…

The climate is changing, how we build home needs to change as well. The U.S. Green Building Council and the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning released a landmark report Feb. 29 that describes how green buildings advance resiliency in disasters. “Green Building and Climate…