News

With our international perspective of construction and home pricing trends, it's time to stress the importance to the homeowners of North America and Canada of home performance. If buying or building a home - please read this first. A recent report in the UK by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has started ringing…

Coles Supermarket partners with Cleanaway to convert waste into fuel to divert all waste from landfills. I’m not the first and I definitely won’t be the last to say that there is far too much (unnecessary) plastic packaging on foods. It’s everywhere! As soon as you step foot through the automatic doors in the…

Named “The Confluence,” this house produces more energy than it uses, it captures water on site and has a positive impact on its occupants and surrounding environment. Located northwest of Calgary, Alberta, The Confluence home is a partnership between Southern Alberta Institute of Technology’s ( SAIT ) Green…

With city populations doubling by 2050, we can't sustain the growing impact of urbanization on current transit solutions. Traffic is bad now in many of our urban centers, imagine what it will be like with double the number of cars. There's a significant traffic issue on the horizon, and even all of us deciding to…

Green roofs have known benefits for biodiversity in urban areas, water conservation, insulation properties and are simply more attractive to look at - here is an example of them being very practical too. Most commercial green roofs in an urban area offer green space for occupants and manage rainwater, but large…

Plastics are inescapable - but we can reduce their impact by better informed choices, better legislation (and probably lots of it), and by reducing waste production from construction. Plastics and their devastating impact on the environment is not news at all. For all our efforts to reduce packaging, recycle…

A San Francisco based startup named Ample seeks to shake up the electric car market with an interchangeable car battery for EVs. Ample is a new electric vehicle charging system which works by having robots quickly replace small modular battery packs in electric cars, getting them back on the road in a few minutes…

Build with Strength is partnering with Habitat for Humanity International to supply the concrete for affordable and sustainable housing in 16 locations across the U.S. Due to the significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions that come with the production of Portland cement, Ecohome has long promoted alternatives to…

Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health challenge, which is accelerated by the overuse of antibiotics worldwide. Increased antimicrobial resistance is the cause of severe infections, complications, longer hospital stays and increased mortality. After the last year I think we can all use  some good news…

Carbon negative concrete CMU blocks, available soon across North Eastern America & Canada, a huge step forward & a significant impact to the carbon dioxide production of a standard cinder block or concrete masonry unit. Production just started in Quebec of a ground-breaking CMU block that is carbon-negative, thanks…

Tiny Homes, Tiny Houses on Wheels (or Thows), Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU's), Coach Houses, these are all variations on a theme for affordable, less impactful homes. The main issue to date has been Building Code which was unfavorable to Tiny Homes. Living in a tiny house in California is getting easier all the…