Mechanical systems

Short of a wood stove, pretty much all heating systems require power to operate. So in the event of an apocalypse (zombie, climate, asteroid, etc) these two pellet stoves can keep you warm when the power goes out. These Wood Pellet Stoves need no electric! Burning wood to heat a home does not make you an eco-terrorist…

To ensure comfort and get the highest efficiency from the systems in the Edelweiss House air must circulate. In order to ensure comfort and get the most from the various systems of our house air needs to move around. Our air source heat pump and our heat pump water heater work together in boosting the efficiency, and…

Heat pump water heaters can help cut your hot water energy consumption by close to one third, particularly when partnered with an air source heat pump. Heat pump electric hot water heaters, good or bad idea? Water heaters are generally the biggest energy drain in a home after heating. so Air-to-water heat pump water h…

Heat pumps can heat a house three times more efficiently than other heating types. When paired with a heat pump water heater this significantly reduces the cost of heating & domestic hot water, especially when the home is LEED or Passive House certified. How well does a heat pump work in a LEED or Passive House certif…

LED light bulbs now come dimmable and with warm colours. Check out our video on choosing bulbs and DIY installation tips. DIY video about choosing the best LED bulbs and DIY lighting fixture installation tips. LED bulbs are here to stay, it's time to make the leap. The colours are warmer now, the bulbs are dimable an…

Radiant heated floors add comfort to a home and can help you heat more efficiently. There is some debate in performance building circles, particularly in the Passive House community as to whether or not you can add enough insulation below a concrete floor to eliminate the need for heating it. We have been on the fenc…

Comparing the performance of air source heat pumps and ground source geothermal heat pumps at the Living City Campus Archetype Sustainable House to discover which is the best option. Air Source Heat Pumps, and are Ground Source Heat Pumps "Geothermal?" First let's clear up some confusion on terminology regarding heat…

The Lunos Heat Recovery Ventilation system (HRV) is a completely new approach to home ventilation, great for both new home construction and renovations. This heat recovery ventilation (HRV) system is very different than what people are probably used to seeing, where air is directed to a centralized core for a heat ex…

Lunos wall-insert air exchangers offer alternative to conventional HRV systems. Almost daily, new products come on the market that are more efficient, more effective, and/or more innovative. The ones we are really impressed with will make it here to our product of the month feature. Today we look at a new solution for…

A high efficiency mini-split heat pump feeds a heat pump water heater which will take a big bite out of the future energy bill of the Demo House. Our previous update covered aspects of the building envelope, which allowed us to reduce the annual heating requirement to about the Passive House standard of 15 kWh per squ…

Are you adventurous and ready to increase your access to sustainable energy? This post is for you. The Zoetrope is a vertical-axis wind turbine made from common materials. Many of the materials can be found at your local hardware store and the rest can purchased online or made at home, for the truly industrious amongs…