Planning & Designing Sustainable Green Homes

This section of the Green Building Guides helps define the steps for building resilient, sustainable & healthy homes. If building a new house, improving or renovating an existing home, choosing a building lot or finding Green homes for sale, there are priorities to set & decisions to make - like what's the best wood to use for framing, whether to choose a basement or slab on grade foundation & especially, how to fix and keep to a home building budget. Think to ask questions too!

Charging Ev's - the options for charging in public places
Commuting

Charging EVs without a private parking space or on the move - the best options

Many of us live in cities where homes like apartments built from subdivided older houses don't have a private parking spaces - as EVs become the preferred option for commuters, what are the solutions for charging an EV in public places or on the move. Any of us who've owned gas powered vehicles over the years know…

HEPA filters & SMART Air Filters catch airborne dust, pollen, allergens, viruses
Healthy indoor air quality

Buying guide for home air filters in furnaces - HEPA, SMART or Regular?

Finding the right high-efficiency home air filter for furnaces & ventilation systems is essential for keeping indoor air clean, healthy & protecting us from allergens, animal dander, pollen, mold spores & maybe worse. What are home air filters used for?   Air filters on air handling units such as furnaces, HRV and…

Carbon Offset Schemes - Whale Poop leads Nature's Own Way
Lifestyle and environment

Save the Whale's (Poop) - Save the Planet !! (And $2m per Whale)

Carbon sequestration, Carbon reduction & Carbon offset are hot topics in the global fight against climate change & while saving rain forests & planting trees is popular, the IMF say saving the Whales may be the best plan yet. What do whales listen to?      'Pod' casts...   Talking of which, I listened to a…

Building Green Homes on a Budget is Possible - Our top tips
Planning and Design

Top tips for planning and building a green home on a budget

When building a new home, especially a sustainable high-performance home, planning everything out in detail will save time, money & stress, while ensuring the best possible choice of building materials for the budget. Proper planning is the key to successfully building a sustainable green home. An energy-efficient…

Passive House certification - PHI or PHIUS? The Spring House Passive House
Passive House

Everything you need to know about Passive House certification

A certified Passive House in North America & Canada can be certified by the Passive House Institute PHI or PHIUS, the US certification system. Discover the differences to decide which Passive House certification is best for you. What is Passive House certification? The term “Passive House” was once obscure jargon…

Canada's first LEED V4 Platinum certified home - The Edelweiss House
LEED Homes

Canada's first LEED V4 Platinum house - An Ecohome project checklist

Canada Green Building Council President Thomas Mueller calls Ecohome's Edelweiss House "A phenomenal achievement". A LEED Platinum home project overview As building rating systems drive building codes to greater levels of performance, the rating systems themselves need a periodic upgrade to stay ahead of the…

Rendering of the Ecohome demonstration house
Efficient home design

Ecohome Demo House: High performance, affordable cost

Ecohome's Edelweiss House shows that with thoughtful design, high performance home construction is attainable and affordable, without great sacrifices in space or quality of life. The guiding principles during the design of Ecohome’s Edelweiss House demonstration home - passive heating and cooling, healthy living…

Buying a Fixer-Upper vs. Move-In Ready or New Home, Which is Best?
Real estate

Buying a Home: Is a Fixer-upper, New, or Move-in-Ready Renovated Property the Best Choice?

An in-depth guide with checklists to help make the best choices when buying a home, by outlining the advantages or disadvantages of buying a Fixer-Upper vs. Move-In Ready or New Property for sustainability, health and investment potential. The classic dilemma when buying a property is whether to buy new, to buy…

Construction of a 3D printed concrete home © all3dep.com
Architecture and plan design

3D Printed Homes: Is this the Future of Residential Construction?

What is a 3D printed House? What are the pros & cons of 3D printing homes? Ecohome takes a detailed look at the printed home idea using new technologies and gives its verdict on this innovative construction technique that is very popular in the media. We've seen more and more headlines calling 3D Printed homes, "the…

Top Ten Home Renovation Shows on TV
Real estate

North America's Top Ten Home Renovation TV Shows

A guide to the best home renovation shows for aspiring DIY enthusiasts and first-time home buyers and where to stream them. Are you considering buying a first home, a fan of home renovation shows on TV, and so perhaps pondering embarking on your own fixer-upper adventure? If so, you're somewhat in luck! North…

Sustainable Habits at Home Make a Difference
Lifestyle and environment

Simple and affordable ways to live more sustainably every day

Firmly convinced that we can make better choices every day (and that this would actually make a difference), here's an Ecohome checklist of easy ways to learn sustainable habits at home. Let's be inspired, every day According to a recent survey sponsored by Google of more than 3,000 Americans by using a type of AI…

About

Planning and Design

While building LEED certified houses, Passive House, Passive Solar, ZNE - or any other types of Green certifications & rating systems for better homes can be complicated, the guides are designed to help make building better homes easier by providing practical guidance and information... Even experienced contractors may find building sustainable, resilient, high-efficiency homes daunting so it's probably going to look complicated, but there are many simple, affordable, energy saving & "good practice" home-building construction tips in the Green Building Guides that will improve just about any home.

If building a Sustainable home for your family looks daunting, you can also find more information on Architect designed prefabricated Passive House & LEED ready Kit Homes available in Quebec, Ontario, New York, Vermont, Maine or New Hampshire here that helps make choosing a Green Home easier.

Build Better, Renovate Better, Live Better - with EcoHome...