One Full Year

It has been over one year now since I moved in to a mostly finished house. Yes, I had issues with the water supply and my earth tube but, for the most part these issues have now been dealt with. Spring is now on its way, and the river ice is disappearing.

Now Net Positive

My solar panel installation was completed yesterday! On a yearly basis, I now generate more power than I consume (at least until I get my EV).

Thermal Imaging and Greener Homes Program Update

The public library in Ottawa has several thermal imaging cameras you can borrow. The wait time is several months as there seems to be a lot of demand. The camera is not terrific resolution. It gives you an accurate temperature reading but I am not sure I could find air leaks. You need to have

Planting Trees and Shrubs and Adventures in Cattle Herding

As part of the the shoreline stabilization plan, I am planting trees and shrubs on my property to help mitigate erosion, stabilize the slope on my property and to make up for the trees removed during construction. This is a programme partly funding by the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authourity (MVCA) and the City of Ottawa

Beating the Heat

One of the challenges of building a passive home is that you want the big windows facing south for the winter to harvest all the light and heat you can, but in the summer these same windows will allow unwanted heat into your home.

A Sustainable Water Supply

As some of you might know, the well my contractor procured was a dud. They drilled 205 feet and the water was full of iron and other metals. Once I paid a significant amount for a treatment system to produce drinkable water, the water changed and became salty making it untreatable. This was significant as

Earth Tube and House Performance

Part of this project was to monitor the performance of the building envelope and of the earth tube/air source heat pump combo. NRCan team members have installed sensors in various places allowing this monitoring. This will continue for a few years. We could not yet monitor the energy use of the Minotair as it is

Screening the Porch

Ahh spring, we went from freezing to stifling hot in a matter of days. Last week it was too cool to sit on the deck and this week it is too hot. I had to take a course on programming my HVAC and start using my earth tube for cooling. My earth tube has been

Water Problems and Water Solutions

Next Steps