The Home of Today and the Home of 罢辞尘辞谤谤辞飞鈥攖飞辞 houses constructed side-by-side in the popular Wilden 苍别颈驳丑产辞耻谤丑辞辞诲鈥攁谤别 part of a real-world study on sustainable homebuilding that compares the energy usage patterns of identical structures built with different energy-efficient technologies.
The pioneering initiative is collaborative three-year learning and research project by Wilden developer Blenk Development Corp., AuthenTech Homes, UBC Okanagan, Okanagan College and FortisBC.
Following the completion of construction of both homes in early November, the Living Lab partners enlisted an energy evaluation companyto analyze the performance of each home based on the Government of 颁补苍补诲补鈥檚 EnerGuide standard ratings for new homes.
Gilles Lesage, operations manager of Total Home Solutions, conducted the testing on insulation levels, airtightness, windows and doortypes and space and hot water heating systems.
The Home of Tomorrow achieved an exceptional EnerGuide rating of 47 gigajoules (GJ) per year and greenhouse gas emissions of only 0.3tonnes per year in the energy audit.
In comparison, the Home of Today, which was built to current building code standards, has a rating of 110 GJ/year and GHG emissions of3.0 tonnes/year.
Lesage attributes the efficiency rating to the sustainable construction of the Home of Tomorrow.
鈥淭丑颈蝉 project shows the impact 迟丑补迟鈥檚 made when homes are built with efficiency in mind right from the planning 蝉迟补驳别,鈥� says DanielleWensink, director, energy conservation and management for FortisBC.
鈥淲别 believe 颈迟鈥檚 well worth supporting forward-thinking projects like this that advance energy-efficient construction in the 谤别驳颈辞苍.鈥�
The Home of Tomorrow was built with several advanced, energy-efficient components that exceed current building code requirements,including geothermal heating and cooling, a heat pump water heater, triple glazed windows and an insulated concrete form foundation.
The Home of Today was built to the current B.C. Building Code specifications, allowing it to act as a baseline comparison to the Home ofTomorrow.
The Wilden Living Lab project is also unique in that it has integrated students from two post-secondary institutions for hands-onparticipation.
Students from Okanagan 颁辞濒濒别驳别鈥檚 Sustainable Construction Management and Residential Construction programs worked with local builderAuthenTech Homes on the construction of the homes and implementing the latest sustainable technologies.
鈥淲辞谤办颈苍驳 with the latest green building materials on these homes was very valuable for our 蝉迟耻诲别苍迟蝉,鈥� says Angus Wood, Okanagan Collegeprogram instructor.
鈥淎苍诲 seeing the EnerGuide results will affirm for them the benefits of new technology and techniques they employed in this 辫谤辞箩别肠迟.鈥�
The two Wilden Living Lab homes mark the 颁辞濒濒别驳别鈥檚 49th and 50th community projects as part of their Homes for Learning program.
In Spring 2017, the homes will start their collection of real life data, when they will be sold at market value.
The residents who move in will have their consumption monitored on the meters and sensors installed throughout the equipment in thehomes.
Researchers from UBC 翱办补苍补驳补苍鈥檚 School of Engineering will spend the next three years analyzing and comparing the collected data fromthe homes to learn how sustainable building technologies can influence energy consumption.
鈥淭丑别 Wilden Living Lab will provide real life energy consumption data over the next three years and help us understand and compare theconventional and advanced local construction practices and energy efficient appliances, and its relationship to energy 产颈濒濒蝉,鈥� explains UBCOkanagan associate professor Dr. Shahria Alam, who is leading the monitoring effort.
鈥淭丑别 initial test on the home of tomorrow has already proven its energy efficiency.
鈥淭丑别 model being developed from the generated data will be also capable of selecting the most energy efficient components and theirvarious combinations for residential 肠辞苍蝉迟谤耻肠迟颈辞苍.鈥�
The findings from UBC will be published on the Wilden Living Lab website.
FortisBC will be offering open houses to the public in Feb. 2017.
The project has been named a finalist in four categories of the annual Tommie Awards, organized by the Canadian Home BuildersAssociation (CHBA) Okanagan chapter.
The winners will be announced at the Tommie Awards Gold Gala on Jan. 28.
More information about the project is available at wildenlivinglab.com.
