Net Zero gets $4-million boost

Over $4 million in funding and in-kind contributions from the ecoENERGY Innovation Initiative (ecoEII) and the building industry will allow for the construction of at least 25 net-zero energy homes in five communities in four provinces. ecoEII will be providing $1.96 million in funding for professional services required for the planning, design and construction of the houses. The remaining funds will come from Owens Corning Canada, builders and the building industry in the form of in-kind contributions to fund the construction of the homes. Project funding allows for the focus on affordability and market acceptability of NZE housing while moving away from one-off research and development projects. Owens Corning is working with the following homebuilders to test the feasibility of developing net-zero homes at the community scale: Construction Voyer (Laval, Quebec); Mattamy Homes Limited (Calgary, Alberta); Minto Communities (Ottawa, Ontario); Provident Development Inc. (Halifax, Nova Scotia); and Reid’s Heritage Homes (Guelph, Ontario). To date in Canada, there have been very few demonstrations of NZE housing on a community scale that are market-ready for production builder adoption. Technical design, planning and training processes are already in progress. Construction of the homes are expected to be completed by 2016.