Edmonton leads Canada in net-zero energy homes

Peter Amerongen finds irony in the notion that Edmonton has more net-zero energy homes than any other city in Canada, especially since it’s the capital of a province responsible for the most greenhouse gas emissions in the country.

“I can’t argue with that,” says Amerongen, vice-president of Habitat Studio, a company that builds sustainable dwellings in Edmonton. “I’ve thought about that a lot myself.”

Statistics on the number of net-zero energy homes (NZE) – residences where energy production equals energy consumption — in Canada are fuzzy at best. However, prior to the Eco-Solar Tour, a recent event that allowed visitors to spend a weekend checking out NZE homes in the city and surrounding area, Amerongen and his colleagues wondered where Edmonton stood in the pack.

After consulting with other NZE organizations across the country, they were surprised at the results. Edmonton led the pack with 30 net-zero energy homes and four additional dwellings currently under construction. Toronto, Canada’s largest city, only had 10. As for Vancouver, a city known for making the most noise on environmental issues? Just one.

But net-zero energy homes in Edmonton have a meteorological advantage, given that Alberta receives more sunshine and generally enjoys clearer skies than any other province. These conditions allow the solar panels to collect more energy, even during the winter.

It also helps that there’s a great deal of expertise in the city, particularly with Amerongen and his team, who built one of the first solar-powered homes in Canada back in 2007. In May, another Edmonton home his company built became the country’s first house to receive net-zero certification by Natural Resources Canada.

“Homeowners have stepped up to buy these things,” says Amerongen. “I don’t know why; you’d think there would be more people in Vancouver doing that. But I think maybe it’s because we are an energy province and we’re keenly aware of the good and the bad, and there are really good people who want to do the right thing.”

Environmental consciousness, however, does come with a price tag. Amerongen says a solar equivalent to a two-storey bungalow with a square footage of 2,000 would cost between $40,000 to $50,000 more to build.

However, Gordon Howell, a professional engineer specializing in solar electrical energy design, says that in the long run, the advantages of owning a NZE house eventually outweigh the costs.

“If you happen to value the phenomenally better comfort in the house, the quietness, the fact that it is an energy resilient house, you actually do not care if the electricity goes down in the middle of winter,” says Howell. “It really depends on people’s attitudes as to how they make choices in life.”