Building an Affordable, Sustainable Home

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The Endeavour House racks up big savings compared with a conventional, similarly sized home in Ontario.
The Endeavour House racks up big savings compared with a conventional, similarly sized home in Ontario.
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The Endeavour Centre team celebrates the installation of the footings for the house.
The Endeavour Centre team celebrates the installation of the footings for the house.
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The prefabricated straw bale walls were delivered intact and installed in one day per floor.
The prefabricated straw bale walls were delivered intact and installed in one day per floor.
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The home’s rear wall is a site-built straw bale wall composed of local, chemical-free materials.
The home’s rear wall is a site-built straw bale wall composed of local, chemical-free materials.
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A worker mixes clay plaster to coat the home’s interior surfaces instead of using drywall.
A worker mixes clay plaster to coat the home’s interior surfaces instead of using drywall.
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The homeowners who live in this super-insulated, nontoxic abode will save CA$3,000 to CA$8,700 annually on utility bills, allowing them to put that extra money toward the home’s mortgage and pay it off five to six years earlier.
The homeowners who live in this super-insulated, nontoxic abode will save CA$3,000 to CA$8,700 annually on utility bills, allowing them to put that extra money toward the home’s mortgage and pay it off five to six years earlier.
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The Endeavour House uses renewable energy even when its system isn't directly providing power.
The Endeavour House uses renewable energy even when its system isn't directly providing power.
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The builders used VOC-free, natural paints.
The builders used VOC-free, natural paints.
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The Endeavour House is outfitted with hardwood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
The Endeavour House is outfitted with hardwood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
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The home's countertops are made out of recycled paper fibers.
The home's countertops are made out of recycled paper fibers.
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A chart for calculating energy costs.
A chart for calculating energy costs.
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A charts showing how much can be saved.
A charts showing how much can be saved.

Several years ago, an empty urban lot in the city of Peterborough, Ontario, sparked an interesting and exciting debate among our faculty at The Endeavour Centre, a nonprofit sustainable-building school based in the city: What would it take to build the “greenest” home in Canada? And could such a home blend into an existing neighborhood and meet conventional cost and building code expectations?

In 2012, we set out to answer those questions, as the design and construction of such a house became the focus of our six-month Sustainable New Construction program. A group of eight students joined our faculty and guest instructors to attempt to meet the highest standards we could imagine for a residential construction project.

Sustainable Home Building Goals

From the outset, we knew that meeting our goals would involve a lot of research, as we weren’t prepared to make assumptions about the sustainability of any element of the project. We created an ambitious list of attributes we felt we’d have to prioritize in selecting all the materials and systems for the home:

Environmental impacts. We would strive to ensure that all of our choices would have the lowest possible impact on ecosystems.

  • Published on Sep 29, 2016
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