Tuesday 02 March
12.30 - 14.00 - Kensington Room

This workshop will be based on Canada's EQuilibrium program which seeks to emulate some of the work going on at the BRE Innovation Park and looks for low/zero-carbon solutions to housing.  The program continues the work started by the likes of Super E and Passivhaus. Unlike the Innovation Park, EQuilibrium projects are demonstrated around the country and in live situations. 

The project also looks beyond new housing and into the retrofit sector - a critical issue for the UK.  Case studies which will be covered in the session include the  Riverdale NetZero Project  in Alberta and EcoTerra – a Quebec-based project now rolled out as commercial housing type in Canada and now in the UK. 

The 'triplex' house devised by Abondance Montréal and judged by Canada's CMHC as one of the winners of the EQuilibrium sustainable housing competition to develop a zero energy house design.

Super E - The essential element to designing a zero carbon house         
Super E is mass-market low-carbon housing available now.  Super E is based on technology first demonstrated in Canada in 1983, which inspired R2000, LEED and PassivHaus.  Looking forward, all zero-carbon housing will have to have, to borrow a computer chip-maker's popular tag-line, "Super E inside"

Jeff Culp, Executive Director-Energy Efficient Exporters Alliance

Now House - Retrofitting existing housing stock in urban environments to low/zero carbon performance
The NOW House is a 60 year old wartime house in an established neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario. The house was refurbished with the latest healthy, energy efficient and sustainable features and technologies. Because these homes were built in clusters the model is easily scalable to hundreds of thousands of homes.

Ken Klassen, CMHC International Training

Riverdale Net Zero Project - How an Alberta- based cutting edge multiple unit project is seeking to achieve zero carbon at very little incremental cost
The goal of the Riverdale NetZero project is to prove that it is possible to build housing that offers an exceptional quality of life for the homeowners while dramatically reducing green house gas emissions, energy consumption and the overall impact on the environment.

Gordon Howell, Howell- Mayhew Engineering Inc.

EcoTerra - Quebec-based demonstration project now rolled out as commercial housing type in Canada and now the UK
Built using factory pre-engineered modular sections to optimize construction quality and reduce the environmental impact at the site, this home combines renewable energy technology with energy efficient construction techniques.

Brad Berneche, Alouette Homes