Our build site is located in Northwestern Ontario, in the municipality of Neebing, which is the countryside southwest of Thunder Bay. The climate is cold and dry for much of the year but more humid in the summer than the prairies owing, I think, to our proximity to lake Superior. Extrapolating from the US Department of Energy climate zone map, we live in climate zone 7A. Obviously, ours is a heating dominated climate with just over 10000 (deg. F) heating degree days annually.
Basic specifications:
Many of these specifications are based on personal context and do not necessarily represent any kind of ideal for an energy-efficient home. For example, we live on an 80 acre woodlot but our options for heating energy are few, so we will be heating with a woodstove... a no-brainer given the context.
- Walk-out basement with frost protected shallow footing (FPSF) foundation.
- Approximately 1400 sq.ft. of conditioned space in the basement with approximately another 1300 sq.ft. on the main floor (wish it was smaller, but well, I wasn't the only person involved in the design process...)
- Superinsulated envelope - slab and footings insulated to R15, basement wall insulation to R20, wood framed wall insulation to R42, and ceiling insulation to R60+.
- Substantial reduction of thermal bridging using alternative framing techniques.
- Designed-in air barrier system for the tightest possible envelope. Note: I have no interest in Passivhaus certification but I will use 0.6 ACH50 as a benchmark for what I think I can get.
- High-performance, orientation specific windows.
- Heat recovery ventilation.
- Unusually small heating system.
- Passive solar design.
- Rain water collection system.
- Solar thermal water heating.
I intend to update this list of details as time goes by so check back if you are interested. Place your cursor over each sketch for a closer look.
