We’re touring across Canada to discover the best builders of net zero homes in Canada. The series is called Chasing Net Zero.
In part two of our story on Land Ark Homes we take a tour of their award-winning net zero show home in Watercolour, the all net zero ready and net zero neighbourhood in Westport, Ontario.
Also see part one on Land Ark Watercolour in our Chasing Net Zero Series for our full story on how this amazing all net zero neighbourhood came to be.
Don’t miss a single episode, subscribe to the Chasing Net Zero series on YouTube.
Land Ark’s Secret Sauce for Net Zero
Kevin Rankin is the manager of construction at Land Ark Homes. He gave me a tour of their show home in Watercolour in Westport to share their secret sauce for getting to net zero.
Walls and windows
It all starts with 2×6 walls with insulation and a second layer of foam insulation on the outside of the walls that reaches an amazing R30 insulation.
The walls are carefully air-sealed, and triple-paned windows are used throughout the home.
Energy efficient heat pumps
Down in the mechanical room is a Mitsubishi air source heat pump with electric backup. These heat pumps are now rated to operate in temperatures as low as -37 °C and are 300% efficient in heating mode and up to 700% energy-efficient in cooling mode.
They are very efficient, even at relatively low temperatures, which means the electric resistance backup heaters will rarely be used. And since there is no gas line, there is no gas bill either – a big benefit.
Rankin then showed me the heat pump water heater, which he says can save homeowners up to $500 per year on energy costs when compared to a regular electric water heater.
Fresh air machine
Then Rankin moved over to the energy recovery ventilator, which provides this very airtight home with abundant fresh, double-filtered air and all while recovering up to 80% of the heat from the exhaust air.
It’s not a standard feature in Land Ark Homes, but this show home also has a Tesla Powerwall battery.
“It’s a whole home energy backup system. So, this allows you to not even have the lights flicker when the power goes out,” says Rankin.
The future of home building is here
Now that Land Ark has settled into building net zero ready homes in Watercolour, Steve Rolston is confident that this approach will change homebuilding forever.
His company is one of 365 builders, renovators and energy advisors registered with the CHBA Net Zero Home Labelling program. (see list)
“In humble little Westport, the homes of the future are being built, and it’s a template for a thousand communities across Canada and maybe even 10,000 communities across the US as well,” says Rolston.
Land Ark’s Net Zero Origin Story
Here’s part one of our story on the origin story of Watercolour, Westport, an entire neighbourhood of net zero ready and net zero homes.
