Passive House Langley

12/18/2023

100 years ago

03/20/2023

03/11/2023

1916 Sears catalog home. They shipped the entire house to you by railroad car. Sears was like Ikea before Ikea.

Friends and family would come from all around to help the owner build it.

Most were built in New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Sears sold more than 70,000 mail-order homes between 1908 and 1940. Some enthusiasts estimate that about 70% of Sears houses are still standing today.

Sears provided building plans and specifications, along with the lumber and any other materials needed. The shipment included everything from nails, screws, and paint to prebuilt building parts, such as staircases and dining nooks.

03/03/2023

This is a net zero building under construction in Toronto

Heavy equipment operators have completed excavation work at the site of Toronto’s first net-zero energy and emissions community centre in Joyce Trimmer Park along Sheppard Avenue East in northeast Scarborough. The contractor, Aquicon Construction Company Ltd., has begun forming the foundation of t...

08/24/2022

A house with a ridiculous roofline

07/23/2022

03/08/2022

BACKGROUND

03/08/2022

This is a great event to attend if you are interested in an air source heat pump for your domestic hot water

https://bcgreeneventcalendar.ca/zebx-bcit-tech-demo-series-sanco2-waterdrop-system

BACKGROUND

02/04/2022

Information about natural gas -- https://www.switchitupbc.ca/rethink_roaring_gas

If you care about what you eat, you might want to know what you’re breathing. The moment you turn the k**b and light blue flame on your cooktop or oven, your release a cocktail of air contaminants into your kitchen. Read the post.

02/04/2022

Are your CO detectors up to date ?

Authorities are investigating how "life threatening levels of carbon monoxide" were able to "build up to such high levels inside the building."

02/03/2022

This house is located in the Fraser Canyon north of Hope British Columbia A classic design from the mid-1800s note the porch across the front of the house this is identicle to the new construction that we did as a Passive House in Langley

It is impossible to find a design that is better suited to being a Passive House

Notice The 20 horses drawing a covered waggon this was common in the early days of British Columbia

01/25/2022

Look at this - https://theithacan.org/news/city-of-ithaca-to-become-100-decarbonized-by-2030/?fbclid=IwAR1beN1xsj-4aQ8FqwE4fE_h9tRpnWcFL1BIRcc4QFepF2iqx3wmpErA2t4 #:~:text=The%20City%20of%20Ithaca%20found,working%20to%20become%20100%25%20decarbonized

The City of Ithaca found itself on the national stage Nov. 4 as the city announced the approval of a plan to decarbonize all of its buildings by 2030.

01/16/2022

The main energy consumption in a house is space heating. We have a passive house and we store heat energy in our foundations. The mass of the concrete foundations is 400,000 lbs. 4 months of the year (Nov 1 to Feb 28) is when this is needed. The rest of the year is irrelavant. Our foundations including raft slab are insulated on the exterior with 6 inches of styrofoam Dow SM. We gradually increase the foundation temperature from 18 C starting Nov 1 and by January 15 it reaches a maximum temperature of plus 25 C. The foundation heating is accompished by the operation of an air source heat pump. At that point we allow the temperature to gradually decline to the 18 C where it will remain untill Nov 1. All the energy in the house is electric including the air source heat pump. We use 7,000 kWh each year. This comes from our solar array that produces 14,000 kWh each year After using 2,000 kWh per year to charge our EV the remaining 5,000 kWh is given to BC Hydro and they pay us for that $500 per year. BC Hydro stores all of our solar generation as water power and we draw from that storage account through out the year. BC Hydro is our battery storage. Call me any time for any additional information 604 833 9605

01/16/2022

You can heat a 5,000 sq foot house for 10 cents an hour if it is built right -- using the same amount of energy as a single window AC -
https://homeairguides.com/how-much-does-a-window-air-conditioner-cost-ac-unit-price-monthly-expense/

How much does it cost to run a window air conditioner? Find out here. Includes the total cost to run a window AC unit of all sizes: 5,000 BTU, 10,000, 12,000, etc.

01/15/2022

I recently added 1 inch of Styrofoam to the inside of the overhead garage doors

This improves the installation of the garage

The Styrofoam has an R5 rating

The benefit was noticed immediately when the foam board was installed

The outside temperature was -5 Celsius and the inside temperature without any heat was 12°C

After adding the foam board the temperature went up 3°C to 15 degrees celsius