Ottawa’s first LEED Platinum detached house is located in the city’s upscale Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood northeast of downtown. It replaces an older, much modified and energy inefficient home that the owners had occupied for many years.
By Linda Chapman
by Hugh Perry
Environmental groups were promoting the benefits of solar heating long before the federal government introduced its solar program in 1975. Over the next few years, domestic solar systems appeared on many buildings across Canada. But the program soon died from lack of commitment and maintenance. The infrastructure had not been as well established as it is now, 30 years later.
With a 65sq.m addition on the roof, and the excavation of the 74sq.m basement, the owner/builder, a green building consultant, almost doubled the floor area of this two- storey, semi-derelict 1907 property, converting it into a contemporary triplex that now houses three generations of his family within this single green restoration project. (more…)
