Many homeowners are already reducing their water consumption having retrofitted their home with water-conserving plumbing fixtures. They have accepted the soft touch of new showerheads over the powerful needle spray, and they are familiar with automatic-eye hand washing, dual-flush toilets and waterless urinals.

By Hugh Perry

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The Art of working with the Sun

Taking control of an essential utility service, by becoming your own power provider, can be an empowering experience, especially when it is also sustainable.
This article focuses on the use of naturally produced electricity rather than on its production. Sustainable methods of electricity generation include photo voltaic [PV] panels, wind generation or hydro generation. See the book review section of this issue for more on this subject. Some simple design rules to follow are:
• do not heat anything with electricity,
• eliminate all wasted power sources,
• consider mechanical rather than electronic, and
• be open to alternative methods.
Keeping these points as the basis for all your decisions will avoid complications and unnecessary cost

By Hugh Perry

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The least expensive and essential first step to saving energy is to increase thermal resistance of the building envelope with insulation. Manufacturers provide a variety of insulation types and applications, each having varying environmental trade-offs.

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A summary of recent advances

Glazing considerations such as window area, elevation and orientation, thermal performance and solar shading to optimize natural daylighting and passive solar heat gain are very important to the envelope performance and energy consumption of buildings [1]. [BC Cancer Agency Research Centre, IBI Group and Henriquez Partners Architects, Photo: Nic Lehoux]

by Hugh Perry

Many of Canada’s commercial buildings were built over 40 years ago when there were few, if any, worries about energy performance and environmental responsibility. In an era of cheap and abundant energy, heating and cooling loads were of little concern; buildings were often clad entirely in glass with no differentiation between facades having different orientations. (more…)