Does building an energy-smart home always include spiraling costs? NO!

By Karen Gram
CanWest News Service
Vancouver Sun

Rod Nadeau did it for the bragging rights. He has been building luxury homes in Whistler for more than 20 years, but the contractor wanted to prove to his fellow developers they can build green homes without breaking the bank or wasting
valuable time searching for quality green products.

The house that Rod built is an environmental wonder. Every step along the way, he chose products or processes that lightened the footprint caused by the building. And I the end, he actually saved money.

"The reason I wanted to do this is that I wanted to be able to stand up on the podium and say I made a fortune building a green house," says Nadeau as he maneuvered his way through the house where 30 odd trades people were putting the finishing touches to the 2.9 million house. Nadeau did save money and he says anyone else can do it, too, though when the houses are more modest, say for an average suburban home, the cost of building might increase five per cent. That cost translates to a two- to three- percent increase in the selling price, but it is recovered in energy savings in about seven years.

That's nothing compared with the outer-space costs predicted by the building industry for when Kyoto standards become law in 2010. The key is to use insulated concrete walls instead of wood. In fact, another building in Peachland, B.C., has built a three-bed-room green duplex with concrete block walls that is selling for just $183,000. Not only will it be heat-insulated, it's also sound-insulated, allowing the baby to sleep while the teenagers next door rock and roll. And a custom house in Surrey that is 5,000 square feet, and also has concrete block walls and concrete tiles for the roof, cost $485,000 to build.

Nadeau's is so pricey because it also includes all the luxury items Whistler buyers now demand; hot tub on a private deck, steam shower, Jacuzzi, high-end appliances (which are also energy efficient), eight bathrooms and more. But it's the greening that Nadeau is proud of.

"There are a hundred things we did in this house and none of them were difficult, none unproven and none of them required specialized trades people," says Nadeau. "It is super easy for anyone to take this and build their own house." "This is a healthy home to live in," he says, adding it will also be comfortable compared to the house.

Nadeau's house far exceeds the R-2000 environmental standards set by the federal government which call for at least 40 per cent reduction in energy costs. It also exceeds the goals outlined in Kyoto Protocol and qualifies as an Enviro-home, because of its sustainable design, use of recycled materials and reduced garbage.

Nadeau actually took more from the dump than he delivered to it. He took truckloads of crushed glass, which the municipality recycles but for which they have not found a market. So Nadeau got it for free. He used it as back fill and he added it to the concrete slab preparation for the basement floor, reducing his concrete costs. And by recycling all the cardboard and metal, and offering the wood scraps as free firewood for the neighbors, Nadeau reduced his normal dump loads to 60 cubic meters from 300. But that was just chicken scratch compared to the house materials. Instead of a wood-frame, Nadeau used insulated concrete forms or ICFs. They are hollow Styrofoam blocks filled with reinforced concrete that are stacked into the shape of the walls of the house.

The forms sandwich high-strength materials between two layers of light high-insulation foam. They aren't quite as versatile as wood in terms of design, but Vancouver architect Richard Kadulski says the limits are minor. But when you consider the blocks form an airtight, heavily insulated, sound-tight wall that won't ever rot, a buyer might be willing make the trade-off.

Peter Simpson, chief operating officer for the Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association, says the concrete home his association built for the Home Show this past year was a big hit with the public and some of the builders. It used concrete for almost everything including the kitchen sink, and by using paint and finishing touches, they wiped the cold gray sense of concrete out of viewer's minds.

According to the U.S. Forestry Service, an average 2,000-square-foot wood-frame house generally uses 41 trees to build. And after 50 years, it starts having some rot problems, explains Nadeau. With a concrete frame, the house lasts twice as long or longer, making it much more sustainable while protecting the forests.

"From an energy standpoint, using the insulated concrete triples the performance of the wall compared to a two-by-six wood frame," he says. And concrete absorbs the heat of a hot summer day and release it into the home in the evening. "You don't need air conditioning. This house will never overheat and in the winter it will need very little heat," says Nadeau.

During construction last winter, Nadeau was able to heat the entire 5,000-suare-foot house with a small construction heating unit. The Cement Association of Canada's data has found homes built with insulated concrete forms use up to 40 per cent less energy than a comparable wood frame house. With the triple-glazed windows painted with a reflective coating, and loads more insulation in the roof, the savings are even higher.

Nadeau predicts that whoever buys the house will be substantially more comfortable than people who buy a similarly luxurious house without the concrete blocks. The temperature in the house will be steady without all the drafts usually associated with wood frame houses. Airtight buildings have a bad reputation for retaining a gaseous cocktail of volatile organic compounds that cause all manner of illnesses in the occupants, so Nadeau took special care with the products he used inside. The paint, Deluxe Lifemaster, is a latex paint with no off-gas.

"It's the paint they use in hospitals when they can't have the rooms unoccupied."

The fumes are completely gone within one hour of painting. Likewise, he used low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) water-based finishes and laid absolutely no carpets because they are such a collector of dust mites, molds and other nasties. Instead, he laid B.C. maple floors and slate. He also installed a simple yet effective air-to-air ventilation system designed by David Hill, president of Eneready Products in Burnaby. It exhausts the warm moist and stale air into the basement where it is exchanged for fresh outdoor air, which is preheated before it's distributed back upstairs.

Most homes Nadeau builds have in-floor radiant heat with each room having its own zone, because that is what the customer wants. But Nadeau decided that since he was putting down wood floors, under which radiant heat isn't a good option, and since the house is already warm from the basement up, he could buy a small furnace and use the saving s to buy still more insulation for the roof and floor.