A dozen demonstration homes across the country to prove benefits of going green.

Imagine a house that can monitor the outside temperature and weather forecast before deploying the window awnings or divert excess heat coming off the rooftop solar panels to run the clothes dryer.

That house, called EcoTerra, opened last week in Quebec, the first of Canada's 12 net-zero-energy demonstration homes the public can tour to get ideas for their own residences.

And just north of Toronto, an entire subdivision of leading-edge sustainable homes built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) platinum standards -- the first in Canada -- broke ground earlier this week. The 34 bungalows and two-storeys, built by Rodeo Fine Homes, will use 50 per cent less municipal water (since rain water will help irrigate gardens and flush toilets), will have 67 per cent less water going down the drain and 60 per cent less construction waste, greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption compared to conventionally built homes.

"When they're talking about 60 per cent energy-load reductions, this is a significant step forward," says Gordon Shields, co-ordinator of the Net Zero Energy Home Coalition, which promotes homes that produce as much energy as they use in a year. "I think it speaks volumes to the interest from the private and consumer side and the government's need to catch up with the public."

Strong consumer and builder interest in advanced enviro-friendly homes has brought the industry to the edge of a figurative hill, and Shields said government help is needed now to really get momentum going to make these homes a more widespread reality across the country.

In Alberta, the "perfect storm" of conditions exists -- high energy costs, water shortages, concerns over waste disposal and municipal incentives for green homes -- to induce home builders and buyers to seriously make the most sustainable homes a large-scale reality, said Alex Joseph, executive director of EnerVision, which administers a green building program.

"I think we're only a year or two away from when we're going to have some medium-size, perhaps large-size builders looking to do this, not just on one home but on hundreds of homes," said Joseph, also innovation co-ordinator at SAIT Polytechnic, a public technical school in Calgary.

Shields said Industry Canada, Natural Resources Canada and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp are examining ways to promote advanced housing to meet public demand, including help with skills and training since there aren't enough home energy auditors, electricians who know how to hook up solar photovoltaic panels, or geothermal experts across the country.

The EcoTerra home, built by Alouette Homes just west of Sherbrooke, Que., has hundreds of monitoring devices throughout to help track water consumption, indoor air quality, electricity use at different times of the day, heat loss from the attic down to the basement, effects of passive solar heat in different rooms, outside and inside temperatures, wind velocity and more. As with the 11 other demonstration homes, EcoTerra will be open for public viewing for six to nine months before being sold to a family and monitored for two years, to see how all the systems perform.

"It's exciting -- it's very much a living laboratory for the next two years," said Alouette president Bradley Berneche. While there are many potential homebuyers willing to spend the $450,000 to $500,000 price tag for EcoTerra, they must have the environmental mindset.

In Newmarket, Rodeo's Ecologic homes will recover heat from drain water, use solar panels to preheat domestic hot water, and recirculate solar-heated air to heat rooms, as well as feature air-tight construction, insulated basement slabs, dual-flush toilets and energy-efficient light bulbs.

Prices haven't been set, but will start in the high $400,000s, said Rodeo spokesman Lenard Hart.

Savings by the dozen

Twelve Net Zero energy demonstration homes are being sponsored by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.:

- Abondance Montreal, Montreal

- EcoTerra, in Eastman, near Sherbrooke, Que.

- Alstonvale Net Zero House, Hudson, just west of Montreal

- Avalon Discovery 3, Red Deer, Alta.

- Echo Haven, Calgary

- Inspiration, a Minto EcoHome, Ottawa

- Now House, in Toronto

- Riverdale NetZero Project, Edmonton

- The Laebon CHESS Project, Red Deer

- Top of t he Annex TownHomes, Toronto

- Urban Ecology, Winnipeg

- YIPI! Net Zero Footprint Housing, Prince Albert, Sask

Source Ottawa Citizen