In August of 2009, the City of Vancouver initiated the EcoDensity program, a comprehensive city plan focusing on environmental sustainability. Under the new program, owners of single family homes can construct smaller, “laneway” homes in place of a garage on the city’s numerous back lanes. The move is expected to increase population density in already established areas and attract more infrastructure, such as public transit.
One Vancouver area builder, LaneFab, is adding to the inherently small ecological footprint of these modest-sized homes by constructing a net zero energy laneway house. The 1,020 sq. ft. home uses SIPs from Insulspan along with a passive solar design, LED lighting, a heat recovery ventilator, and an air source heat pump to drastically reduce energy use. What little energy is required is provided by a grid-tied photovoltaic array. The home also manages to supply much of its water through a rainwater harvesting system with a 500-gallon storage tank.
Read more at Jetson Green
