Hampton - Our Net Zero Energy Home for CHEO
Partnering with CHEO for the last 19 years to build the Minto Dream Home has always pushed us to innovate. It’s an exciting project that challenges us to bring our best ideas to the table and think about the future. This year’s biggest innovation is that the Hampton is a Net Zero Energy home.
What is a Net Zero Energy Home?
A home that produces as much energy as it consumes annually is considered a Net Zero Energy Home.
This is possible through a number of interacting mechanical systems including hyper-efficient insulation, triple-paned windows, state-of-the-art heating and cooling, smart ventilation, and solar panels on the roof to power everything in the house. All of this makes for better indoor comfort and air quality, lower energy costs for the homeowner, and less impact on the planet – resulting in a home that’s up to 80% more energy-efficient than a regular home.
This method of building a home requires thorough consideration of features throughout the process. To ensure Net Zero status, we’ve implemented solar-panels, energy-efficient lighting, and a heat recovery ventilator in addition to the highly efficient furnace. There’s even a charging station for the electric car included in the grand prize.
Minto Communities’ history of innovation
For over 65 years, Minto Communities has been committed to research and innovation — always with the goal of helping our customers live better. In the 1970s, we offered “Energy-wise” features in homes that included energy-efficient gas and thermopane wood windows throughout the house. We’ve come a long way since then — such as offering highly-efficient double-paned windows as standard features in all our new homes.
Long before our decision to make the 2019 Minto Dream Home Net Zero, we built one of the first Net Zero Energy homes in Canada in 2008 — Inspiration – The Minto EcoHome. The home was built in Mahogany as part of the CMHC eQuilibrium Sustainable Housing Initiative.
In Arcadia, Kanata, we built the Net Zero Killarney Single Family Home in 2015 — which is still open to tour — and a block of Net Zero Executive Townhomes in 2016. These homes were part of Natural Resources Canada’s ecoENERGY Innovation Initiative (ecoEII). As a result of these projects and initiatives, we’ve been awarded EnerQuality’s Ontario Green Builder of the Year in 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2015 & Energy Star builder in 2016 and 2017.
An eye on the future
Throughout our history, we’ve always strived toward innovation to make life better for our customers — and that hasn’t changed. Building the first Net Zero Energy Minto Dream Home is just one step on our ongoing path toward being able to offer Net Zero to everyone as the new standard in the future.
We hope that people see the 2019 Minto Dream Home as a source of inspiration–that it inspires people to seek out alternative design and building practices, and that it helps them understand our commitment to always building better homes.
Homebuilding has changed a lot in our over 65 years of business, but we intend to stay ahead of the curve by always looking forward.