EQuilibrium™ Housing
Via: CMHC
What is EQuilibrium™ Housing?
EQuilibrium™ housing integrates a wide range of technologies, strategies, products and techniques to reduce a home’s environmental impact. It features on-site renewable energy systems to provide clean energy, and help reduce annual energy consumption and costs. Due to its net zero objective, the home is designed to produce as much energy each year as it consumes in the form of heat, light and power.
Much of the technology behind EQuilibrium™ housing has already been proven both in Canada and around the world. EQuilibrium™ is a unique Canadian sustainable housing initiative that combines and integrates design and building practices into an overall housing approach that meets the needs of both occupants and builders within the challenges of the Canadian climate.
The Benefits of an EQuilibrium™ House
- Low monthly utility bills — save money on energy costs all year round and protect your family from future energy price increases.
- Healthier, more comfortable living space — enjoy better indoor air quality, stable temperatures, more natural light and healthier building materials in your home.
- A greener choice for the environment — lower your family’s greenhouse gas emissions, conserve resources, reduce pollution and minimize your household’s ecological footprint.
- A better future — help make sure that future generations of Canadians have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and a safe, healthy world to live in.
The Features of an EQuilibrium™ House
Discover the innovative features that make the EQuilibrium™ home a healthy and environmentally-friendly place to live, including:
- A climate-specific solar design tailored to take advantage of the local climate and natural environment.
- Natural daylighting provides more pleasing lighting at a fraction of the cost of electric lights.
- Low pollutant emitting construction materials and finishes, continuous fresh air supply to all rooms and exhaust air extraction from kitchens and bathrooms, easily cleaned flooring, draft-free and comfortable indoor air temperatures.
- Energy- and resource-efficient construction methods, materials, appliances and lighting.
- Integrated renewable energy systems, such as solar electricity and thermal heat, ground-source heating and passive solar heating and cooling.
- Grid interconnection to allow the home to deliver excess electricity back to the grid and to draw energy from the grid, as needed.
It is not just individual homeoweners that reap benefits from EQuilibrium™ homes. EQuilibrium™ communities will one day conserve water, land and habitat, reduce infrastructure requirements and costs, and protect existing local ecosystems. Sustainable planning reduces costs, protects the environment and creates healthy, vibrant and liveable communities.
Discover the innovative features that make the EQuilibrium™ home a healthy and environmentally-friendly place to live.
To learn more about EQuilibrium™ Housing visit The EQuilibrium™ Sustainable Housing Demonstration Initiative
