Heathwood debuts cutting-edge green home program

Heathwood Homes, one of the Greater Toronto Area's leading builders of new home communities, is set to begin construction on its Heathwood Green Home at The Reserve community in Richmond Hill, ON, part of its industry-leading Heathwood Green Home Program.

An industry first, this Green Home will be opened to the public and serve as an educational model until 2012. Once sold and occupied the following year, this home will be monitored and analyzed for its energy consumption and efficiency with the results used to guide future green-building projects.

When completed, this innovative 3,628 sq. ft. eco-home -- built using Heathwood's popular four-bedroom Oakdale floorplan -- will feature energy-efficient construction standards, the latest green features, and energy-saving technologies and systems.

As part of this innovative program, which will be a first for Richmond Hill, Heathwood will also build a second, Energy Star-certified home of the same model design as part of its neighbouring Forestbrook community. It will also be monitored over the same time period under actual living conditions with results compared to the Green Home.

The Reserve is a luxury development featuring two cul-de-sacs of 50' lots adjacent to a forest preserve in Richmond Hill, while the Forestbrook community, located nearby, offers an exquisite mix of single-family homes on 40', 43' and 50' lots.

"This Green Home project at The Reserve reflects our continuing commitment to embrace sustainable-building practices," said Heathwood Homes President, Hugh Heron. "This is a terrific opportunity to promote improved efficiency standards and demonstrate exactly how beneficial they can be for home buyers."

The Green Home includes these environmentally-friendly features:

• Energy efficiency: Energy Star wall assembly, low-emission argon-filled windows, Energy Star programmable thermostat, foam insulated garage ceiling, insulated garage doors, drain water heat recover, under-basement slab insulation, energy efficient lighting, Energy Star appliances, solar electric energy, solar heat assist, high-efficiency ECM motor heating system, motion-activated bathroom lighting

• Water efficiency: dual flush toilets, low-flow shower heads, rain barrels, xeriscaping

• Resource management: automated energy conservation system, fiberglass shingles, bamboo flooring, natural stone flooring, water infiltration galleries, permeable pavements, engineered floor joist systems

• Healthy home: Hepa system air filters, energy recover ventilators, PET carpets, zero VOC paints, granite countertops, Energy Star bathroom fans

• Energy monitoring: real-time electricity use, electricity (peak/time of day/historical/by specific appliance), solar generation, gas and water

"These green features are not expected to impact the home's final purchase price," added Heron.

"This is an innovative initiative on the part of Heathwood Homes to demonstrate and quantify the benefits of introducing green technology to home-building," said Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow. "I believe it also provides an important opportunity for Richmond Hill to act as a sustainability role model for other communities."

Heathwood Homes' strategic energy management partner Direct Energy will handle energy data collection, analysis and quarterly reporting. The comparison analysis will also include a third, standard building code, non-Energy Star house. The information gleaned from the initiative will be shared with Heathwood Homes' public partners for input into future housing programs.

An academic institution will be engaged to participate in the monitoring and data evaluation for presentation purposes and to encourage involvement at the educational level.

Click here to learn more about Heathwood Homes.