A Healthy Home at Downsview Park is Open to the Public
Are You Throwing Money Down the Drain?
Insulation includes ingredients once used by the ancient Egyptians
A Healthy Home at Downsview Park is Open to the Public
Hours:
Monday to Friday, 6 pm to 9 pm
Saturday and Sunday, 12 pm to 3 pm
Location:
The Hangar, Downsview Park Sports Centre
75 Carl Hall Road
A Healthy Home at Downsview Park officially opened its doors to the public. The exhibit, a fresh redesign of popular attraction The Sustainable Condo™, showcases eco-friendly technologies and products readily available to consumers today.
It's an example of the modern urban home planned for Downsview Park, where former military and industrial lands are being transformed into a park surrounded by a sustainable community.
"We're very excited to partner with industry leaders in sustainability to host the Healthy Home exhibit," said Tony Genco, President and CEO of Downsview Park. "This exhibit provides a unique glimpse into innovative technologies, practices and lifestyle choices that will help raise environmental awareness while contributing to Downsview Park's green future."
A Healthy Home inspires consumers with real-life examples to save energy, limit waste, reduce utility bills, improve indoor air quality and, ultimately, help the environment.
"From energy-efficient home heating equipment to stylish sustainable furniture, this exhibit showcases ways to save money and the environment," said Mark Salerno, District Manager Greater Toronto Area, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. "Consumers learn an incredible amount of valuable information in a very short time, and we're pleased to have an opportunity to support this important transfer of knowledge."
Prior to the redesign, more than 175,000 people toured the model home. Now, with enhanced products, additional partners and a new high-traffic location at Downsview Park's Hangar hosting 750,000 guests per year, the number of visits to the revamped home is anticipated to significantly increase.
Designed by NIKKA DESIGN and built by Greening Homes Ltd., A Healthy Home will be on display until December 31, 2010.
A Healthy Home at Downsview Park officially
opened its doors to the public. CLICK HERE to watch video
Are You Throwing Money Down the Drain?
Nobody likes to throw money down the drain. But unfortunately, that’s exactly what many homeowners do every day.
Consider this fact: almost one-third of home energy consumption goes toward heating water for everyday household tasks. An astounding 90 per cent of that energy ends up in the drain, mostly in the shower.
Thanks to Canadian technology from RenewABILITY Energy Inc., however, homeowners can save energy and money. By installing the Power-Pipe® Drain Water Heat Recovery (DWHR) System on a home shower, energy that would otherwise be lost can be recovered and reused. As a result, overall household water heating costs can be reduced by up to 40 per cent. Furthermore, decreasing energy consumption cuts greenhouse gas emissions* and ultimately helps protect the environment.
Best suited to cold climates, the all-copper Power-Pipe puts a fundamental physical principle into practice. That is, when water runs down a vertical drain stack, it clings to the inside wall rather than falling down the middle. This phenomenon, in turn, creates a thin “falling film” from which the Power-Pipe can readily recover much of that heat and then “recycle” it to raise the temperature of incoming cold water. A 60-inch Power-Pipe System, for example, can raise the temperature of cold water temperature from 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) to as much as 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit), under equal flow conditions. Simply put, running out of hot water will cease to be a problem.
Containing no moving parts, the Power-Pipe is a simple, affordable, effective and fail-safe innovation that has an expected service life of more than 50 years. And for all those reasons, it’s no wonder the technology was one of 10 eco-friendly products that received a 2009 Editors’ Choice Award from EcoHome magazine.
Builders have also praised the Power-Pipe. For example, the patent-pending technology has figured prominently in the EQuilibrium™ Sustainable Housing Demonstration Projects led by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Each EQ home integrates proven energy-saving design and building practices while balancing the home’s energy use with on-site renewable energy production capabilities.
Also used in single-family homes, multi-unit residential buildings, and commercial, institutional and industrial facilities, the Power-Pipe is compatible with any type of water heating systems. It also defies the notion that high-performance technologies require hefty maintenance. Just ask Lynn Da Pra, owner of Cadorin Homes. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Cadorin has built three single, detached homes, and all of them have made use of the Power-Pipe. What’s more, one of the homes has achieved LEED® Gold status, and the others are slated to do the same.
“It’s a passive system that provides peace of mind,” Da Pra says. “It’s easy to install and then you never have to think about it again. I believe it’s a must-have in every home. Worth every dime.”
In fact, the Power-Pipe can be installed in most homes for as little as $500 (including hardware and labour), and the system pays for itself within a few years of use. Those are just two reasons why many municipal social housing agencies have added the Power-Pipe to their developments. What’s more, the heat exchanger is the only one of its kind that efficiently enables up to four apartment or condominium units to be plumbed on a single Power-Pipe unit, without a discernible loss of water pressure.
The Power-Pipe is manufactured by RenewABILITY Energy at the company’s headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario. Founded in 2000, RenewABILITY Energy is a North American leader in no-maintenance and low-maintenance DWHR technologies.
The unit replaces a vertical section of your existing drainstack (whether it is plastic, cast iron, or copper).
Insulation includes ingredients once used by the ancient Egyptians
When Icynene went looking for an eco-friendly product to replace a petroleum-based raw material in its spray foam insulation, the company hadn't expected the search would lead to a bean once used by the ancient Egyptians.
Then, the oil of the castor bean was used in wick lamps and herbal remedies. Now, castor bean oil has been incorporated into one of Icynene's newest products: LD-R-50TM. This light density flexible spray foam insulation and air barrier product puts an environmentally conscious twist on its predecessor - ICYNENE LD-C-50TM.
"We wanted to find an agriculturally based renewable source of oil," explains Shawn Rippon, vice-president of marketing at Icynene Inc., a Canadian manufacturer of innovative and environmentally responsible spray foam insulation and air barrier products. "We initially considered oil from the soybean but the debate surrounding the use of food crops to produce petroleum alternatives educated us on the need to find a better alternative."
The castor bean, therefore, provided the perfect solution. Castor plants can be grown on marginal land that is otherwise not suitable for food crops. The plant does not require pesticides or irrigation and provides an extremely high yield of oil per bean. And as an added benefit, the oil extraction process is simple and efficient - the beans are crushed to extract the oil, which is then filtered. As a result of its renewable content, ICYNENE LD-R-50TM has been listed within the USDA BioPreferred Program.
But Icynene didn't stop its drive for innovation at castor oil. Another environmentally influenced product that recently came out of research and development is the ICYNENE MD-R-200TM. Containing recycled plastic, this two-pound medium density rigid spray foam insulation and air barrier product has a higher R-value and greater resistance to vapor diffusion.
Both ICYNENE LD-R-50TM and MD-R-200TM have the performance characteristics necessary to generate high performance energy efficiency in both new and remodeled residential construction, as well as commercial projects. And like other Icynene products, they do not contain urea-formaldehyde, HFCs or PBDEs.
What's more, the Icynene brand of products use 100 per cent water-blown technology instead of synthetic blowing agents. Water-blown technology, which does not deplete the ozone, has the added benefit of having a very low Global Warming Potential factor of 1. In contrast, synthetic blowing agents can have a GWP of up to 950.
Based in Mississauga, Ont., Icynene Inc. was established in 1987. Today, its products have been prominently featured on televisions programs such as This Old House, and are distributed internationally, including Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.
The company is also affiliated with and supports several notable green building programs and organizations such as Energy Star, the National Association of Home Builders Green Building Program, EarthCraft, the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance, The Advance Building Coalition, and the U.S. Green Building Council.
"It all comes down to providing products that contribute to a structure having lower energy requirements, enhanced indoor air quality, improved durability and reduced environmental impact," Rippon says. "That was the Icynene mission in 1987 and it remains our mission today."
Have you fulfilled your sustainable design continuing education annual requirement? Icynene is accredited by The American Institute of Architects (AIA) to offer continuing education courses and is a RIBA CPD Core Curriculum Provider.
Icynene used in EcoLogic Homes. A subdivision in the town of Newmarket, Ontario. One of the few developments in North America built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum specifications.
Information and insulation sample on view at The Healthy Home.
