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Videos and Definitions In 2021 we held a virtual Eco-Solar Tour that was recorded on video. There were 31 homes from 3 cities that were presented over 5 days. The result was 21 hours of video that is all here for you to view. You can watch the full day videos or you can follow the links to the videos of the individual homes. If you are looking for our definitions they are further down this page. Each home is featured for 40 minutes and starts with a presentation on the home followed by an interview with the homeowner. For each home there is a pdf detail sheet that lists the features of the home. Follow the links below to the detail sheets and to watch the videos of the homes that interest you. Full Day Videos Edmonton Day One: 8 homes from Saturday June 5th 2021; 5 hours and 40 minutes Edmonton Day Two: 8 homes from Sunday June 6th 2021; 5 hours and 40 minutes Calgary Day One: 5 homes from Saturday June 12th 2021; 3 hours and 40 minutes Calgary Day Two: 5 homes from Sunday June 13th 2021; 3 hours and 40 minutes Lethbridge Day One: 5 homes from Saturday June 19th 2021; 3 hours and 40 minutes The next section shows links to the individual home videos by topics: Net-Zero Energy Homes, Special Interest Homes, Retrofit Homes, Solar Homes, and Homes with Electric Vehicles. Net-Zero Energy (NZE) Homes Edmonton Drayton Valley Straw Bale NZE Retrofit; Detail Sheet; Video Langdale NZE Home; Detail Sheet; Video Woodhaven NZE Home; Detail Sheet; Video Bellgravia NZE Home; Detail Sheet; Video Blatchford NZE Home; Detail Sheet; Video Prince Charles NZE Home; Detail Sheet; Video Fraser Vista NZE Home; Detail Sheet; Video Cromdale NZE Retrofit; Detail Sheet; Video Creekwood NZE Home; Detail Sheet; Video Beaumont NZE Home; Detail Sheet; Video Calgary Balmoral NZE Home; Detail Sheet; Video Ramsay NZE Garage Suite; Detail Sheet; Video Lethbridge Coalhurst NZE Home; Detail Sheet; Video Crossings NZE Home; Detail Sheet; Video Riverstone NZE Home; Detail Sheet; Video Lethbridge County NZE home; Detail Sheet; Video Special Interest Homes Nojack Straw Bale Off-Grid Home; Detail Sheet; Video Ritchie Sea-Can Home; Detail Sheet; Video Beaumont Urban Farm; Detail Sheet; Video Montgomery Passive House; Detail Sheet; Video Richmond NZR Home; Detail Sheet; Video Crossings NZR Home; Detail Sheet; Video Retrofit Homes Drayton Valley Straw Bale NZE Retrofit; Detail Sheet; Video Cromdale NZE Retrofit; Detail Sheet; Video Sundance Deep Energy Retrofit; Detail Sheet; Video Inglewood Retrofit; Detail Sheet; Video Solar Homes Nojack Straw Bale Off-Grid Home; Detail Sheet; Video Keswick Solar Home; Detail Sheet; Video Beaumont Urban Farm; Detail Sheet; Video Airdrie Solar; Detail Sheet; Video Huntington Hills Solar; Detail Sheet; Video Montgomery NNZ; Detail Sheet; Video Montgomery Passive House; Detail Sheet; Video Southland Solar; Detail Sheet; Video Homes with Electric Vehicles Killarney Electric Vehicles; Detail Sheet; Video Airdrie Solar; Detail Sheet; Video Southland Solar and EV; Detail Sheet; Video Featured Videos Sundance Retrofit Detail Sheet; Video Beaumont Urban Farm Detail Sheet; Video Woodhaven NZE Detail Sheet; Video Inglewood Retrofit Detail Sheet; Video Nojack Off Grid Detail Sheet; Video Featured Videos Straw Bale NZE Retrofit Detail Sheet; Video Montgomery Passive House Detail Sheet; Video Ritchie Sea Can Detail Sheet; Video Lethbridge County NZE Home Detail Sheet; Video Killarney EVs Detail Sheet; Video Definitions Here are some definitions (NZE, NZR, NNZ, CHP, OGH, EE, SC) that may help you understand how we refer to energy efficient homes and buildings. Some of these definitions may still be open for debate however to be clear these are the definitions in use on the Eco-Solar Tour. These are definitions of common practice and do not take into account all practices and situations. NZE: NET-ZERO ENERGY Home A net-zero energy (NZE) home is one that is designed and constructed to produce as much energy as it consumes on an annual basis. Here is a detailed article to explain NZE. A NZE home will be an all-electric home so that you can use solar to offset your energy usage. That means you need to heat your home electrically. Here is an discussion of Cold Climate Heat Pumps which are a common way of electrically heating a NZE home. A solar-electric-system generates electric energy for the house and over the year the kilowatt-hours of electric energy exported to the grid equals the kilowatt-hours of electric energy imported from the grid. A NZE house is always connected to the electric grid. In the winter more electricity is imported than exported and in the summer more is exported than imported -- the net result over the year should be roughly zero kilowatt hours. Since the roof size available is limited a NZE house must naturally reduce its energy consumption dramatically so that the size of the solar-electric system is practical. This always starts with exceptional insulation (in the range of R40 or higher), triple-glazed windows, and significant attention to all aspects of the building envelope. A NZE house often has a method of collecting heat in the winter. Heat gain methods can include large windows for passive solar space heating, solar thermal collectors for domestic hot water, or other solar thermal air-heating technologies. A NZE house always starts as an ultra-efficient house so that the size of the solar-electric system can be fit onto the available roof space. NZE houses still pay for electricity utilities. Electric service and the delivery of electric energy will still be present even though the net kilowatt-hours over the year are zero. A NZE house will be an all-electric home with an electric source of heat. Some NZE houses choose to include a wood stove for comfort and additional energy security however a wood stove is "input energy" that is not included in the NZE calculations. A house that uses external energy from wood, natural gas, or propane is only a NZE house if the solar-electric system exports to the electric grid an amount of energy equal to this external energy source. In the new Energuide rating system an NZE house would have a rating of 0 GJ/year. NZR: NET-ZERO ENERGY READY Home A net-zero energy ready (NZR) home is one that is designed and constructed to deliver similar energy performance as a NZE home but has not yet installed sufficient on-site renewable energy generation capacity needed to achieve NZE performance. The most common NZR type of house is an ultra-efficient house that would become NZE with the addition of a suitably-sized solar-electric system. Often an NZR house will have the insulation and passive solar features included and be pre-wired for a solar system. The cost of the solar-electric system is left until later when budgets permit. A true NZR house is one where the required solar-electric system to achieve the NZE goal is of a size that will practically fit on the house. Occasionally we see incorrect claims of NZR where the required solar-electric system would be impracticably large. NNZ: NEAR-NET-ZERO-ENERGY Home A Near-Net-Zero-Energy (NNZ) House is a very efficient home but does not quite get to NZE. An NNZ home might generate some of its own solar electricity but for any of many reasons it does not achieve NZE. NNZ houses may not have a solar-electric system installed, not have enough roof space for a full-sized solar-electric system; they may be in a shaded area; or they may have other impediments to generating a net-zero amount of electricity. CHP: COMBINED HEAT AND POWER A combined heat and power unit is a gas-fired generator that creates heat while it generates electricity. By harvesting electricity from the generation of heat the unit can be made more efficient. Most CHP units are used for heating with the electricity as a byproduct. When there is a demand for heat the CHP unit starts and during its operation will supply its rated electricity as well as heat. An mCHP unit is a micro CHP and is a smaller version. OGH: OFF-GRID HOME An Off-Grid Home is one that generates all of it's electricity on site. It is not connected to the electrical grid; it is electrically independent. An OGH will use some other form of energy to create its own electricity. Typically this will include a generator of some kind such as a Combined Heat and Power unit (a small natural gas generator; see CHP) as well as solar and some form of energy storage. EE: ENERGY EFFICIENT Home An Energy Efficient (EE) House is one that may feature any number of energy efficient features that will be highlighted on our tour. Energy efficient houses usually have a well insulated building envelope and typically have highly efficient windows. An EE house will usually rely on an external source of energy for heat such as gas, oil, wood, or propane. SC: STANDARD CONSTRUCTION Home A Standard Construction (SC) House is one that was built to the local standards of construction in the era in which it was constructed. We feature standard construction homes on our tour when the homeowner has done some interesting upgrades to improve the energy efficiency of their home, has added an interesting technology such as a solar system, or is demonstrating an interesting sustainable practice. We may list a home as SC if an Energuide rating is not available or if we can't determine if the house will fit into any of our other categories.

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