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Site 1 Sturgeon NZR Home
The Sturgeon NZR home. Just needs solar to get to NZE.
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This home uses an air source heat pump to run a hydronic heating and cooling system.
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The heat pump heats the water in this tank which is circulated to heat the house.
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 Large south-facing windows and a masonry floor add passive solar heat. |
 The homeowner showing pictures of the construction and samples of how the floor was put together. |
Site 2 Sturgeon NZE Geothermal Home
This new farm house is NZE and uses a ground source heat pump.
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The homeowner explains how the heat pump works. It provides both hot air and hydronic heating. |
The heat pump also helps to heat the hot water when it is running.
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You need to start them on electric cars early!
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The farm location allows them to run a much larger solar array than needed. They graze their Llamas underneath the solar panels.
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Site 3 Thornecliffe Straw Bale Addition
An interesting little house tucked into the trees.
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The solar is on the garage roof and vertically on the wall of the garage.
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 The air source heat pump is unusual as it uses CO2 as the refrigerant. |
You can see the thickness of the straw bale walls in the windows and doors.
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From the outside the straw bale addition (on the right) is covered with siding to match the house.
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Site 5 Blatchford Energy Centre
The Energy Centre provides warm water (district heating system) to the Blatchford community to help heat their homes.
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This is a large geothermal facility. The incoming water from boreholes is upgraded (made warmer) by these geothermal units.
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They draw the heat from 570 boreholes under this storm pond next to the Energy Centre.
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The City of Edmonton energy efficiency trailer was on hand to show efficiency details.
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The City's Change for Climate team was on hand to answer questions and provide information.
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Site 6 Blatchford NZE Home (1)
These NZE townhomes were some of the first NZE homes in Blatchford.
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The home was open to let people walk through and see the features.
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 This home ties into the district heating system (pipes on the bottom) so only needs a small heat pump. |
All of the townhomes in this development are NZE. Note the slope of the roof to align the solar due south.
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The two end units also have NZE garage suites.
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Site 7 Blatchford NZE Home (2)
This is the second set of NZE town homes built by this builder in Blatchford.
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This was a showhome so it was beautifully furnished and decorated.
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 This home uses an air source heat pump which ties into a forced air system with extensive air filtration. |
 These homes are participating in a battery trial with a 20 kWh battery in each home. |
You can see the air source heat pump for each unit.
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Site 8 Riverdale Geothermal Home
This home was on our tour many years ago but is being upgraded with a geothermal heating system.
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They had a display out back which included a small demonstration heat pump (on the right).
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 The geothermal boreholes have been drilled (stakes with red flags) using directional drilling. |
Some tour visitors made their way to the homes on the bicycles.
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Looking forward to seeing the completed system next year.
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Site 9 Highlands NZE Retrofit Home
This 1950's home has been renovated all the way to NZE.
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The homeowners were on hand to show us their home.
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They had a technical specialist from the heat pump installer to explain the system.
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They added solar to both the house and garage to get to NZE.
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One of the features of the renovation was the large front porch which they use frequently.
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Site 10 Beverly Heights NZE Retrofit Home
This small home has been renovated all the way to NZE by the homeowners.
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 The homeowners were on hand to describe how they upgraded their home. |
 They added a radon removal system. This maintains a constant suction in the soil to vent radon. |
Unusual attachement of solar to their complicated roof.
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A purpose-built garage to add more solar and to provide parking and charging for electric vehicles.
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Site 11 Leduc NZE Home
A lovely NZE home in Leduc.
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The inside of this home was very thoughfully laid out and very attractive.
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The homeowner explaining how the solar system integrates into the rest of the house.
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Showing the air source heat pump. No issues on the coldest days in winter.
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A really lovely, efficient home overlooking a park.
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Site 12 Langdale NZE Home
These homeowners challenged their builder to build them a NZE home.
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The homeowners were on hand to show the home to visitors.
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L-R Solar inverter, breaker panels, HRV, air source heat pump water tank, drain water recovery, and heat pump air handler.
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 Air source heat pump hot water tank with the drain water heat recovery unit (copper coil) beside it. |
They recenly upgraded their heat pump to a better "cold climate heat pump" which is working much better.
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Site 13 Maple Crest NZE Home
A NZE home built in the new Maple Crest suburb.
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 The homeowner was on hand to explain how he managed to get to NZE even though he still has a gas connection. |
The air source heat pump right next to the gas furnace exhaust. The homeowner rarely uses the gas furnace.
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The home is set up with a charger for their electric car.
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Quite a few of the neighbors came to see this interesting home.
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Site 14 Avonmore Garden Home
The son is building a NZE garden home to live behind his mother's house.
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This small home manages to fit in two bedrooms, a basement, and a garage.
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The builder and solar installer were on hand to describe the home.
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Apparently Lennox is now making a cold climate air source heat pump.
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A nifty little unit in mom's back yard.
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Site 15 Strathearn NZR Home
This net-zero ready home has the solar system on order to get to NZE.
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The homeowner explaining the air handler, HRV, and hot water in the basement.
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The other homeowner explaining the garage suite and the chicken coop.
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Yes, chickens.
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Very lovely infill home, soon to be NZE.
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Site 16 Riverdale NZE Retrofit Home
The goal in this home was to get to NZE at the least cost.
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 Insulation was added to the outside of the basement walls. Previously only this carpet glued to the concrete cut the cold. |
A 4-level split from the 70's this home was upgraded by insulating the outside walls and roof.
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An air source heat pump for forced air heating (right) and an air source heat pump hot water tank (left).
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Adding significant insulation to the outside of the home let them add enough solar to the roof to get to NZE.
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Site 17 McKernan NZE Home
This NZE home was under construction on tour day.
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The builder was on hand to describe the home and features.
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Literature was available to visitors to explain the equipment details.
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Visitors could walk through the home to see the layout.
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The back of the house. There will also be a NZE garage suite.
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Site 18 Windsor Park Retrofit
This large home is being renovated into 3 large apartments.
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The builder was on hand to describe the features of the home and had prepared many explanatory posters.
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The home was under construction during the tour and visitors would walk around to see the layout.
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 This home featured a radon removal system. |
 They were also installing ground source heat pumps for each of the 3 units. |
Site 19 Queen Alexandra EE Home
This energy efficient home has provision to add solar later.
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The builder and homeowners were on hand to show people around.
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A feature of the home was a rooftop deck with a hot tub.
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 An elevator provided access to all levels of the home to allow aging-in-place. |
The roof of the home and garage have been sloped for solar but that has not been installed yet.
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Want to see more?Here are the links to the 2025 Calgary tour pictures.You can also see our 2021 virtual tour videos on the Videos and Definitions page. |