Calgary's Net-Zero home

I've driven past SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) a few times lately and noticed a home being built on the edge of the property and wondered what the deal was. I looked it up recently and found out that it is Calgary’s first net-zero home – it produces as much energy as it consumes. The Discovery 4 home is a joint project of SAIT’s Green Building Technologies program and Avalon Master Builder.

The single-family dwelling includes the biggest array of solar electric panels on any house in Calgary, an advanced form of wall insulation, a balcony railing that generates all space heating within the home, solar thermal window shutters that produces the heat for domestic hot water, recycled hardwood floors and indoor air quality better than the average home.

The home pictured is the Discovery 3 house. Pictures of Discovery 4 (the one at SAIT) not yet available.