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Challenge

The two groundbreaking high performance homes at 1358 and 1368 10 th Avenue, New Westminster provide the ultimate in healthy living and whole home comfort.

Located in a west end low-rise urban lot in New Westminster, these small- footprint homes were a demonstration project built through the Local Energy Efficiency Partnership LEEP (with Natural Resources Canada, BC Housing, BC Hydro and FortisBC).

The project objective was to build air-tight, high performance homes with a unique envelope and an only marginal demand for mechanical systems, using a clever economical approach to bring the final costs within reach of buyers with modest budgets.

Client:

Faserit Construction

Location:

New Westminster, BC

Building Type:

Small custom high performance micro homes

Building Size:

1,300 sq. ft. per home (3 floors)

Approach

Ecolighten Energy Solutions supported this innovative project by implementing new technologies and techniques that allowed for interesting calculations and experimentation before code requirements without deviating too far from conventional building practices. This included a split insulation approach with exterior XPS insulation outside of wood studs with fiberglass batt insulation, and a semi-conditioned attic space housing HRV ducts for the home.

Room-by-room load calculations (F280-12 code compliant)
HRV design and layout
Detailed engineering drawings with all component specifications & schedules, scope of work and best practices language
Quality assurance including visual inspections
  • Forced Air Design
    Equipment Schedule

    Equipment Schedule

    Equipment schedule for carefully selected systems to help achieve extremely high building thermal performance.

    Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) Design

    Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) Design

    HRV section design detail placed within tight and limited access area to maximize occupied area of home.

    Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) Design

    Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) Design

    Plan view design of general HRV design.

    Scope Of Work and Installation Practices

    Scope Of Work and Installation Practices

    Scope of Work describes standard of practice expectation, scope of contractors responsibilities, general design strategy and more.

    Forced Air Design

  • Forced Air Design
    Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) Design

    Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) Design

    Plan view of upper level HRV design.

    Forced Air Design

    • Faserit Construction

      Ecolighten’s HVAC experience and problem-solving skills make them a great fit with our design team on custom home and major renovation projects. On every occasion, Ecolighten performed their duties professionally with all deliverables completed on time.

      Faserit Construction

      Results

      Working closely with Faserit Construction, the result was a highly energy efficient home that would provide significant energy cost savings for homeowners, along with consistent heating and cooling comfort all year round.

      This project was a participant in the City of New Westminster’s Energy Save New West program managed by Ecolighten Energy Solutions. Both homes have been certified ENERGY STAR® and R-2000; have achieved BC Energy Step Code for Part 9 Step 5; and now set a new standard for future micro home builds.

      Learn more about these high performance homes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6wlZpd12Cc

      What Makes Us Different

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