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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, May 10, 2013 | 10 What is your home's MPG? You determine your car's energy consumption by calculating its MPG, but how do you calculate your home's energy consumption and efficiency? Know your home's true impact on the environment. DID YOU KNOW: · Over 37% of all Green House Gases (GHG) come from housing (residential, retail, office). · Contrary to popular belief, energy consumption is actually on the increase. · By just adding a "green" label to a home does not help ­ it simply masks the problem. · Being "green" actually means reducing your impact on the atmosphere. WHEN BUYING A NEW HOME, HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO START MAKING A DIFFERENCE: · Ask your builder to show you just how much energy your home uses per square feet per year. And how much of that comes from renewable, clean resources. Reduce your footprint! OUR ENERGY FUTURE DEMANDS GREENLIFE TODAY At Del Ridge, we believe you should settle for more, not less. As popular as the building industry's efforts are to be sustainable, we should all be concerned that today's energy efficiency standards only signal that changes have begun, not that significant change has arrived. To begin to make truly meaningful changes, we must begin by becoming more aware of the issues and what more we can do to change home building in Canada. The current energy efficiency standard is just a "point-in-time" project for most home builders, something that's in the here and now. But while some may suggest today's standards are the final answer, nothing could be further from the truth. As builders and developers, we are ideally positioned to have an impact on what the future brings. As an industry made up of constructors and innovators, we not only have this ability to enact change, but also the responsibility. So how can we possibly determine if our efforts are properly placed? UNDERSTANDING THE ISSUES & CHALLENGES AT HAND The need for a more sustainable approach is driven by major problems such as peak fossil fuel use, climate change, inability to produce food supply, marine degradation, global dimming and terrestrial attack. Without question, the common thread running through these issues lies in how we use energy. The race to extract yesterday's fossil fuels creates economic and territorial strife. It justifies wars and challenges economies. The supply of yesterday's energy becomes harder to produce, and is now made worse by a global population which exceeds 7.1 billion people. We are all rapidly reaching the point where we demand an ever increasingly amount of yesterday's energy from yesterday's sources at alarming new costs. Similarly, we can no longer rely on centuries old weather patterns to grow the basic food for global survival. Why? Because the climate is changing ­ on land and in the air, and in oceans and water bodies everywhere. Ocean acidity and increased temperatures dramatically affect aquatic life. It all can be traced back to one common factor ­ indulgent use of yesterday's energy, kept stored in fossil fuels we consume today. WHY GREENLIFE BUILDINGS ARE BETTER At GreenLife, our goal is to obtain operational energy from renewables such as wind and solar. But before turning the switch, we must turn our minds and efforts to conservation and intelligent building systems. At GreenLife, we believe you need to know the facts in order to make an intelligent decision. Our walls are different. They are built to a value of R42 instead of R5. And our roofs are different - R80 instead of R20. Our windows are R9 instead of R2.5, and are triple glazed with frames that not only create thermal breaks, but react in unison with the glass. Our lighting is a combination of high efficiency LED and CFL's and is motion sensored for all secondary systems. The entire building is heated and cooled by geothermal technology with individual controls for the suite owners. Constant fresh air is supplied with separate Energy Recovery Ventilation. Within the building, smart GEO SPRING water systems absorb decant energy from hydro transformation and photo voltaic inversion, raising incoming ground water temperatures to about 80°F. The balance of the energy for hot water is supplied on an electrical demand basis, thereby eliminating standby energies that are wasted to keep the water hot when not required. Efficient appliances are the norm. Access ramps to underground garages have always been enclosed, thereby saving large amounts of energy for snow melt. The cost becomes zero. When the switch is turned on, the required operational energy of a GreenLife space is about 20% of a `normal' building. The resultant demand is satisfied by rooftop photo voltaic panels, and the balance from a remote GreenLife wind / solar facility. Therefore the impact to the environment is nothing. But for the owner of a GreenLife residence, the impact of their investment in GreenLife building systems is substantial. Starting with lower condominium fees that are a fraction of any other development. And minimized energy bills; a reward for those who have invested in real change. And a drastically reduced home "MPG." Brought to you by GreenLife Energy Inc., Del Ridge Homes Inc. and ENER-RATE. Proud Builders of Net-Zero Energy Buildings delridgehomes.com