CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwire) -- 11/12/10 -- Today, the Government of Canada announced the official opening of the EchoHaven Home, an energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly home in Calgary, Alberta. The home was built by the Echo-Logic Land Corporation as part of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) EQuilibrium™ Sustainable Housing Demonstration Initiative, which encourages builders and developers to build the next generation of sustainable housing in Canada.
The EchoHaven home is the fourth EQuilibrium™ Housing demonstration project to be completed and opened for public tours in Alberta, and the ninth to open across Canada.
"The Government of Canada is proud to work with forward-looking private-sector partners to develop such innovative projects. We congratulate Echo-Logic Land Corporation on its demonstration home," said the Honourable Diane Ablonczy, Minister of State for Seniors, representing the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister Responsible for CMHC. "The EchoHaven residence gives people in this community an opportunity to see first-hand how we can create beautiful, healthy homes, conserve energy and resources, and reduce pollutant emissions."
EQuilibrium™ demonstration homes are designed to be healthy to live in, highly energy and resource efficient, produce as much energy as they consume on an annual basis, and have very low environmental impact. To achieve this, the EchoHaven home combines state-of-the-art energy-efficient design and construction techniques with renewable energy production.
Dave Spencer, a principal of Echo-Logic, owns the EchoHaven EQuilibrium™ home and will reside there once the demonstration period is completed. Dave's involvement with the EchoHaven project goes back over 12 years and he has been intensively involved in designing and building the house. "Our team has great experience and great ideas. They were able to come up with creative solutions to the challenges that inevitably crop up in any project, especially one that depends on many new materials, technologies and techniques. Matching the simplest solution to budget considerations meant evaluating every decision throughout the building process. In the end, the team learned many valuable lessons and the result is a beautiful home with wonderfully elegant systems that lessen its impact on the environment."
The EchoHaven Project team is one of the builder/developer teams across Canada to have turned design concepts into real homes as part of CMHC's national EQuilibrium™ Sustainable Housing Demonstration Initiative. All CMHC EQuilibrium™ Housing projects are open to the public and industry for demonstration for a minimum of six months. The homes are monitored for performance for one year, once occupied.
CMHC's EQuilibrium™ Sustainable Housing Demonstration Initiative offers a new approach to housing in Canada. It strives to balance our housing needs with those of the environment. It brings together-under one roof-the principles of occupant health and comfort, energy efficiency, renewable energy production, resource and water conservation, reduced environmental impact and affordability.
CMHC has worked closely with many stakeholders to develop and establish EQuilibrium™ Housing. In particular, CMHC has collaborated closely with Natural Resources Canada, which has contributed substantial research and development expertise and resources to advancing the Initiative.
As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 60 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable, and affordable homes-homes that will continue to create vibrant, healthy communities and cities across the country.
For more information, call 1-800-668-2642 or visit CMHC's website at www.cmhc.ca.
A backgrounder is available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/chmcbackgrounder_en.pdf.
Contacts:
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Carol Mulley
Marketing Principal
Office : 403-515-2997
Cell : 403-585-9317
Office of the Honourable Diane Finley
Michelle Bakos
Press Secretary
819-994-2482