Design Smart Construction

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Fort Saint John, BC
Design Smart Construction

Passive House Consultant with a Masters of Engineering in Integrated Wood Design from University of Northern British Columbia.

As a builder/designer team, Paul and Catherine have completed commercial and residential projects in the area over the past ten years. These include a new construction single family home, a fully re-constructed 2300 sq ft cafe/restaurant, numerous home renovations, as well as developing a one acre property with a home and shop just outside of town. They also lived in the demonstration Passive Hous

e built by the City of Fort St. John from January 2015 - November 2016. As proponents of the project and caretakers of the home, we lived our lives as we normally would, so that data on energy consumption could be gathered during the homes first few years of operation/habitation; we also assisted the City with public tours and communication efforts. Paul is a Certified Passive House Consultant and earned his Masters of Engineering in Integrated Wood Design from UNBC in 2017. Catherine’s career has provided her with a unique perspective and knowledge in the areas of small business management, creative marketing, community development and sustainability - all of which influence her personal work as an artist and entrepreneur.

09/17/2021

https://www.designsmartconstruction.com/

07/22/2021

03/03/2020

In the span of just five years, a lot can change. We became involved in , a local demonstration passive house project in 2015, and at that time there was little to no recognition of what this 'green' standard was or why it was remotely relevant to promote it in our rural northern region. ⁠⠀
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We often think of transportation (cars & flying) as being the biggest/baddest use of fuel in our lives, but reducing the operational emissions (heating & cooling) from the buildings that we live, work and learn in everyday - is an equally important tool in addressing the climate emergency.⁠⠀
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Why are buildings that meet the passive house standard considered 'green?' Essentially, they are houses wearing weather appropriate coats - in Canada's North where I live, that means they have a building envelope (walls & roof) that act like a warm winter jacket. (Passive houses work in hot climates too... but I don't live there!)⁠⠀
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If you live where its usually cold, by keeping the heat inside and taking advantage of south facing sunshine to help warm your building up - passive houses don't require much energy to heat. They can reduce energy consumption for heating by as much as 90%, and no matter the source of that energy, that's a potential 90% savings in your heating bills!⁠⠀
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But lets say your heating energy comes from a fossil fuel source such a gas, diesel, coal, etc - in that case, it also amounts to a 90% reduction in the green house gases emitted into the atmosphere from your home or the building you work in. We spend most of our waking lives in some type of building, so we should ensure those buildings achieve meaningful GHG reductions like the passive house standard can!⁠⠀
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10/23/2017

This infographic from Half Price is about the benefits of living in a passive house, which were first built in Germany in 1988 and enjoy energy savings of up to 90%. They are essentially energy ...

06/22/2016

Ready for another tour this morning with Mayor, members of Council and members from local First Nations - here's a snapshot of current power use by the Passive House from monitoring system Site Sage!

06/07/2016

Spreading the good news on Twitter! The won a regional award at the Canadian Green Building Awards!

JURY COMMENTS:
A highly commendable effort by a small and remote municipality to create a prototype residential building to the highest energy performance standards. One of the few single-family houses to be certified to Passive House standards anywhere in Canada, the educational opportunity this project represents is profound - and all the more remarkable because it is located in an area where the economy is dominated by the oil and gas industry.

http://www.sabmagazine.com/winners2016.html

06/04/2016

The Passive House was the Winner of the Green Category at the 2016 Northern BC Commercial Building Awards, held by the Business Examiner in Prince George!

04/28/2016

Very exciting news! Paul passed the exam and is now a Certified Passive House Designer/Consultant! Congratulations on your hard work Paul.

04/22/2016

"The goal is not to build the best passive house ever, the goal is to make a difference" from

Today is Earth Day.

Today is also the International Passive House Conference in Darmstadt, Germany. The quote above is from a presentation by Enrico Bonilauri, who builds to passive house standard in Italy. He, along with many others around the world, have been following our passive house on Twitter - not to see if we've made the best PH in Northern Canada - but to witness the difference energy efficient homes can make even in cold climates.

Our Municipality - The City of Fort St John - is on the leading edge of educating the public about Passive House to show that we CAN build differently, AND be more comfortable in a cold climate AND conserve energy. We CAN make a difference.

04/20/2016

So far in April, our energy production from the solar array in blue, and usage in green. And you can see we recently had an overnight guest for three days with the bump in usage.

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