Our great brothers to the north, sometimes referred to as America Junior, are set to show the world, especially energy starved hungry United States how it plans to become net-zero.
Net-Zero is a relatively new concept and it simply means you put back the same amount of energy you use. The New-Zero energy home coalition is currently petitioning for Canada to revise it's construction methods and switch all new home building projects to Net-Zero Energy Homes (NZEH) by 2030. All the homes are connected to a central power grid and any excess amount of energy unused and produced by the home is sent back into the grid. This combined with homes that are energy efficient, designed with climate specific zones, passive solar heating and cooling, and solar thermal and electrical lighting systems make for a very efficient system.
So far, the Canadian government is very interested in the program and there's a good chance it might go thru. If anything, this should serve as a template for other countries to follow. Coming up with alternative fuel sources is only one part of the equation. We also need to reduce and recycle our energy and that means a major overhaul in infrastructure. Hopefully the U.S. will learn.
via Treehugger
I seriously want one of these houses.