OTTAWA - On the top green assessment scale available for new housing, Inspiration – the Minto ecohome has been awarded LEED for Houses’ highest achievement level - Platinum, and has also received the highest score of any home in Canada. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Houses program is the undisputed Green Standard in North America for assessing green homes. LEED for Homes measures energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, water conservation, sustainable sites, location and linkages, materials and resources, awareness and education, and innovation – with points assigned for each measure. This latest accomplishment is another example of Minto setting the standard for innovation in the housing industry.

"We are really pleased to see that this home has been so positively received; it was a very important project for us and I am proud that we can now call it Canada’s greenest home," said Robert Greenberg, Executive Vice President of The Minto Group’s home building division. "With this home we were discovering what the future of home building might look like, and it’s clear to us that it will be green," he added.

The home was built in the South Ottawa community of Manotick, as part of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) EQuilibriumTM Sustainable Housing Demonstration Initiative. Inspiration has been inspiring visitors, both in person and on the web, since June of 2008. “The EQuilibriumTM initiative encourages builders to explore innovative options for building healthy and sustainable homes that produce as much energy as they use on an annual basis,” said Karen Kinsley, President of CMHC. “But equally important is to have the demonstration homes open to the public so consumers and industry can learn first hand how to balance our housing needs with those of our environment”.  Since it opened, some 1,600 visitors have gone through the home in person, and more than 7,000 hits have been registered on the website. More information on the EQuilibriumTM Initiative can be found at cmhc.ca.

Concerns about climate change and fluctuating fuel costs have significantly influenced both builders and home buyers to look at greener home solutions.

A recent 2008 EnerQuality homebuyers survey showed that over half the builders in Ontario offer some form of green upgrades (52% in 2008 – up from 25% in 2007). To support the growing need to assess and verify more than just the energy use of houses, The Canada Green Building Council is launching the LEED Canada for Homes program this spring. "LEED Canada for Homes is a better way to build. The program was created by the building industry to genuinely assess on a common international wide scale how green any new home is," said Ron Lemaire, Vice President of Market Development for the Canada Green Building Council.

Inspiration was part of the case study group that helped guide and inform the development of the Canadian program. Inspiration was rated under the US Green Building Council program, which continues to have cross-border jurisdiction in Canada until the Canadian program is launched. "For Minto to achieve Platinum status is exceptional," added Lemaire.

Minto chose to build Inspiration on the site of the future Mahogany community in the South Ottawa village of Manotick.  Mahogany will be one of the largest green housing communities in Canada, blending environmentally responsible building technology with the character and charm of Manotick. Minto has certified several other homes under the LEED program, and the home in Manotick is the first one to achieve Platinum status.

"It seems like everyone is starting to see the importance of building green, and while we have been developing our expertise since the 1970s, we feel that its time to really look at deep green options, through innovation and inspiration. That is why we built this house, to explore what more can be done to lower the impact our homes have on the environment," said Greenberg.

Inspiration was built to reduce household energy costs, conserve natural resources, improve the indoor air quality for better occupant health, and was constructed mostly with recycled and renewable materials. It uses rain water to flush toilets and water the lawn. It is architecturally designed to maximize the benefit of the sun’s heat and light and features a highly insulated building envelope that maximizes natural ventilation, thus eliminating the need for air conditioning.

Inspiration’s Green Features include:

• Rainwater harvesting for irrigation and toilets
• Low flow faucets and fixtures
• Dual flush water saving toilets
• Solar thermal air collectors
• Solar hot water collectors
• Photovoltaic solar electricity panels
• Extended roof-line to block heat from the summer sun
• Natural ventilation design to cool the home at night
• Passive solar design with slate floors to retain solar heat
• Double insulated walls for added warmth, quiet, draft proofing, and durability
• Triple pane windows
• Flexible open plan design to adapt easily to life’s changes
• Rapidly renewing bamboo flooring and stairs
• Built-in recycling centre
• Non-toxic paints and finishes
• Compact fluorescent lights throughout
• A convenient All-Off switch connected to green plugs to make conserving energy easy