The Caraway: A Net Zero Energy Home

We’re proud to present this year’s Minto Dream Home as a fully electric Net Zero Energy home. The home combines energy-efficient design with energy-generating features to deliver peace of mind and a more carefree future to you and your family. As a Net Zero home, the Caraway produces as much energy as it consumes. What’s more, it uses about 40% less energy than a similarly sized home built to the current Ontario Building Code.

Clean energy. Clean conscience.

Solar panels on the roof turn the Caraway into a net energy generator, creating enough electricity to power the home’s mechanical systems – all while substantially lowering your carbon impact on the environment.

Unlike typical Net Zero homes, which offset necessary natural gas consumption by sending excess energy to the grid, the Caraway’s completely electric design eliminates the need for fossil fuels or nuclear power of any kind. It retains 100% of the energy it generates and goes beyond the requirements to achieve Net Zero certification.

To provide peace of mind, the Caraway’s operational costs don’t fluctuate based on provincial policy decisions. Plus, the home is located in Hydro One territory where $0 hydro bills are allowed, as opposed to a territory where administrative and net metering fees apply. You won’t have to worry about temperature control, time-of-use billing or the overall energy use either; the Caraway lets you live off clean, renewable energy without worrying about your consumption.

The Caraway is scalable and future-proofed, too, with a battery-ready energy inverter that lets you add to the system based on your consumption needs. Due to the type of inverter and unutilized surface area of the roof, your utility costs won’t increase if you later decide to install a pool, hot tub or build an addition onto the home.

An energy-efficient design with energy-generating features

While the solar panels generate energy for the home, its advanced features help you make the most of it. Extra insulation conserves energy throughout the year, keeping you cooler during the summer and warmer during the winter. And in the event of a power outage during a deep freeze, the additional insulation keeps the home warm up to three times longer than a standard build.

The Caraway’s triple-pane Energy Star windows create a more comfortable living environment, so you can enjoy an airtight home with fewer drafts, reduced noise from the outside the home, and uniform surface temperatures. Other key efficiency features include:

• A high-performance heat-pump heating and cooling system – electric back-up furnace included
• A high-efficiency hybrid electric water heater (rental unit provided by Rheem®)
• An energy recovery ventilator (ERV)
• A drain water heat recovery unit
• LED lighting throughout

The Minto Dream Home features an electric vehicle charging station in the three-car garage. So not only does the Caraway help you live better, it lets you drive better, too. Also, the FLO Home G5 charging station is powered by an electric vehicle energy management system (EVEMS), which eliminates the need to upgrade a home’s electrical panel.

Better living in Mahogany, Manotick

For over 65 years, Minto Communities has injected innovation into our homes and our communities to offer better living for homeowners. From building one of the first Net Zero Energy homes in Canada in 2008 – the Minto EcoHome – to designing the Net Zero Killarney Single Family Home in 2015 and a block of Net Zero Executive Townhomes in 2016 in Arcadia, Kanata, and then our first Net Zero Minto Dream Home (the Hampton) in Potter's Key, Stittsville, our goal is to continually improve the energy-efficiency in the homes and communities we build to reduce the impact on our planet.

Those currently living in a Net Zero Energy home boast about its advantages – from the added comfort, energy security and fixed costs, to helping address the climate crisis. And by going above the necessary requirements of a Net Zero home, the Caraway delivers these same benefits and more.

The 2021 Minto Dream Home is once again located in Mahogany, Manotick, where homeowners are treated to modern, established living. The Caraway also backs onto Mahogany Pond, with an abundance of green space, multi-use pathways, natural features and amenities nearby.

Stay tuned for information regarding in-person viewings of the Minto Dream Home and in the meantime, take an interactive virtual tour today. Don’t forget to purchase your tickets to the CHEO Dream of a Lifetime Lottery before they sell out.

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