Building homes that cost less to run.

A net-zero home produces, over a year, at least as much energy as it consumes. It pairs a highly efficient envelope and mechanical systems with on-site renewable energy — usually rooftop solar. The home stays connected to the grid, drawing power when needed and exporting surplus, so the annual balance nets to roughly zero.

A net-zero-ready home is built to the same high-efficiency standard as a net-zero home, but the renewable energy system has not yet been installed. It is engineered so that adding solar later achieves net zero with no further changes — a lower-cost path: build to net-zero-ready now, add panels when budget or incentives allow.

Passive House is a rigorous standard focused on radically reducing heating and cooling demand through five principles: continuous super-insulation, an airtight envelope, high-performance (usually triple-glazed) windows, the elimination of thermal bridges, and balanced heat-recovery ventilation. A certified Passive House can use up to about 90% less heating and cooling energy than a conventional home.

Passive House minimises how much energy the home needs and does not require renewables. Net zero balances energy use with on-site generation — a tough efficiency target plus solar to cover the rest. A passive house is only net zero if it also generates its own power; many of the best homes are designed to be both.

An insulated, airtight envelope; high-performance windows and doors; the removal of thermal bridges; balanced HRV/ERV ventilation; efficient systems such as heat pumps or geothermal; LED lighting and efficient appliances; smart controls; and solar to offset what remains. It is the whole design working together, not any single product.

A high-performance home usually carries a modest upfront premium, but it lowers operating costs for the life of the building and improves comfort, durability, air quality and resale value. Many measures also unlock incentives or better financing. On an open-book basis, every upgrade is presented with its cost and expected payback so you can decide where it is worthwhile.

The building envelope is everything separating inside from outside: walls, roof, foundation, windows and doors. It is the biggest factor in energy performance. Air leakage is a major source of heat loss and drafts, so sealing the envelope and ventilating deliberately with an HRV/ERV is far more efficient than letting the house leak. Performance is measured with a blower-door test.

ICF means insulated concrete forms — hollow blocks of rigid foam insulation that stack like building blocks and are filled with steel-reinforced concrete. The foam stays permanently in place on both sides, so each wall is a sandwich of insulation, structural concrete and insulation, used for foundations and above-grade walls alike.

Very. ICF walls give continuous insulation with an effective value typically around R-22 to R-25 or higher, almost no thermal bridging, and excellent airtightness, plus thermal mass that moderates temperature swings. ICF homes commonly cut heating and cooling energy by roughly 20% to 50% versus conventional wood-frame construction.

Beyond efficiency: a quieter interior, greater resistance to fire, wind and moisture, outstanding structural strength and durability, and consistent, draft-free comfort. The airtight, well-insulated walls pair naturally with net-zero and Passive House goals. The trade-off is a higher upfront cost than wood framing, usually recovered through lower energy bills and longevity.

A geothermal (ground-source) heat pump uses the stable temperature of the earth a few metres down to heat and cool a home. Because the ground stays near-constant year-round, the system moves heat rather than burning fuel to create it — one of the most efficient ways to heat and cool in a climate like Ottawa's.

A buried loop circulates fluid that absorbs heat from the earth in winter and carries it indoors, where a heat pump concentrates it to warm the home; in summer the process reverses. Because it moves existing heat instead of generating it, geothermal typically delivers 3 to 5 units of heating or cooling per unit of electricity — an efficiency of roughly 300% to 500%.

Four common types: horizontal closed loops (piping in trenches, for properties with open land); vertical closed loops (boreholes, for smaller or landscaped lots); pond or lake closed loops (submerged in water on the property); and open-loop systems (drawing and returning well water). The right choice depends on lot size, soil, water and budget.

Often, yes — if there is room for a horizontal loop or access for vertical boreholes, and the home's distribution (ductwork or hydronic) is compatible or can be adapted. The main considerations are land, drilling access and upfront cost. A site assessment and heat-loss analysis confirm whether it is practical and how large the loop field must be.

An HRV (heat-recovery ventilator) or ERV (energy-recovery ventilator) continuously swaps stale indoor air for fresh outdoor air while recovering most of the heat — and, with an ERV, some moisture — from the air being expelled. Because a high-performance home is deliberately airtight, it needs this controlled ventilation to stay healthy without wasting energy.

Both move heat rather than burning fuel. An air-source heat pump exchanges heat with outdoor air; it costs less to install and modern cold-climate models perform well through Ottawa winters, though efficiency dips in extreme cold. A ground-source (geothermal) heat pump exchanges heat with the ground for very consistent year-round efficiency, at a higher upfront cost.

Rooftop panels generate power during daylight, reducing what you buy from the grid. In Ontario, net metering credits you for surplus you export at the retail rate — your meter effectively runs backward — and credits roll over on a 12-month cycle. Net metering gives bill credits rather than cash, so systems are sized to match your own use.

It depends on system size, your usage, roof orientation and shading, and rates, so it should be modelled per home. As a guide, a well-sized system can offset a large share of a household's electricity charges, with simple payback typically around 8 to 12 years against a 25-year-plus panel life. Pairing solar with efficiency improves the economics further.

A home battery stores surplus solar for use after dark or during an outage. With Ontario net metering a battery is optional — the grid already acts as virtual storage — but it adds resilience during outages and can help manage time-of-use rates. Whether it pays off depends on your goals; we size and price it as an option.

Reduce demand before adding generation: seal and insulate the envelope, upgrade windows, install an efficient heat pump or geothermal system and an HRV, switch to LED lighting and efficient appliances, and add smart controls. Solar then offsets much of the rest. In a new build these measures are far cheaper to include from the start than to retrofit.

Main sources in Ontario: Natural Resources Canada (federal programs), the Canada Revenue Agency (clean-economy tax credits), CMHC (rental and affordable-housing financing), Save on Energy and Enbridge Gas (Ontario rebates and new-construction programs), and your local utility (net metering). For income properties in a corporation, federal tax credits and CMHC financing are usually the most valuable.

For existing homes, Ontario's Home Renovation Savings Program (Save on Energy with Enbridge, running through 2026) offers rebates for heat pumps — up to about $7,500 for cold-climate air-source and about $12,000 for geothermal — plus insulation, windows, solar and batteries. The federal Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program offers up to $15,000 to switch from oil. The federal Greener Homes Grant has closed and the Loan stopped taking new applications in late 2025.

CMHC's MLI Select rewards efficient rentals with better financing — roughly 25% better than code earns meaningful points toward up to 95% loan-to-cost, up to 50-year amortization and reduced premiums (in 2026, energy is combined with affordability or accessibility for the top tiers). The federal Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit gives a 30% refundable credit on solar, geothermal, heat-pump and battery equipment for taxable corporations. Enbridge's Savings by Design adds free energy modelling and builder incentives, with an affordable-housing stream up to $120,000 per project.

Yes, frequently — grants open and close and amounts shift year to year. For any project we confirm what is currently available and time the application to the build schedule rather than relying on figures that may have changed.