Solar + Wind Project: The Wilson Natural Home 

Winner! Sustainable Design Category: Wilson Natural Home

The National Post Design Exchange Awards competition is Canada's only awards program to judge design by results; balancing function, aesthetics and economic success. The home has also been included in the inspiring Living Spaces exhibit as one of the 21 featured designs.

Design

1. National Post Design Exchange award-winner for Sustainable Design (architect and owner)
2. Higher insulation values of R50-60 for walls
3. Straw Bale Construction, breathing walls
4. Sahara architecture, natural cooling
5. Smart windows, high R values
6. Natural lighting, low energy lighting
7. Natural, renewable, non-toxic materials
8. Engineered passive solar design and orientation
9. Green roof, natural cooling system
10. No furnace!
11. Integrated solar hot water
12. Highly integrated solar / wind renewable energy systems, electricity grid inter-tie
13. Composting integration
14. Organic vegetable garden
15. Same cost to build as a conventional custom built home

More Information...

National Post Design Exchange Awards 2003 - award winners.

Wonderful article about the Wilson Natural Home from Private Power Magazine, written by Peter Forint. For information or to subscribe to Private Power Magazine click here.

Living Spaces exhibit - outstanding examples of Canadian homes

Overview

By keeping a journal of the process of designing and building the Wilson Solar house you too can learn what it takes to make solar living a reality. The house is being built on a 10 acre lot near Hockley Valley about 1 hour north of Toronto. The house is being built for Leigh Geraghty and John Wilson. (E-Mail - wilsonjd9@hotmail.com). Occupancy date was May 1, 2001.
See the latest construction site pictures to see where we are.

1 - Take the full tour that documents the construction.
2 - Go straight to the latest pictures.
3 - See the amazing video for a complete tour.
4 - Read the book about how you too can make your dreams of a natural dream home true.

Reviews

Read the Toronto Star article which hails this home as "Energy-efficient house is a model of sustainable living Family taps into solar and wind power" and "When it comes to living green, you can't do much better than the Wilson family." and "On most days, their hydro meter even runs backward at times as they export electricity to Ontario's power grid. It's a great example of what one family can accomplish in doing what's right for the environment." - Toronto Star article

Buy the new book, Natural Living, that tells the story and explains the process John Wilson discovered.

Get the inspiring documentary video that shows you everything about how the home was built, provides commentary by Martin Liefhebber the architect, and includes a complete tour of the house.

Find out more informatin about the architect and designer of this home - Martin Liefhebber at Breathe By Association.

Requirements

Build a house that is powered by the sun. Demonstrate that through the combination of best practices currently available a family can live with all modern conveniences.

Details of what we had hoped to create in the actual design and building..

Design by Martin Liefhebber

Based on the principles of "health housing" as exemplified in the award winning designs of Martin Liefhebber.

• Bio - Martin Liefhebber
• The CMHC's Healthy House.
• Breathe Architects - Breathe Architects’ principal; Martin Liefhebber has been instrumental in advancing green design through his built projects for more than two decades.

Construction

Colin Richards is building the house. His company is C & R Construction. His crew includes Bernie, Doug and Richard. Occasionally John Wilson and Leigh Geraghty, the owners, spend a day or two during vacations helping out. Ian and Claire have also provided assistance. Martin Liefhebber is frequently on site reviewing the design and construction challenges with Colin.

C & R Construction and Colin Richards can be contacted at the following email address: gregory.richards@sympatico.ca

In-floor heating system by Alternative Combined Energy Systems, contact Lyle Jory, (416) 863-5835 or (888) 773-6893, P.O. Box 546, Sta. P, Toronto, ON, M5S 2T1. ACES specializes in radiant floor heating, solar heating and heat pumps.

Press Release

News Release - April 9, 2001

Straw Bale

The straw bale construction was coordinated and constructed by Camel's Back Construction. Pete, Chris and Tina know just about everthing there is to know about straw bale construction as they have developed many of the new ideas and concepts in this brilliant construction material. To find out more about this great team of straw bale home builders check out there web site at - http://www.strawhomes.ca/. They are the BEST! Literally they wrote the book on straw bale home construction. It is a great book, a must read for anyone contemplating building with straw.

Get the book before you design and build.

Click here to buy a copy at New Society Publishers.

Some good web site resources which Chris and Pete recommend in their book are:

The Last Straw: www.strawhomes.com
Surfin' Strawbale: www.moxvox.com/surfsolo
Black Range Films: www.StrawBaleCentral.com