CaraCo has established themselves as a leader in development and use of sustainable building standards for design, construction and operation. In 2012/2013, we worked with Union Gas and Building Knowledge Canada to develop the CaraCo Performance Home 2020. Always looking for ways to improve, we are looking to incorporate the leading-edge technologies from this home into more of our new homes. This will bring many benefits to homebuyers, who will live in homes that are more healthy, comfortable and energy efficient.
This past May, we were awarded the ESC (Energy Solutions Center) Partnership Award in recognition for our efforts with Union Gas on the Performance Home 2020 project. This award provides customer recognition of the benefit in working in partnership with the local utility for reducing the use of natural gas through innovative energy solutions.
In addition to building Kingston’s first LEED home, CaraCo has since built more homes to LEED certified and LEED silver, as well as constructing commercial projects to a LEED standard.
In our efforts to reduce solid waste on construction sites, we order our installed materials for the day’s work directly to the project to eliminate double handling, theft and waste. Further, we require that all of our trades recycle their waste.
We are working to increase the number of trees in the City as well; the number of trees in our subdivisions exceed the number of houses. Parklands and treed open space lands are in addition to this.
We do not build on any environmentally-valuable natural areas, and encourage green space such as park land and trails within our neighbourhoods for the enjoyment of residents.
We work with planning consultants to ensure that there are trails, green space and
connectivity within our neighbourhoods.
ENERGY STAR:
We build homes that are ENERGY STAR qualified, and are approximately 20% more energy efficient than those built to minimum Ontario Building Code standards. The increased efficiency of these homes translates into reduced energy use, and lower costs for homeowners.
The benefits to the new homeowner:
- Lower energy bills
- Improved comfort
- Government-backed quality assurance
- Lower impact on the environment
- Higher resale value
- CMHC rebates
Standard in all CaraCo homes:
- High efficiency furnace
- ENERGY STAR Qualified single homes
- Towns built to ENERGY STAR standards
- ENERGY STAR double glazed windows with Low-E and Argon gas with choice of classic grille styles
- Self sealed asphalt shingles, 30 year limited lifetime manufacturer's warranty
- R24 exterior wall system
- R50 insulation in ceilings
- R14 below grade insulation, basement floor to ceiling
- Full height insulation and studding of basement exterior walls for future finishing
- American Standard, elongated, low-flush water saving insulated toilets
- ENERGY STAR furnace with minimum AFUE of 95%
- ENERGY STAR thermostat
- ENERGY STAR hot water heat with minimum 0.67 EF
- ENERGY STAR doors
- ENERGY STAR windows Canada Zone A and B
- ENERGY STAR Whole home Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV) in minimum recovery efficiency of 60% at 0°C
- Onsite, third-party testing and inspections to verify the energy efficiency measures, as well as insulation, air tightness, and duct sealing details