Net-zero housing contest proves popular
The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s Net Zero Energy Healthy Housing pilot demonstration project is moving forward and reception has been overwhelmingly positive. After the program was launched on May 15 information packages were sent to 636 companies or groups interested in participating (201 from Ontario), sources say. By July 10 there were 72 formal expressions of interests. “This level of response was even beyond our wildest expectations for the project and is requiring some extra time in the processing of proposals,” according to a CMHC e-mail forwarded to me by a Clean Break reader. It indicates, the e-mail said, “a very positive reception and interest expressed by the Canadian housing industry…”
A selection committee spent July 20/21 reading through the expressions of interest and after “intense” discussion was able to whittle the project proposals down to a short list of 26 that will proceed to Phase II of the project. Those 26 will be contacted by mid-August to assess whether they’re “ready, willing and able” to proceed with their proposed projects, which represent a cross-section of the country. If so, they’ll be invited to develop and submit a detailed design and demonstration proposal.
It will be nice to see when the final projects are approved and what they will be. Canada needs to start seeing some high-profile sustainable housing initiatives to stimulate the industry and get homebuyers/owners excited.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
August 14th, 2006 at 9:49 am
The following page on the CMHC site provides details, further links, and an August 4th update on the NZEHH initiative: http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/inpr/su/neze/index.cfm