Comparing Heating Costs of A SuperGreen Home

We've recently completed construction of our SuperGreen duplex in Takhini North. One side is being lived in already by a pair of proud new owners of what maybe the most energy efficient home in the Yukon. We're just getting the energy modelling and LEED certification wrapped up now, so the final rating is not yet in, but I thought it would be interesting to compare energy use in this home versus a "conventional" home in Whitehorse.

Below is a graph of estimated heating costs. I've based this on typical floor size and heat load data from Yukon Housing's analysis of energy usage in Yukon homes. Energy usage for our SuperGreen duplex is based on the HOT2000 model results (which in my experience are pretty accurate estimates.) I've use a heating oil cost of $1.15/L (average cost as of February 1st, 2011) and an electrical cost of $0.11/kWh.

What is interesting is even compared to the City's new energy bylaw compliant building, our SuperGreen duplex is still dimes-to-dollars on heating cost compared to this SuperGreen home. And I shutter to think about paying the heating bills on one of the vintage Takhini duplexes...

Total Home Energy Use
It is interesting now to look at the proportion of energy use for Space Heating versus other energy use in the building. Here is the energy profile of a "conventional" home in Whitehorse, versus our SuperGreen duplex.

Total energy usage is the SuperGreen
duplex is more than half that of a conventional home. In the SuperGreen home we see that Water Heating and is actually a greater energy use than Space Heating! With respect to Lights & Appliances, my experience is that default values HOT2000 (the energy modelling software) over estimates the usage in this category. I expect total usage in the SuperGreen duplex to be lower given the EnergyStar appliances installed, drain water heat recovery and the energy efficient lighting.

What this analysis tells me is that we've made great progress on the heat-loss side of the building. I think the next steps in energy efficient homes is now to look at water heating; and we need even better heat recovery on our ventilation systems....heat-pump HRVs anybody?

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