In the planning of the project we do energy modelling to estimate building performance. A program called HOT2000 is used, which a venerable, but well proven residential energy modelling software. We know that the modelling is pretty close to actual performance, and in fact in the high-performance homes, we've documented that the modelling, if anything, OVER-estimates the amount of energy used.
For the purposes of EnerGuide rating, a series of standardized assumptions are used (i.e. number of people in the homes, appliance and lights, amount of hot water used etc.) These are like the standardized test conditions used for determining fuel economy in cars. Although this may not represent how you use your home, how many people you have and how frugal you are with your showers, it does allow you to compare homes' performance apples-to-apples.
Based on these "standardized test conditions", our new SuperGreen Laneway house is predicted that it will use about $2,200/year in total energy (electricity) - this includes only $260/yr in heat! And this is based on the latest (increased) electrical rates as of January 1st, 2014.
By comparison, the following graph is of an "average" existing Yukon home of equivalent size. As you can see, the average home costs more than 3 times as much in energy costs. What is even more astounding is the SuperGreen home costs using 95% LESS per year to heat! Many will be shocked by how much it costs to heat the "average" home. By average, this is the average heating requirement based on energy audits compiled by Yukon Housing Corp on 1703 homes. So, a pretty comprehensive cross section of Yukon homes.
Note that the above graph does not represent a new house build in the City of Whitehorse (where the City's Green Building Standards apply) or a home built to the current edition of the National Building Code of Canada. For these new homes, the heating requirement would be about half of the average home shown above - or about $2,500 per year for a house of this size.
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2 comments:
That heating cost of $4,900 for the average older Yukon house seems exorbitant...where did you get your numbers from Forest?
That's a good question Mike. The "average" Yukon home is based on a Yukon Housing database of some 1900 actual energy audits of Yukon homes - that represents about 10% of the homes in the Yukon, so a pretty representative sample.
The "average" home is probably 2x4 construction considering how old much of the housing stock.
In practicality, when people live is such poor performing homes, they don't end up paying that much because they'll "do something else" to avoid the bills. Either they install a wood stove, or they keep the house colder and wear more sweaters. I know a couple of people of live in such houses and they keep them between 14C and 16C - ouch!
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