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What does it take to achieve ENERGYSTAR status?

Before building an ENERGYSTAR certified home, builders and homebuyers will meet with a licensed third-party evaluator who will work to develop a package of energy-savings features that may include:

• higher wall, ceiling and foundation insulation levels.
• tighter building envelope combined with controlled whole-house ventilation levels.
• ENERGYSTAR higher efficiency heating and hot water systems.
• ENERGYSTAR high performance windows and doors.
• Lower electrical energy usage.
• ENERGYSTAR appliances.

Once an energy-savings package has been developed and the home is constructed, the third-party evaluator will return and confirm that the ENERGYSTAR requirements have been met.

What savings can we expect from an ENERGYSTAR home?

An ENERGYSTAR home will be approximately 40% more efficient than homes built to standard Ontario Building Codes and approximately 20% more efficient than better quality new homes.

Direct savings to owners of ENERGYSTAR homes have been evaluated at approximately a 20% "rate of return on initial investment".

Arbourbrook Energy-savings Package

The Arbourbrook home incorporates specific energy-efficient features such as:

• A high-efficiency Heat Recovery Ventilation system that provides a steady flow of clean air throughout the house while exhausting stale air and controlling indoor humidity levels.
• Exceptional Air Tightness.
• A 96.6% efficient condensing gas furnace.
• A high-efficiency gas water heater.
• 2x6 dense-packed blown cellulose walls with 1 1/2" polystyrene foam board insulation.
• High performance low-e argon thermo pane windows with insulated spacers.

In addition to these exceptional features, Arbourbrook also receives:

• 31% of annual heating requirements met by passive solar energy.
• Rating of 78 on the ENERGUIDE scale.
• Savings of 12 Tons of CO2 every year compared to a standard home.

"In summary, ENERGYSTAR tells the buyer that the builder has put exceptional care into building a high quality home that will save substantially on energy costs and is verified no by the builder but by a third-party independent certification process"

Pierre Bernier, Owner and CEO