Breaking Ground

My name is Doug Rempel and energy-efficiency has been a career as well as a passion of mine for almost 30 years. I know that the rate the world is consuming non-renewable resources is not sustainable and I have a great opportunity to do my part in moving towards a solution.

I have recently purchased some property on Lillooet Lake, BC, and have completed the plan to build a vacation/retirement home. This area is “off the grid” (no hydro power or natural gas) and so it creates some unique challenges for me in terms of energy efficiency. My goal is to build this house so that it will use the least amount of energy possible. What drives me? It is my belief that everyone needs to do their best to reduce the use of fossil fuels. It is also my desire to help others who are interested in a sustainable way of living and are looking for ways to make their homes more energy efficient. Lastly, this project is a logical extension of what I have been doing for the past 30 years, which is consulting with people building energy efficient homes.

To backtrack a bit… in 1979, as a principal of Solace Energy (now Homeworks) I worked on an airtight house in Coquitlam where the first heat recovery ventilation system in B.C. was installed. In this home, my company supplied the first airtight woodstove that took combustion air directly from outside. These concepts were incorporated into the federal R2000 program. In 1982, I completed the Super Energy Efficient Homes Technical Education Course and became an R-2000 builder and went on to build my own certified R-2000 home. This home was featured on the front page of the Vancouver Sun, which attracted hundreds of people to our ‘open house’. My house was monitored by B.C. Hydro and the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources and in the following 25 years I have never spent more than $100 per year for heating, as opposed to $1,000 per year spent on the average 3,000 sq ft home. I am still living in this amazingly draft-free, comfortable, healthy and energy efficient home and can tell you from first hand experience that the benefits of living in this type of environment go beyond just saving energy and money. I feel very blessed to live and raise my kids here – it’s been a gratifying experience. A decade later, I was involved in the sale and installation of the very first geothermal heat pump sale in Vancouver and six years later, was installing one into my own home, making it the first geothermal installation in Burnaby.  OK, so I’m an ‘energy nut.’

Anyway, this brings you up to date on me and will help you understand why I am so excited about my new project. The past six months have been spent working on plans and obtaining permits for our new house. We finally started excavating for the foundation this February and will be building over the next six to 12 months. I am planning to cover a number of energy efficiency topics in this blog and would invite anyone to respond with comments or questions. Also, if you have any ideas you think I could incorporate, I would welcome these as well.