St. Albert embraces net-zero home retrofits on eco solar tour

Homeowners in St. Albert and greater Edmonton are showcasing energy-efficient retrofits on the Eco Solar Society's 26th annual home tour, running Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14. All 16 sites are free and self-guided, with eight locations open each day from noon to 5 p.m. (some suburban sites open at 10 a.m.).

The focus is net-zero energy homes—houses that generate as much energy annually as they consume. Andrew Mills, Eco Solar Tour Society president, emphasized their appeal amid rising energy costs: "A net-zero energy home is significantly cheaper to operate and has dramatically reduced CO2 emissions."

Mills practices what he preaches. His net-zero home returned a $200 credit last year even after fuelling two electric vehicles and paying for heating and lighting.

One standout example is Roger Marchand's St. Albert bungalow. He purchased the 1996 home four years ago wanting to downsize but keep the community. The house wasn't efficient, so Marchand engineered a comprehensive retrofit: rooftop solar, ground-source geo-exchange (geothermal) heating, an energy recovery ventilator, and a critical fix—replacing 20-plus windows.

The window challenge led to a made-in-Edmonton solution: LiteZone insulating glass units, invented and manufactured locally. These achieve insulating values up to 2.8 times higher than triple-pane windows. Combined with Duxton fibreglass frames, they resolved the home's single largest envelope loss.

"All of this sounds super complex, but frankly, any one piece is not complex," Marchand said, emphasizing the piecemeal approach. "You just take it one piece at a time."

Marchand's home is Site 2. He welcomes visitors to touch, see, ask questions, and learn—with some suppliers on-site. "It's not a for sale venue, it's a teaching venue." Tours also feature new builds, infill projects, and skinny homes, showing the range of retrofit and construction possibilities in the region.