Cedar Ridge Quality Homes

Rewarding Partnership

Last edited on February the 23rd at 10:24 AM

November 9, 2009 -  The partnerships forged in order to get the city’s award-winning Living Home built are not the sort of alliances that happen all the time, but they happen a lot in Lethbridge.
A builder, a post-secondary institution and municipal government may seem as well-matched as the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker, but like the latter trio they’ve all brought something to the table to make a meal — or in this case, an energy-efficient home — complete.
Monday they gathered at the Living Home on Sunridge Cres. to celebrate receiving the Partnership Award from the Minister’s Awards for Municipal Excellence, 2009. Cedar Ridge Quality Homes, the City of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College were recognized for joining forces to educate, demonstrate, validate and promote good environmental homes design that’s applicable to the Lethbridge environment.
“It’s been a great opportunity for us, as a small builder, to make a difference,” said Lonny Hoy, president of Cedar Ridge.
“Sometimes as a builder you kind of get blinders on — you head in one direction and you just keep going. And it’s really neat to step back and take a look at what you’re doing and think about why you’re doing it. This project has been that for us. Now that the home is complete, it’s been good to see some of the research come back and pass some of the things that we’ve learned on to others.
“We get calls daily to our office and we’re over here talking to builders who have questions and want to do the right thing.”
All materials in the house were chosen for their ability to reduce energy consumption, absence of toxins and  potential to be recycled. Solar panels on the roof are projected to generate 2,400 kilowatt hours of electricity per year — about one-third of what’s needed for an average Alberta home. Water is heated by transferring heat from a solution pumped to the roof and warmed in black tubes. By using only EnergyStar appliances, low-flow faucets, showerheads and toilets, water consumption is expected to be reduced by about 50 per cent.
Visit www.thelivinghome.ca  Excerpt from the Lethbridge Herald.  Written by Sherri Gallant of the Lethbridge Herald.