INDUSTRY - LEADING ENERGY EFFICIENT HOMEBUILDING
Better Homes for you and the environment
Pacesetter Homes Saskatchewan is one of the leading home builders in Energy – Efficient home construction.
Our homes are expertly designed to be energy efficient and reduce our carbon footprint. Every home is tested by a third party to ensure airtightness resulting in a 15% more energy-efficient than the national reference house. Each home receives an EnerGuide certification.
We are constantly working to increase our energy efficiency. We’re currently experimenting with new cost-effective ways to construct NetZero Ready homes. Our most recent building, at 104 Forsey Avenue in Saskatoon, was featured as a NetZero demonstration project as part of the Saskatoon Parade of Homes.
What does this mean for you as a homeowner?
More Comfortable Living
You can be assured of an air-tight home providing you with a comfortable living experience even when your home is exposed to the extreme temperatures in our Saskatchewan climate. You can be warm and cozy on -40C cold winter days and cool and refreshed when running an air conditioner on those hot summer Saskatchewan days.
More Affordable Home Ownership
A Pacesetter Energuide Rated Home will be more affordable to operate than other new homes. Our homes will have lower utility (power, energy & water) costs, saving you hundreds of dollars on an annual basis.
So how do we achieve this high standard?
96% Efficient Furnace
The airtightness of your home is supported by a 96 percent energy-efficient furnace with an HRV system. It helps to reduce air leakage, which means less draft, noise, and odors, as well as lost heated and cooled air in the winter and summer. An HRV system works by continuously supplying you with fresh air while recovering heat from the stale air being exhausted from your home. As a result, you’ll be able to maintain a more pleasant and healthy indoor atmosphere. A programmable WIFI thermostat can help you control the temperature in each room in your house on any given day. We also ensure that our mechanical systems are designed to the home size, ensuring equal distribution of heating and cooling systems.
Natural Gas Water Heater
In your home, you are provided with a direct vent hot water heater. Due to the high cost of electricity in Saskatchewan, this saves you over $500 per year compared to an electric water heater.
Energy Efficient Windows
Our homes include triple-glazed, low-E windows filled with argon gas that are designed to maximize your home’s energy efficiency by preventing air and water leakage through their five-seal defence system. All windows and doors are sealed with a top-of-the-line waterproof membrane and insulated with spray foam to ensure airtightness.
Air Tight Seal
You want your home to be as airtight as possible to eliminate drafts and maintain an even temperature throughout your home. This means that it is important to properly seal around all windows and doors, vents, and electrical outlets. Our homes come standard with R50 blown-in ceiling insulation, and we go above the standard building code for our climate by using spray foam sealant at all attic penetrations. We also use vapour-sealed electrical boxes on all exterior walls and attics to eliminate drafts. Lower utility bills result from an airtight home that will help with the cost of new home ownership and add great resale value to your home!
LED Lighting
High-efficiency LED lighting is used throughout our homes, which cuts down on energy consumption and has a longer life span and shouldn’t need to be replaced for up to 15 years! LEDs use less energy than other bulbs, which allows them last about 25,000 hours on average.
Building Materials
We use some recycled materials for our insulation and take great care to reduce, reuse, and recycle all building materials. We occasionally donate extra materials that cannot be returned to the restore for Habitat for Humanity.
Blower Door Test
We have diligently defined industry leading air tightness scopes of work for all trades involving any building envelope penetrations. This ensures that our third party blower door test achieves less than 1.0 air exchanges per hour, which means it will take less energy to maintain a comfortable temperature in your home.
Thermal Imaging
Prior to drywall being installed in our homes, we complete a thermal imaging test to ensure that no areas in the home lack insulation.
Water Efficiency
We use low flow toilets, showerheads, and faucets, with our standard now being dual flush toilets.
Air Quality
We use a high-efficiency HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilator) to ensure air freshness. In addition, we use Hypo-Allergenic premium carpet underlay, and all of the paints we use are low VOC (volatile organic compound). After completing all construction, we do a complete cleaning of all ductwork to ensure no dust or drywall particles remain in the vents.
Home Locations
Lots are chosen with the orientation of homes in mind to take advantage of future solar panel generation and passive solar gain from window locations. We also select lots close to each other to increase building efficiencies while reducing carbon emissions and waste.
Making a home NetZero Ready
A NetZero Ready home means that with the installation of solar panels, this home can generate all of the energy it needs for heating, cooling, and daily living by the future homeowners.
We’ve accomplished this by improving the home’s air tightness, selecting energy-efficient mechanical systems, and using industry-leading building practices throughout the home.
Learn more about the building technology we used in this NetZero Ready Home.
Insulation
We’ve included two types of insulation on the exterior walls. Batt insulation rated at R22 and 1 1/2″ of rigid insulation on the exterior.
Air Tightness
The air tightness of a home is key in keeping heating and cooling costs low. Learn more about how we’ve improved the air tightness by scanning the QR code.
Heat Pump
This home’s temperature is regulated through a heat pump. Outdoor air is passed over a coil to heat or cool it before distributing it throughout the home.
Spray Foam
We’ve used spray foam is under the basement slab. This adds additional insulation as well as reduces potential air leakage and radon infiltration.
Water Heater
This home has a condensing tankless hot water heater. Not only will you have hot water on demand, it recycle the extra heat produced.
Windows
Our windows are triple-pane argon-filled windows. They are coated in 3 layers of silver reducing solar gain from the hot outdoor sun.
Attic Insulation
Attics are one of the major heat loss areas of a home. We’ve added more space for the insulation and increased it to an R60 value.
Solar Ready
Behind the walls, we’ve included a conduit for the future homeowner to connect solar panels to the electrical panel in the basement.
Mechanical Systems
All of the heating and cooling systems in this home were chosen due to their energy efficiency.
Basement Insulation
The walls are framed to allow for additional insulation. This will make the basement more comfortable for the future homeowner.
