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Winchester Press Guildcrest sets bar for energy efficiency with 'tightest home'Chris ZabelMOREWOOD - Guildcrest homes in Morewood has once again proved that its homes are among the most energy efficient in the province. The home builder has won the EnerQuality R-2000 Excellence Award for Tightest Home. This category is among the most prestigious energy efficiency awards because, by definition, it is won by the builder who pays the greatest attention to detail and quality construction with respect to air tightness. The R-2000 program was developed by the Canadian Homebuilders Association and Natural Resources Canada. The focus of the program is to develop more energy efficient homes. EnerQuality is the private company, which administers the program in Ontario. The home Guildcrest won its award for is in Clarence Creek, east of Ottawa. To evaluate how airtight homes are, EnerQuality sets up a blower in the front door of a house and sucks all the air out. The rate that air leaks in from outside shows how airtight the house is. Guildcrest's winning home measured only 0.4 air changes per hour (ACH). The standard for a home to be classified R-2000 is 1.5 ACH. A house built to the standard Ontario Building Code would likely exceed 3.5 ACH. Guildcrest Homes is Ontario's largest builder of R-2000 homes. Last year the firm built 25 R-2000 homes, and has built 336 in total. For over 15 years, Guildcrest has combined the sturdiness of factory-built quality with custom-built charm. It offers over 30 floor plans and the ability to construct custom designs. "At Guildcrest we understand the value of building well constructed, high-quality homes. We strive to make every Guildcrest Home as energy efficient as possible and we feel this provides ongoing value to the home buyer as well as being good for the environment," said David Poupore, president of Guildcrest Homes. "R-2000 homes are healthier and save energy. R-2000 homes are the best built in Ontario," said Peter Love, president of EnerQuality. "R-2000 is synonymous with quality in the minds of home buyers." "Each R-2000 home uses about half the energy of a comparable sized conventional house," said Love. "Every R-2000 home constructed delivers a meaningful, immediate and ongoing reduction in greenhouse gas emission. It's a win/win situation; the environment benefits and the homeowner has lower heating bills." "In past years the benefits associated with building quality assurance and enhanced indoor air quality have been the selling features of R-2000 homes. This has begun to change. Recently, there is renewed interest in the energy efficiency attributes of R-2000 homes, the very reason the program was first developed by the predecessor to Natural Resources Canada in 1982 in response to the energy crisis at that time," said Love. Certified R-2000 homes have always had a reputation for high quality construction and the energy saving associated with reduced air infiltration, better insulation and high-performance windows. Every house must pass a three-stage quality assurance procedure undertaken by independent licensed professionals. An important feature of an R-2000 home is the heat recovery ventilator (HRV). The HRV, present in every R-2000 home, solves the problem of keeping fresh air in an airtight home. In the basement, the HRV operates as the lungs of the house. The innovation is that the heat in the stale air is retained in a recovery core, and then used to warm incoming fresh air. The HRV ensures that energy isn't wasted by blowing warm air outside. This is the third year that R-2000 awards have been given and the third year Guildcrest has won. In the past, Guildcrest has won general excellence awards where this year's award was for the tightest home, more of a technical award. "The special efforts made by Guildcrest Homes to set such high standards in home tightness is an example for all R-2000 builders," said Love.
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