Net Zero Dundas

Pebble in the Pond

The concept of the pebble in the pond is an old one, but one that resonates with us. We believe that small changes can ripple outward and become larger. Those larger ripples are what change the face of our society, locally and globally. With climate change being the existential threat of our time we are proactively trying to learn more about how we can be part of the solution, and we wish to share it with others. We believe in being a pebble.

Many of our blog entries will be connected to the Live Net Zero contest and the challenge categories they have defined, and then some will be more general or miscellaneous. We are organizing them that way to simplify finding posts that are of more interest to you.

You can select a category here or dive in to the most recent posts as shown below. Even though some of the categories will be empty until that challenge period is active we want to show how the Live Net Zero organizers are approaching ways to reduce your household and individual emissions / carbon footprint—thanks for reading!

~ Commuting~ Home Envelope~ Heating & Cooling~ Electricity~ Holidays~ Home Improvement~ General

The Story of Our House
by Jen Reid - 28 Sep 2023

We are a few days into the home envelope challenge, and just like during the commuting challenge I feel like I am learning a great deal. Home envelope was a new term for me: it means all of the components of the house that separates the indoors from the outdoors.

We had our home energy audit in August, conducted by Jack and Mahmoud.  While Mahmoud conducted the blow test, creating a vacuum in the house by sucking air out, Jack walked through the house with a feather, holding it up to various light sockets and pot lights to indicate how much heat would escape during the winter from the inside to the outside.

A few weeks later we received the results in a 22 page written report, and a series of recommendations on how we can improve our insulation, stop air leakage, maintain our home better, and consider equipment replacement.

The house was built in 1963, and it is the home in which I grew up. My parents were good at home maintenance and repair; my ex-husband Jeff and I purchased the home in 2004 after renting it from them for a few years. Here’s the thing: raising young children is tough, raising young children while working is tougher, and raising young children and working and eventually going through a separation is tougher. Not surprisingly, the house took a back seat, and since our separation in 2015, I, along with my new partner Steve, have done alot to improve it. The focus, however, has been on aesthetics and safety, and not on reducing emissions.

Hence the beauty of this contest: I knew we needed to do more in our home, and understand the urgency in terms of climate. The two week home envelope challenge is providing a helpful structure to get the work underway.