I am Victor Kam, a happily married thirty-something year old with three young children plus parents in their seventies, all living under one roof, prior to this house was being built. The growth of our family initiated this journey of looking for more space.
For most of my life, my background has been in Information Technology (IT) consultation, serving small businesses. As a self-employed professional, I’ve always been driven to look for ways to save money and reduce overhead, operating as efficiently as possible. Prior to and during the construction, I had also been working as a part-time Realtor. During this time, I gained insight into the short supply of energy efficient housing. This house is my response to the maxim, “It’s not easy being green.”
As it turns out, it is easy being green after all.
The project started as a result of the Feed In Tariff Program in Ontario. It came about because we were looking for a larger place to live. With the fairly attractive Feed In Tariff Program from the Ontario Power Authority, we decided to design the house to benefit from income generated by electricity produced with solar panels. One thing led to another, and as a result, we probably have the largest Net-Zero Energy Home in the province, if not the country. We certainly have the largest urban residential solar array in Ontario.