Tour the Waterloo Region REEP House

The REEP House is now open for tours.

According to the website the house is:

Kitchener's REEP House for Sustainable Living is your hands-on showroom offering "one-stop-shopping" for green living ideas, from the newest sunlight balanced LED lighting for your kitchen to money-making solar panels on your roof!

Tour this Century brick home and learn how we found heritage style wood-framed arch-top stained glass windows that are R-7, gorgeous 100 year old recycled flooring, and a $138 a year heating bill.

Tours of the house are avalible Mondays from 1 to 3pm and are limited to 5 people. A $20 donation is suggested.

See the website to sign up for the limited spaces.

Architectrual Salvage Yards

Alternatives Journal, an environmental journal based out of the University of Waterloo features an article on architectural salvage yards.

The article argues that with our limited resources this type of business will become more popular. Examples of building which have used high percentages of reclaimed material are explained. Including the "Big Dig House" and Mountain Equipment Co-op's Ottawa building.


Follow Alternatives Journal on Twitter at: @alternativesj

Heritage Featured on Evergreen Brickworks Blog

Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto maintains a blog. Since the site is an historic brickworks, their blog has a specific heritage perspective.

Check out their heritage posts here.

REEP House Construction Ceilidh

Construction at REEP House is finally done! We have drywall! We have voc-free paint! We have a geothermal furnace! We're super-insulated! Celebrate with us!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Location: Victoria Park Pavilion, Kitchener, Ontario
Time: 6pm to Midnight

100 Mile Dinner
Time: 6pm.
Hearty chili, fresh bread and garden salad, followed by a scrumptious dessert. Catered by Seven Shores Cafe.

Grand River Ceili Band
Time: 8:30pm.
Dance with the Grand River Ceili Band and DJ Mephisto until midnight.

For more information contact Cheryl Evans at 519-744-6583 ext.226

More about the REEP House for Sustainable Living.

Green Building Links: ACO Newsletter

Lloyd Alter, President of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario wrote in this week's newsletter about green building and green practices, directing readers to two related websites:

While Catherine was holding the fort in Toronto last week, I was in Phoenix at the Greenbuild convention, where I met and interviewed one of my heroes, architect Steve Mouzon. He recently reprized an earlier post he did on the 10 top things you should do to go green if you are talking about heritage buildings. I loved number nine: Don't Succumb to the Myth of No Maintenance: "Maybe it's vinyl siding, or aluminum soffits. It doesn't really matter, because here's what actually happens: When it fails, and it doesn't matter how it fails... maybe someone got the grill too close and melted the vinyl, or maybe the puppy gnawed on it... but when it fails, then you can't patch it and paint it, because it doesn't match. So you've gotta tear it all of and cart it off to the landfill, and then you must replace it all. So when so-called no-maintenance materials fail, they fail catastrophically." Read all ten at the Original Green

If you would like to subscribe to the Architectural Conservancy's Newsletter click here.

ACO President Responds to Call to Tear Down 24 Sussex

The Architectural Conservancy of Ontario's President Lloyd Alter wrote a letter to the Editor of Maclean's Magazine in response to Paul Wells column that advocated the tearing down of 24 Sussex.

Wells' article describes a new house for the Prime Minister as a good public work project, creating jobs for Canadians. He also points out that a new building could be made "green".


Alter's responds that "... new construction is 50% materials and equipment (often imported) and 50% labour, while renovation is 75% labour and 25% materials". Clearly, renovating the existing building would provide more opportunity for local labour. In response to a new building being "green" Alter points out that the greenest building is the one that is already built. The energy that it took to make the materials currently used in the building is lost if it is torn down and put in a landfill.

Earth Day: Environment and Heritage

Today is Earth Day. A time to celebrate and recognize the environment!

In the spirit of the connection between environment and heritage check out these links:

Proceedings from the 2008 Heritage Conservation Conference Landmarks not Landfill

Information about the September 2009 Conference- The Heritage Imperative: Old Buildings in an Age of Environmental Crisis