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More coverage for Algonquin College’s participation in the Isles development.

One of our 3rd year students, Martin Somers, is scheduled to be on the CBC show “All in a Day” this Tuesday, December 9th between 3:00-3:30 pm., to discuss his group’s project on the Windmill Isles site. He will be joined by one or two students from the Applied Museum Studies program as well.

Three other 3rd year students, Wes Ranger, Jeff Woodward and Adam Thomas, are mentioned in this article in the Ottawa Sun http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/12/04/construction-on-old-domtar-lands-could-begin-in-spring-2015 .

You may also want to click on this link to read what the Ottawa Business Journal had to report on Algonquin College’s participation in the Isles project.

Algonquin College Green Architecture Students win big at the North East Sustainable Energy Program Design Competition!

 

Algonquin College Green Architecture students were in Boston last week to receive the results from the North East Sustainable Energy Design Competition. The group did incredibly well an won 2nd Place and 3rd Place in Division I, as well as 2nd Place in Division II! The students are thrilled with their results as is Rick Briginshaw, the Coordinator for the Green Architecture program. Please click on the link above for more information and photos of the winning Algonquin College teams.The purpose of this competition is to “To engage the next generation of designers and engineers in the key energy issues and strategies of the day, NESEA sponsors an annual design competition for college and university students. The target participants include college, university and building science design programs in the 10 states in NESEA’s region from Maine to Washington D.C., plus the Eastern Canadian Provinces. In 2013-14 we have 9 colleges and universities and 17 teams competing across the four divisions.”

The Second and Third place prizes for each of the four Divisions: Up to 4 Two-day passes for Building Energy 14 conference in Boston in March, plus a cash award of $500 for 2nd place, $250 for 3rd place. The other participating Algonquin team receives a merit award and a cash prize of $125. To learn more about this competition please visit http://www.neseastudentdesigncompetition.org/

 

Results from all areas of the competition are below

Carlos Vega Park (4 schools / 6 teams)

  • ALGONQUIN COLLEGE1 (4) – THIRD PLACE
  • ALGONQUIN COLLEGE3 (4)
  • ALGONQUIN COLLEGE4 (4) – SECOND PLACE
  • KSC3 (3)
  • Harvard GSD1 (4)
  • WPI (2)

 

Parsons Paper (4 schools / 4 teams)

  • ALGONQUIN COLLEGE2 (4) – SECOND PLACE
  • KSC2 (2)
  • Rowan University (2)
  • UMass Amherst (4)

 

The Alpine (1 school / 1 team)

  • KSC1 (4)

 

The Riverside (4 schools / 4 teams)

  • KSC4 (2)
  • Harvard GSD2 (3)
  • NEU1 (7)
  • Yale (2)

UPDATE 4 – Solar Decathlon commences…….

ECHO House - October 4, 2013 - Visit by Kent MacDonald

Don’t forget to place your vote for the ECHO house as the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon People’s Choice award – Follow this link to register your vote!

 

OCTOBER 7, 2013 UPDATE – This new update comes from Rick Briginshaw, Coordinator of the Green Architecture program who is on-site at the competition…..

“Hello Everyone!

There has been lots of activity here at the Solar Decathlon over the last few days!

October 2nd – with construction and preparations complete, the students and faculty attended a formal dinner for all the teams, hosted by Bosch, followed by an open house at all the Solar Decathlon houses. The teams got to know each other, and explore each other’s houses, a great learning opportunity for them. In spite of the fact that we are competitors, there is an overriding feeling of camaraderie among all the teams.

October 3rd – Opening Day! Students and faculty attended the opening ceremonies and ribbon cutting in the morning. The ECHO team waved the Canadian flag proudly, and were excited to start showing off their creation! The houses were then opened to the public, and the individual contests began. Students and faculty were honoured to attend a dinner hosted by President Kent MacDonald, and representatives of Orange Coast College.

October 4th – Public visits and contests continued. The site was shut down for a couple of hours due to high winds, but reopened in the afternoon. The team was excited to have a visit from President Kent MacDonald, who toured the ECHO house, along with several of the other houses at the competition site.

October 5th – The ECHO team hosted a formal dinner (one of the standard individual contests) at the house, for some of our sponsors and members of other teams. By all accounts it was a great success.

October 6th – Public visits and competitions continued.

SCORES AND STANDINGS – you can follow along the scores and standings here… http://www.solardecathlon.gov/scores.html

We are currently in 10th place out of 19 teams, but the scores change daily, and as you can see, there is very little separating the top 12 teams.

 

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD – we need your help with this! Please vote for TEAM ONTARIO at the Solar Decathlon home page! http://www.solardecathlon.gov/ And please help us by spreading the word around Algonquin College and beyond. If anyone has other contacts that could help us get more votes, please feel free to use them!

Our students are totally engaged in showing the ECHO house, and continue to demonstrate that they are first class all the way.”

Visit our Flikr gallery to see more photos of the ECHO house and it’s current home in Irvine, California.

 

 

The ACCE building participating in upcoming September 14th Sustainability Tour of Ottawa

The Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence will be one of the 10 sites featured in the Ottawa Sustainability Tour to be launched on Saturday, September 14, 2013. Each venue on the tour illustrates a different theme of sustainability. People are invited to travel by car, bicycle, or bus to visit the remarkable places highlighted as part of this self-guided tour. A tour book will guide
visitors to the sites and explain the following themes of sustainability: transportation, energy, design, habitat, food, natural capital, waste, health, recreation, and a sense of place.

 

Join us on the launch
day!

The opening launch begins at 8:30 AM
Saturday 14 September with free pancakes at North America’s only urban maple sugar shack in Richelieu Park, Vanier. After the 9:00 AM opening ceremony with Mayor Jim Watson and Councillor Mathieu Fleury, groups of cyclists, cars and perhaps a bus will depart on their adventure. Five other sites along the route will also hold events that day:

– Corktown Footbridge: a choir and information on sustainable transportation (AM)

– University of Ottawa: Première Moisson coupons for early arrivals, site explanations (AM)

– Fletcher Wildlife Garden: Volunteer experts to answer your questions about habitats (PM)

– Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence: Interpretation of building features (PM)

– terra20 – meeting with product experts, short waste reduction talks, light refreshments
(PM)

 

The tour launch will also be the launch
of two other Ottawa initiatives:

– Gemagram: a cloud-based app that will carry the tour book (bring your smart phone)

– Ottawa Learnery: talks that are rich in ideas, delivered with passion

 

A booklet of the tour is available on Ottawa Biosphere Eco-City’s website http://obec-evbo.ca/ which allows you to choose which sites you are interested in seeing at a time that is convenient
for you! Booklet is available in French and English.”

Read the accompanying newsletter to find more information on this exciting activity and the other areas being featured on the Sustainability Tour of Ottawa.

Click here to view the Newsletter.

 

 

Canada Green Building Council features the ECHO project in their August 2013 newsletter

Algonquin College’s Team Ontario prepares to send its “ECological HOme” to Irvine, California

What began as a dream for several students and faculty at Ottawa’s Algonquin College and Carleton University, and Kingston’s Queen’s University, has culminated in a million dollar project to construct a net zero home that will compete on a global stage this fall.

ECHO, short for ECological HOme, was showcased today as part of an Open House and mock competition to ready the team for the 2013 US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.

“Our mission was to create an ecological home that sets the standard for sustainable living and creates waves of change in the housing market,” says Karl Kadwell, Project Manager for Team Ontario. “We are proud to have built this net zero home as a standard for future generations, and we are eager to showcase it in the competition this fall.”

ECHO is a 940 square foot, $300,000 home with a master bedroom, one bathroom, a multipurpose room that can be used as an office or second bedroom, and a combined kitchen/living room/dining room. Designed to be ‘net zero’, the home will utilize various solar and energy efficient technologies to produce at least as much energy in a year as it will consume.

Read the entire article here.

 

Team Ontario Receives Huge Boost as They Prepare to Ship their Home to Irvine, CA

What began as a dream for several students and faculty at Ottawa’s Algonquin College and Carleton University, and Kingston’s Queen’s University, has culminated in a million dollar project to construct a net zero home that will compete on a global stage this fall.

ECHO, short for ECological HOme, was showcased today as part of an Open House and mock competition to ready the team for the 2013 US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.

“Our mission was to create an ecological home that sets the standard for sustainable living and creates waves of change in the housing market,” says Karl Kadwell, Project Manager for Team Ontario. “We are proud to have built this net zero home as a standard for future generations, and we are eager to showcase it in the competition this fall.”

ECHO is a 940 square foot, $300,000 home with a master bedroom, one bathroom, a multipurpose room that can be used as an office or second bedroom, and a combined kitchen/living room/dining room. Designed to be ‘net zero’, the home will utilize various solar and energy efficient technologies to produce at least as much energy in a year as it will consume. Students began designing the building in the summer of 2011: brainstorming its architectural appearance, running simulations and performing structural analysis. Construction began in September 2012 at Algonquin College’s campus in Perth, Ontario, where the students were able to complete most of the main structure and conduct a test move. In May of 2013, it was relocated to Algonquin College’s Ottawa campus for completion.

“This home is the result of a multi-disciplinary effort that brought together the theoretical knowledge taught by universities with the applied, hands-on learning offered by colleges to create a home that is both environmentally and financially sustainable,” says Professor Richard Briginshaw, Algonquin College Green Architecture Coordinator and member of Team Ontario. “These students have put a tremendous amount of effort into this project and I know they will make their schools and their country very proud of them.”

Dr. Kent MacDonald, President and CEO of Algonquin College; Dr. Roseann O’Reilly Runte, President and Vice Chancellor of Carleton University; and Laeeque Daneshmend, Deputy Provost of Queen’s University were all in attendance for the Open House, and offered the students words of encouragement. Ontario’s Minister of Energy, the Honorable Bob Chiarelli, was also in attendance to offer his support and announce that the team will receive $80,000 in provincial support from the Smart Grid Fund.

“I want to congratulate Team Ontario for their hard work and wish them the best of luck at the Solar Decathlon. The ECHO home and the students behind it are a prime example of why Ontario is considered a global leader in renewable energy, conservation and smart grid technology,” says Ontario Minister of Energy Bob Chiarelli. “I am proud the Ontario government is a supporter of Team Ontario.”

The next steps for the students involve preparing the house for shipping. The home is designed in two separate modules to make it easy for shipping, and those will be loaded onto flatbed trucks that will likely depart on Saturday, August 24. This year’s US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is set to begin Thursday, October 3rd, in Irvine, California, with the competition wrapping up on October the 13th.

Follow these links to see various media stories and clips regarding Team Ontario’s entry into the Solar Decathlon.

CTV: http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/team-ontario-competing-at-solar-decathlon-1.1415501

CTV Video: http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=986176&binId=1.1164511&playlistPageNum=1

CFRA: http://www.cfra.com/News/Ottawa-Regional-News/Students-unveil-solar-home

CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/Ottawa/ID/2401539865/
(Skip to 11:15)

CBC Radio (French): http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/ottawa/2013/08/17/008-etudiants-ontario-maison-verte-competition-internationale.shtml

CTV Ottawa Morning Live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cin2uNQpnw

Ottawa Citizen: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/homes/Creating+ECHO/8793354/story.html

The Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence has received another award!

The Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence has received another award! The Canada Green Building Council has given ACCE its 2013 Award for Commercial Green Architecture. Accepting the award on behalf of the ACCE building were (left to right) Zofia Jurewicz of Edward J Cuhaci and Associates Architects, Claude Brulé, Vice President, Academic, and Dan Gallivan of Diamond Schmitt Architects.

Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence Receives LEED Platinum Certification

OTTAWA, November 5, 2012. The Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence has officially received LEED® Platinum certification from the Canada Green Building Council.

“The Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence is a model of sustainable development,” says Algonquin College President Kent MacDonald. “The building functions as a living laboratory which supports the learning of our students in a way unlike any other postsecondary institution in Canada. We would like to thank all who assisted in its construction including EllisDon Corporation, Diamond and Schmitt Architects Inc., and Edward J Cuhaci and Associates Architects Inc., and I commend our Physical Resources team for their leadership.”

Please follow this link to read the entire news release on this wonderful news.