Home of today vs tomorrow

Photo: Contributed

The Wilden neighbourhood is being used as a guinea pig for energy efficiency.

Called Wilden Living Labs, it's a case-study in energy use.

The two homes share the same floor plan but couldn’t be more different. One is built as the home of today with standard residential building codes. The other is the home of tomorrow with “cutting-edge energy-efficient technologies.”

“Wilden has always tried to push the envelope in terms of energy efficiency in home building so the Wilden lab was a perfect fit for us,” said Russ Foster, project manager.

A real-world study will evaluate the homes and compare energy usage patterns.

UBC engineering researchers and students will use sensors built into the home to monitor the energy use of both dwellings over three years.

“The ultimate goal is to put real life Okanagan information on energy efficiency in the hands of home owners so they can make some informed decision on what to incorporate in their homes going forward,” said Foster.

Home tours took place on Wednesday and the ribbon was cut to show off the brand new homes.

The Wilden Living Lab is a join research project with Wilden, UBC Okanagan, AuthenTech Homes, Okanagan College and FortisBC.

More more information about the homes click here.