They always wanted a home that would reflect their eco-friendly sensibilities, but finding one that left as small an environmental footprint as possible and still have left something in their pocket they thought would be near impossible.

“We had very realistic goals when we came to look for a house in Calgary,” says Dale, who was eight-months pregnant at the time with her second child. “A ‘green’ house was our goal but we would have settled for something that fit the budget and some of our needs.”

They drove down from their small hometown in Saskatchewan looking at several show homes and finally made their way to the southeastern community of McKenzie Towne. They were feeling a little overwhelmed from all they saw but had little to show for it. Then they made a fateful wrong turn into the Elgin part of the community and saw Avalon Master Builder’s Emerge show home — and everything fell in place.

“That was a very fortunate wrong turn, not only did we get a house that fit the budget and our needs, but one that allows us to live in a very environmentally conscious manner,” says Dale, 33.

Dale is Ojibway and she says her ancestry hinges so much on respect for nature and she felt it would be a betrayal of this heritage if her family didn’t do their part in saving the environment. Plus it has all the features their family needs.

“It has a big yard for our kids (Ngwis, 4, and Takoda, 1) and two dogs to run around in. The very functional layout of the whole house was a big advantage and its location in Elgin and its small town feel played a big part in our decision as well,” Galen, 34, adds. “It was one of Avalon’s spec houses and it was like this was meant for us.”

The two storey home is just under 1,500 square feet with nine-foot ceilings, a large open kitchen with island and walk-in pantry perfect for entertaining. Tasteful red tile backsplash and espresso stained cabinetry give it a very contemporary design kick.

But what makes this home stand out is its geothermal and solar panel heating features. “We already are seeing this affect our heating bills,” Dale says.

Avalon also used 90 per cent recycled content laminate floor that is really hard to distinguish from genuine hardwood flooring and really goes well with the overall modern look of the home. “We get all these for just around $350,000 and we get a $10,000 rebate from the government for building green. This price is a lot less than we could have hoped for,” Dale says.

Emerge Homes is the newest division of Avalon Master Builder whose mandate is to create Calgary’s greenest homes so buyers can be environmentally responsible without sacrificing quality of life and style. Emerge Homes first project in Elgin Village in McKenzie Towne consists of 40 homesites with five new floor plans — all with practical tested eco-smart home building technologies, complimented by stylish and imaginative designs.

“This is why we continue to partner with SAIT in finding ways to develop Net Zero homes — or homes that generates as much energy as they consume,” says Avalon CEO Ryan Scott. The partnership has produced Calgary’s first Net Zero Home — the Discovery 4 — that is on display at the SAIT campus.

“The Discovery 4 House is the culmination of years of work towards meeting our vision of building Net-Zero homes at no additional cost to consumers by 2015,” says Scott.

Right now, building a Net Zero home may go for around $550,000 plus GST, Scott says. “This cost should go down with the new technologies that are being developed and we can achieve our goals.”