Avalon Master Builder’s president and CEO Ryan Scott says the company shaped its vision of sustainable housing about five years ago by questioning how to get from point A, a standard home to point B, a Net Zero home.

This year’s home—the Discovery 3—will generate as much energy as its users consume on an annual basis. The energy created will be from solar panels, and a solar-powered integrated space and water heating system for radiant in-floor heating and hot water on demand. Each Discovery home is “the best home that we could build at that time,” explains Scott.

This year’s single-family demonstration home is a three-beedroom bungalow with an upper-floor development (built into the attic space) spanning over 2,600 square-feet. One obvious missing space is the basement, which Avalon left out to prevent heat loss. The company’s vision, “to build Net Zero homes at no additional cost to the consumer by 2015,” is still something Scott says Avalon focuses on. Although Discovery 3 has met the Net Zero goal “the (home’s) price is approximately $150,000 to $200,000 more than a conventional home,” he explains, noting the next goal will be to bring down costs for Avalon customers.

People should visit the Discovery 3 home to play any of the four interactive games in its garage to learn how to live in a Net Zero home. The home will be on display for approximately a year, until the Discovery 4 is complete on the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) campus in Calgary. When its show home responsibilities are complete, the Discovery 3 will be put on the market.

Always thinking of the next step, Avalon Master Builder has already discussed the future and design of the Discovery 4 with SAIT staff and instructors, planning to leave the completed home along 14 Street and 16 Avenue N.W. for about a year as a training facility for SAIT staff and students. Scott explains the home will then become a show home in McKenzie Towne for another year or so. Then, proceeds from the house sale will be donated back to SAIT.

The Discovery 3 is open Monday through Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. and weekends and Holidays from noon to 5 p.m. at 3 Issard Close, Red Deer. Visit http://www.avaloncentralbuilder.com for more information about the house.