Queen Victoria House

Home lessons on going green on a tight budget

Originally published in the Globe and Mail on June 12, 2009

"Greens are good for you." "Save your pennies." "Don't run with scissors."

All that nagging was enough to make you hop on your Green Machine (by Marx Toys and way cooler than the Big Wheel) and ride off to join the circus. Too bad all that broccoli weighed you down.

But 1970s moms were wise. So too is twenty-first century architect Paul Dowsett: He agrees that green is good for you and, should you decide to embrace sustainability as a way of life, he can save you a lot of pennies.

You might say Mr. Dowsett, 47, is a green machine. From the greening of mega-institutions, schools and commercial buildings to the reworking of an 8,000 square foot 1935 art deco home into an Eco-Deco showplace for Mr. David Daniels (featured in this space twice), he's doing the big money stuff, with LEED accreditation to back him up (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

His own 1915 home in the Danforth and Jones neighbourhood known affectionately as "the Pocket" is an example, however, of how to go green without going broke.

"Everything here is inexpensive because I have a very tight budget," he laughs.

Starting at the top, literally, is the Galvalume roof. While the aluminum-zinc alloy coated sheet metal costs twice as much as asphalt shingles, the material has a 50-year lifespan that's been proven in the salty wet Maritimes. It can be installed "right out of the factory" by any roofing contractor, meaning installation costs are comparable. Green-wise, the fluted shape allows hot air to travel up and vent away before heating the attic, and the highly reflective surface acts in much the same way as the high-albedo paint used on Mr. Daniel's residence.

Hot water is generated by a roof-mounted solar panel. Heat collected at the panel travels in a glycol solution to the mechanical room to warm cold municipal water via a heat exchanger, then it's stored in a tank. When hot water is needed for the old radiators, the new radiant floors (in the addition) or faucets, it travels through a tankless water heater, where an extra heat-boost is applied if needed.

Wide steps of Brazilian ipe wood (also known as "iron wood" because of its durability) leading up to the columned front porch--a nod to the Texas birthplace of Mr. Dowsett's partner--fool the eye into thinking the narrow 16-foot home is much wider. When purchased in 1997, six rooms were crammed into the 400-square foot main floor; today, it's an open concept dining room and kitchen area, and the living room now occupies a seamless 2005 addition Mr. Dowsett tacked onto the back.

Well, it would be seamless were it not for the light-well/courtyard. This cheap and cheerful feature, which gives a clue as to where the original house once ended, brings much-needed southern light into the middle of the home, which allows for passive solar heating. It also positions the double-gazed, low-E, argon-gas filled wood-frame windows across from one another so that, when opened, air circulation is improved. It's a little gesture, but it achieves much: "There are maybe three or four evenings a year that are uncomfortable," says the architect.

Upstairs, notable in the front room is the high ceiling, which Mr. Dowsett and partner Ron Lambert reinforced with scissor-trusses so it could be peaked (it was a flat, low ceiling) and a ceiling fan installed. Interestingly, although Mr. Dowsett has no plans to sell, the master bedroom facing the back garden has been designed with symmetrical closets and big windows on either side so that, should a larger family move in one day, the room could be easily split into two children's bedrooms.

Not only has the couple reduced their energy use, they also practice reuse and recycling: Original, ornate radiators were stripped and repainted at an autobody shop, the iron railing cradling the sexy staircase comes from Mr. Dowsett's childhood home, there is gently used mid-century modern furniture here and there, and the brick pavers in the backyard were once the back wall and chimney of the house before being removed for the addition.

The home is not a techno-geek paradise of wind towers, storage batteries and geo-thermal heating, yet, with a "series of small choices" Mr. Dowsett has maintained the same amount of energy use while almost doubling the living space.

He enjoys making green choices so much, he wants to help others with theirs. After over two decades at big firms, he'll be hanging his own shingle, sustainABLE, in the "green-collar" Leslieville neighbourhood in the next few months: "Average people are probably intimidated by a large firm, they don't want to pay those fees...and I know that there are a lot of houses in this city that are in the mid-range of 300 to 500 thousand dollars," he says. "All of those people, if you asked them, would want to do the most environmentally responsible thing, they just don't know where to start."