5. Green Renovators, Consultants & Suppliers

Written by Homegrown | 20 April 2009
Posted in Spring Renovations: Go Green!

If you can’t do it, they can do it. Or at least, they can help you know where to start and how to get the biggest green bang for your buck.

These are some of the players you need on your team: someone to:

1. Help you look at the overall picture of your building project and help determine “conceptually” what the outcome will be.
2. Provide the design to help bring concept to completion.
3. Build and/or oversee the building or renovation project.
4. Provide services to supply or install the parts to complete the project.

Whatever the role you are looking to fill, finding the right building partner is crucial, especially for what is already a challenging process. This is true whether you are building new or renovating old buildings.

And if you have philosophical penchants towards a greener design, construction process and end product, selecting your team is all the more important.

So try to surround yourself with good design and construction people or companies, such as the ones listed below. But be sure to do it at the beginning of the project, in the conceptual stage. You know what they say: It’s better to design twice and build once.” Do your homework and work with people with green building philosophies who’ve done theirs as well. Having the right partners in early for proper up-front analysis will help you get the end result you are need with the ROI you want.

Here are 15 consultants and service providers that may be able to shed a green tint of light on your building and renovation projects:

1. Anne Sinclair: green architectural practise, now member of the Green Building Council of Canada. (423-1329)
2. Archnet: owned and operated by Rod Malay and offers green design and building services. Rod uses all green materials, some tricks he no doubt refined as he helped with the EAC’s green Fern Lane retrofit project. Rod is also able to install residential geothermal systems and has experience working on straw bale houses. (830-6351)
3. Bfreehomes Design Limited: owned and operated by Shawna Henderson, writer of the Canadian Solar Home Design Book, performs deep energy retrofits with the goal of reducing energy consumption by 70-90%.
4. Doctor Solar: service and installation of solar thermal systems. Doctor Solar’s Jim Allen has over 25 years experience and worked extensively with locally-produced Thermo Dynamics. (209-0586)
5. Green P: supplies water-free urinals. We just had to tell you about this one, if not for the water-reducing capacity of the units, then for the fun company name! (483-3210)
6. Lydon Lynch Architects: a local leader in designing LEED designated buildings such as the new Seaport farmer’s Market, for which they are the lead designer.
7. Mammana Renewable Energy: full-service provider of renewable energy solutions such as wind, solar hot water, grey water recycling and more. They are NS’s only manufacturer of wind turbines. (888-801-9321)
8. My Generation Personal Power Solutions: assessments, analysis, costs estimates and feasibility studies for the purpose of reducing your carbon footprint and hopefully providing you a good ROI in the process. (425-7663)
9. Nova Sun Power: provides on and off-grid alternative energy systems such as solar, wind turbine and other. (877-783-6147 or www.novasunpower.com)
10. Peter Henry: architect who puts a priority on energy efficiency and green technologies. He specializes in renovation projects such as the EAC’s Fern Lane retrofit. (455-9884)
11. Robie Sagar: carpenter and shipwright, specializing in carpentry using previously used wood. We of course have to mention that Robie is one of the partner’s in The Wooden Monkey, featured Everyday Gourmet for our Spring Guide!
12. SolTerre: green architectural firm with certified LEED-certified building professionals. See more about Solterre’s design philosophies above. >> Learn more…
13. Straw Bale Projects: is run by Kim Thompson, who is a professor at the Dalhousie School of Architecture, and has years of experience with buildings of a natural, healthy and affordable nature, including of course, straw bale houses. (453-2429)
14. Sustainable Housing & Education Consultants: for energy efficiency that also offers EnerGuide assessments.
15. WHW Architects: are associated with designing the first LEED-certified building in Halifax and employs over a dozen LEED-certified employees.