Tamarack Homes, Midhaven Homes, Mattamy Homes’ CEO Peter Gilgan among the Innovators and Leaders Recognized at the EnerQuality 2014 EQ Awards
The Minto Group received three major awards at the EnerQuality Awards on on March 13 in Toronto. Among them was Ontario Green Builder of the Year award which recognizes the company for leading the homebuilding industry in energy efficiency and green building this past year.
The Minto Group was also awarded ENERGY STAR® for New Homes Builder of the Year in the large volume category, and Best Green Marketing Campaign in part for their Longbranch community on Toronto’s Lakeshore Boulevard.
The awards recipients were announced at the EQ Awards in Toronto on February 19th. Annually, the ceremony recognizes green innovators and influencers in the building community.
“We are extremely proud to honour The Minto Group and their industry peers for their commitment to building a greener Ontario,” said Corey McBurney, ;resident of EnerQuality, “Year after year Ontario’s residential construction industry finds innovative ways to build increasingly energy efficient homes, and they deserve recognition for their hard work.”
EnerQuality also celebrated the 10th anniversary of ENERGY STAR® for New Homes, a program the organization piloted in 2005. Over the last 10 years EnerQuality has seen a steady increase in market penetration – last year 32 per cent of all Ontario homes were ENERGY STAR qualified, the most successful year to date. The program is now the most successful green building program in Canada.
Two additional ENERGY STAR® for New Homes Builder of the Year awards were presented, one to Tamarack Homes in the mid volume category, and the other to Midhaven Homes in the small/custom category.
The ENERGY STAR® Champion of the Year award was presented to Al Schmidt of A&J Energy Consultants, who works with builder clients to implement turn-key processes for value added, energy efficient construction.
Peter Gilgan, founder and CEO of Mattamy Homes was inducted into the EnerQuality Hall of Fame. The prestigious award is presented annually to an individual who, over the course of his or her career, has made a lasting impact on energy efficiency and green building in the housing industry. Mattamy Homes has built more than 11,000 ENERGY STAR qualified homes across Ontario, and was one of the first builders to enroll homes in the program.
Other awards included the Building Innovation award presented to Doug Tarry Homes Ltd. for their Optimum Basement Wall, Evaluator of the Year presented to Andrew Oding of Building Knowledge Canada, and Green Renovation Project of the Year presented to Sloot Construction.
Brookfield Residential was recognized with Enbridge’s Savings by Design Award for demonstrating building excellence and innovation through their participation in the program.
Sudbury’s Dalron Construction Ltd. was honoured with Union Gas’ Optimum Home Award for their exceptional role in market transformation and leadership in building to a higher performance standard.
EnerQuality’s Leader of the Year award was provided to Shannon Bertuzzi of Enbridge Gas Distribution in recognition of extraordinary advocacy and leadership driving the growth of energy efficiency and green building in Ontario over the past year.
In addition, EnerQuality recognized three Industry Partners whose longstanding collaboration with EnerQuality and their sustained engagement with builders have helped to promote innovation and energy efficiency in the homebuilding industry. Union Gas, Enbridge Gas Distribution and Owens Corning Canada were all recognized, the latter two partners for ten years of support. The Industry Partner Awards were presented by Empire Communities’ Paul Golini, Jr.
Delegates at the EQ Awards heard remarks from Carol Buckley, director general, Office of Energy Efficiency and Kevin Lee, CEO of the Canadian Homebuilders’ Association.
The awards show followed the EnerQuality Housing Innovation Forum in which some of the brightest minds in the industry came together to explore the most compelling and ground-breaking products and services in the industry, and to discuss the future of green building in Ontario. The forum included a full day of insightful seminars, networking and education.
The 2014, inaugural Innovation Gauntlet award was presented to Dettson Industries for their high efficiency furnaces, rightsized for smaller homes, quiet operation and improved comfort.
The Innovation Gauntlet is a Dragon’s Den-style competition where industry manufacturers and organizations pitched their smartest, most innovative products and services to a panel of judges and the audience, who then chose the winner by ballot. The Gauntlet featured home heating, visualization and renewable technology from a number of solution providers:
- Avid Ratings Canada – GoTour ONSITE allows builders to strategically emphasize key differentiating building performance features invisible to homebuyers in model homes by using tablets and iBeacons.
- Cricket Energy – Daikin Variable Refrigeration Volume (VRV) Heat Pumps and Air Conditioners are smaller modular systems that achieve the efficiencies of central plant systems, but with smaller tonnages, improved part load efficiency, less space for ducts or pipes, and simultaneous heating and cooling.
- Dettson Industries – Chinook Gas Furnaces with Alizé Outdoor Cooling are high efficiency furnaces rightsized for smaller homes featuring a small footprint, quiet operation and improved comfort through summer dehumidificaiton/destratification.
- International Solar Solutions – Solar Powered Attic Vent avoids excessive heat buildup in attic space during summer months, extends the lifespan of roofing materials, reduces air conditioning loads and features a retrofit design for ease of installation.
- Napoleon Heating and Cooling – Condo Packs are provincially approved, high-efficiency packaged heating/cooling units for multi-residential homes designed for conventional thru wall installation featuring stainless steel heat exchangers and ECM blower motors.
- Redmond Williams – Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters and Redzone Air Handlers are a P.9-11 tested combo system that delivers space and cost saving efficiencies while reducing gas line and venting requirements.
Solution providers such as Owens Corning Canada®, Canplas Industries, The R&D Development Group, Enbridge Gas Distribution, Recover, Red Zone, Henry BlueskinVPTM and Solar Ontario were also on hand as part of the EQ Trade Show.