SCOTT GIBSON, FINEHOMEBUILDING.COM

In Canada, private and public interests are working on a common problem: How to build net-zero-energy housing that average homebuyers can afford.

Asked by officials in the government’s ecoEnergy Innovation Initiative for some new ideas on how to encourage energy-efficient building, a company called buildABILITY Corp. put together a program in which five separate builders were invited to tackle the net-zero problem in whatever way they chose. As a result, single-family homes and condominiums are going up in five cities in four provinces as builders work with their own consultants to produce affordable net-zero-energy houses in their respective markets.

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