Welcome to the 2023 Bow Valley-wide Green Buildings Open House!

The Green Buildings Open House is a self-guided tour of high-performance and sustainable building practices in the Bow Valley.

On this page, you will find the homes that will be open for this year's tour and links to details of each home. Use these details to choose the homes you want to visit on Saturday, June 3.

These are open-house tours. Just make your own way to the homes at the times they are open, and the homeowners and volunteers will show you around. You do not need to register in advance for the tour, but we encourage low-carbon forms of transportation.

You are welcome to visit as many homes as you like but visit three locations, collect three stamps and be entered into a prize draw for some great prizes!

Prizes include:

Google Nest Smart Thermostat and Power Connector
Anker Portable Solar Charger and External Battery Pack
$150 KAIN TAYO Gift Voucher

Green Buildings Open House Tour Day

Saturday, June 3, 2023 - 11 am - 4 pm

BANFF SITES

Banff Recreation Grounds Public Pavilion - Passive House

The Pavilion is designed and being constructed to Passive House Low Energy Building standards and is expected to have an annual heating demand of less than 30 kWh/(m2a) and an overall low carbon footprint.

Town of Banff Operations Compound - Biomass Energy Centre

**The Town of Banff has created a biomass district heating system that uses a waste product to provide renewable heat for four municipal buildings.**

YWCA Banff - Net Zero Energy

**This building boasts a unique construction design and uses 33.7% less energy annually than the code minimum energy performance which maintains long term affordability for residents.**

CANMORE SITES

Homesteads Net-Zero Passive House

**This is a net-zero Passive House under construction atop a reclaimed coal mine and will use a Ground-source heat pump (vertical closed loop system) to heat and cool the finished property.**

Three Sisters Solar Array & Electric Vehicle

**Located on the 'dark side' of the valley, this unique home boasts two solar photovoltaic systems, one tied to the main house, powering their Tesla Model Y and one to the legal basement suite.**

Larch Deep Energy Retrofit

This finished home is an example of a Deep Energy Retrofit with a renewable heating source.. The gas line was abandoned, and a deep well geothermal system and heat pump were installed for the heating and cooling.

Biosphere Institute - Home Energy Evaluation Toolkit and Sponsor Hub

**See the launch our brand-new Home Energy Evaluation Toolkits and get your questions answered by local experts in our Sponsor Showcase event.**

Dead Mans Flats SITES

Dead Man's Flats Solar Array & e-bike

**These homeowners have experience installing solar twice on two separate homes. They have been proud solar homeowners for over nine years and have a wealth of knowledge to share.**

The Green Buildings Open House is being run in conjunction with the 2023 Eco-Solar Home Tour - with thirty-six homes across four cities. This year, there is a strong focus on deep energy retrofits, with thirteen homes doing major efficiency makeovers and fourteen new and retrofit net-zero energy homes. But it's not all about homes. This year they are featuring Canada's first net-zero (electric) Village near Lethbridge, and The City of Calgary is showcasing their composting facility.

What a terrific tour we have planned! Thank you to all of our homeowners for stepping up to show their homes and our sponsors for helping keep this a FREE tour. We'll see you on the tour!

Pictures of the 2022 tour