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The History of Solar Homes Inc.

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About Peter

The founder of Solar Homes Inc., Peter Darlington, started out in the construction industry in 1996 working with stucco and on the building envelope.

Four years later, he started his own company called Peter’s Exterior Contracting. Over the last twenty years, he has successfully installed exterior cladding on hundreds of homes and commercial buildings.

In 2014, Peter took interest in an online course by Marc Rosenbaum titled Zero Net Energy Homes and later also became accredited as a Certified Passive House Consultant. This launched what would be the next phase in Peter’s career. He soon founded Solar Homes Inc. in order to offer contracting and consulting services to those looking to reduce their environmental footprint. In order to prove his abilities, on September 1, 2015, Peter transformed his ordinary house into a Net Zero energy solar home.

"The dream is closer than you'd think"

Peter's Net Zero Home

Canada's FIRST CHBA Labelled Net Zero Renovation.

Net Zero energy homes take advantage of renewable resources to produce as much energy as they consume over the span of a year. In Peter’s case, this was achieved by installing a solar array on his garage roof and by reducing his home’s energy consumption through proper insulation, airtightness, high-performing windows, as well as energy-efficient lighting and appliances.

After a year's worth of monitoring, Peter was proud to announce that the solar panels on his garage roof actually produced slightly more energy than he and his family had consumed in their home. Amazingly, this energy powered his entire home including lighting, appliances, electrical outlets, hot water heating, as well as space heating and cooling.

As of April 2018, Peter is a proud owner of a 2014 Chevy Volt. After finishing the planned installation of additional solar panels on Peter's home, this vehicle will be solar-powered and carbon-neutral. As a result, Peter expects to save a total of $4,000 to $5,000 per year on energy costs (home energy plus vehicle fuel).

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Generate Energy

SOLAR ARRAY INSTALLATION

As of 2018, another 5.2Kw of solar was installed and is generating enough to provide the energy for his home and one vehicle for an annual savings of close to $5,000.

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Reducing Consumption

BUILDING ENVELOPE & EQUIPMENT

We reduced the home’s energy consumption through proper insulation, airtightness, high-performing windows, as well as energy-efficient lighting and appliances.