When Darcy Crichton sat at her kitchen table, she could feel the cold air seeping through the outlets on the north wall of her 1969 bungalow.

Darcy and her husband Darren figured they had to do something. Little did they know, 24 years ago, those first steps taken to make their home energy efficient would lead them on a journey to a near net-zero home.

Determined to do all the work themselves, Darcy and Darren decided to first tackle improving the insulation in their walls. They painstakingly stripped all the old stucco off and added a new 2 x 4 wall to the exterior of the existing wall. After some research and hard work, they realized they needed to insulate their foundation walls as well.

“Darcy and I dug down to just above the weeping tile and we ended up putting two inches of Styrofoam on the exterior wall,” says Darren.

“Oh boy. There was a lot of digging, a lot of digging and it was trench digging. So, not a lot of space and lots of lifting the dirt up. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into all our projects, but this one in particular,” recalls Darcy.

They replaced all the insulation in the original walls and filled the new exterior wall with new insulation, carefully air sealing the entire wall.

Key to success: Always looking ahead to the next project

Darren knew he wanted to install solar panels on the roof. But their roof and shingles were due for an upgrade too. They decided installing a standing seam metal roof was the way to go. The seams would make mounting solar panels easy and the metal roof offers greater protection from increasingly severe weather events.

After sealing the roof, they upgraded the existing wood chip insulation in the attic by adding 18 inches of blow-in insulation to complete their building envelope retrofit.

Darren is a bit of a techie so, before having a solar power system installed, he installed an energy monitor at the electricity panel in the basement.

Monitoring energy use

By doing this, they became acutely aware of their energy use. “The dryer was using more than 5,000 watts!” says Darren.

With each project the Crichtons took on, they learned more and more about energy use and climate change stewardship too.

“As you go through the whole process of making your house more efficient and more sustainable and more comfortable, the interesting side effect is that you want to make it more sustainable and more comfortable, and you want to get closer to net-zero. So, it's kind of a little challenge that you give to yourself to see if you can get there,” says Darcy.

These days Darren and Darcy are much more aware of their energy use. Since installing the solar system, they try to wait until the sun is shining before using their energy-intensive clothes dryer.

Heat pumps heat and cool the home

Then came the heat dome in the summer of 2021, when temperatures hovered in the high 30s.

“We definitely realized that we were offside; we didn't anticipate having two weeks of super-hot weather where we couldn't even cool down the house at night,” says Darren.

Once again, Darren began surfing the internet to find the best solution for their home.

The Crichtons had an old, inefficient gas furnace that was due for replacement. So, after some research, Darren and Darcy decided to install a ground source heat pump (otherwise known as a geothermal system).

They drilled geothermal ground loops under their front yard and replaced their gas furnace with a heat pump that runs on electricity, suiting their solar-powered home perfectly.

The upside is, the Crichtons are now ready for increasingly hot summers. The ground source heat pump not only heats their home in winter, but also provides air conditioning in the summer. And the best part—it’s 3 to 4 times more efficient than their previous gas furnace.

Climate friendly landscaping

Darcy’s environmental values also extend into their yard.

“We started about 20 years ago with a real conscious decision to not use water on our landscape,” says Darcy. She completely removed the lawn in the front and replaced it with a beautiful xeriscape, consisting of drought tolerant native plants.

Darcy also collects rainwater which she only uses on her vegetable garden.

Near net-zero home

In planning their projects, the Crichtons applied for and received financial incentives for their home energy efficiency upgrades. At the time, both the provincial government and the City of Edmonton were offering rebates, which helped offset the costs of their solar and geothermal installations.

The Crichton’s family home is now extremely energy efficient, comfortable and ready for a changing climate. They didn’t even know what net-zero was when they started their journey, but they made smart choices by always looking ahead to the next step in their Do-It-Yourself journey.

Changing For Climate is a series featuring everyday Edmontonians, businesses and organizations who are actively Changing for Climate—and getting us closer to our goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

For more information, visit edmonton.ca/ChangingForClimateSeries.