The roof-top solar array is pretty basic: four strings of ten panels each, connected to an inverter unit housed inside the garage. Each panel can generate slightly in excess of 250W of power, for a nominal capacity of 10kW of electrical generation.

This power is fed straight into the utility grid at a high price, and we then purchase (much less) power back from the utility at market rates to run the home.

All lighting in the home is done with LED bulbs and a few "native LED" fixtures. Nothing exotic, but it does help keep the energy usage nice and low.

The rear of the house faces due geographic South, and the main (upper) level eaves were designed by SWMBO to maximize solar gain. In the depths of Winter, the Sun reaches through those large windows into and beyond the middle of the home. On a sunny winter day of -15C outside, the interior can reach 27C or more, just from the sunlight flooding in.

During the heat of summer, the eaves block all sunlight: none at all reaches the (upper level) interior from the South face. This helps keep the home from getting too hot. We did end up running the A/C for about six days this past summer, the hottest on record.

With the East/West alignment of the main axis of the home, we get natural airflow (aka. "cooling") from the prevailing winds out of the West. Just open a window or two at each end, and the central hallway gives a pretty good impression of a wind tunnel.

The home sits on two acres of gently sloping ground, with a private soccer field shared with one neighbour, loads of space for future gardens, natural gas from the street pipeline for heat/cooking, and good high-speed internet. Oh, and lots of space for guests.

Y'all are quite welcome should you find yourselves over this way.