Abstract
This article investigates the overall societal impacts of the REEP House for Sustainable Living (REEP House) in Kitchener, Canada. Available information on green demonstration homes (GDHs) is reviewed to identify their goals, past assessment practices and their impacts on different measures ranging from energy consumption to behavioural changes. From this, the need for a multicriteria framework for evaluating GDHs is demonstrated. Drawing upon the GDH experience, the broader impact assessment literature, knowledge gained from community-focused recreational events and information from open eco-homes, such a framework is developed. This five category GDH multicriteria framework is then applied to the case of the REEP House. Using both technical data and social data, the results provide unique insights into GDH societal impacts across a variety of areas. The REEP House’s retrofits had significant impacts: reductions of electricity consumption by 41 %, of water consumption by 94 % and of gas consumption by 78 %. Its programming activities also showed noteworthy effects: regarding information distribution, 76 % of visitors felt they had received enough material to improve their own home; and with respect to the overall impact, more than 50 % stated that they were planning to return to the REEP House. These results are compared with other GDHs’ experiences. In conclusion, lessons are drawn for all GDHs that wish to improve both their assessment procedures and their societal impacts. The limitations of this study are also identified.
Highlights
This article investigates the overall societal impacts of the REEP House for Sustainable Living (REEP House) in Kitchener, Canada
What is not immediately apparent is that the REEP House is much more resource efficient than it was less than a decade ago [1]; it features an array of sustainability-minded retrofitting options, ranging from drain water heat recovery to a ground source heat pump and high efficiency
The purpose of this research was twofold: the first, to conduct a case study on the REEP House to uncover the overall impacts of its programmes and, the second, to explore impact assessment methods for green demonstration homes (GDHs) and to determine whether these could be improved
Summary
This article investigates the overall societal impacts of the REEP House for Sustainable Living (REEP House) in Kitchener, Canada. The REEP House The city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, has a population of 220,000 people and is located approximately 80 km southwest of Toronto—Canada’s largest city. The city government and many of its citizens have had a commitment to sustainability, as evidenced, for instance, through the presence and activities of both the City’s Environmental Committee and the many environmentally focused community groups based there. It has a green demonstration home (GDH)—the REEP House for Sustainable Living ( called ‘the REEP House’)—with which it is attempting to change people’s behaviours through education. Located in downtown Kitchener, the REEP House looks like other buildings in its neighbourhood—a simple home that was built in 1910. What is not immediately apparent is that the REEP House is much more resource efficient than it was less than a decade ago [1]; it features an array of sustainability-minded retrofitting options, ranging from drain water heat recovery to a ground source heat pump and high efficiency
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