• Sonja Winkelmann, Senior Director for Net Zero Energy Housing at the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA), shares her tips on how to build an energy efficient home

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–There are many reasons why you should build the most energy efficient home you can. For one, it shows that you are a progressive builder who is keen to work with the latest technology and information available to you. Homeowners appreciate the consistent comfort throughout their house and the long-term savings on their energy bills. Overall, building energy efficient homes has the dual benefit of conserving energy and helping Canada meet its collective climate change goals.

Energy Efficient Homes

The most energy efficient homes built in Canada today are Net Zero homes. That means that the building generates at least as much energy as it consumes over the course of the year. Net Zero Homes are built so efficiently that they consume up to 80 percent less energy when compared to a home built to the current Model National Building Code, and a renewable energy system provides the remaining energy needed.

To achieve energy efficient homes, builders need to focus on two areas: the building envelope and the mechanical systems. If Net Zero is the goal, you’ll also need a renewable energy system.

Whichever energy efficiency program you’re following (Net Zero, LEED, Energy Star, R-2000, Built Green, Passive House, etc.), there are a number of key materials you can use to achieve your goals including:

• Exterior house wrap sealed at the seams
• Insulation that exceeds current building code requirements
• Interior sealed vapour barrier
• Double- or triple-paned windows
• Thermal exterior doors
• Energy efficient lighting such as Square D switches and receptacles
• Energy Star-rated appliances
• A home energy monitoring system such as Wiser Energy
• “Right sized” and energy efficient HVAC equipment
• Solar panels and battery storage

Sustainable Building

Whatever rating program you’re following, the basic components are the same.

“An airtight building envelope with higher levels of insulation and high-performance windows will make a home more energy efficient,” says Winkelmann. Not only do these measures help keep the heat in during the colder months – meaning less energy is used for heating, in the warmer months they help keep the heat out, reducing the need for air conditioning.

The materials used to make a home airtight include external house wraps that are sealed at all the seams, insulation that exceeds current building code requirements, a sealed interior vapour barrier, and efficient windows and exterior doors. Depending on which region of the country you’re building in you’ll want to use double- or triple-paned windows.

Next is the building’s mechanical systems, including the HVAC system and water heating. With the building envelop properly sealed and insulated, “the mechanical systems can be ‘right sized’ to each home, so they perform better,” says Winkelmann. Combined, the sealed envelope and right sized and energy efficient HVAC systems improve comfort throughout the house.

Winkelmann also points out that the CHBA’s Net Zero program is “performance based rather than prescriptive” giving builders the ability to customize the design and construction of each home. This means builders have a variety of options and components at their disposal to achieve their goals in the most cost-effective way.

Appliances, lights, and other electronics in the home should also be Energy Star-rated models. LED lights, smart bulbs, smart switches, and dimmers all help reduce the amount of energy used for illumination.

An essential piece of equipment is a home energy monitoring system, such as Wiser Energy. This tool measures precisely how much energy a home is using, and helps owners identify ways they can reduce their energy usage. As the builder, you’ll need to help educate your client on how to minimize the amount of energy they consume and make any necessary adjustments based on the feedback their home energy monitoring system provides.

Finally, a Net Zero home has a renewable energy system – typically, incorporating solar panels mounted on the roof. Where possible, orient the roof to capture south- or west-facing views to maximize the system’s peak load. If your client isn’t ready to commit to a fully Net Zero home, you can install the required rough-ins for potential installation down the road.

How Schneider Electric Can Help

In addition to the Wiser Energy Smart Home Monitor, Schneider Electric has a number of products that can help improve the energy efficiency of a home.

Dimmers are a simple way to provide energy savings by offering full illumination when needed and subtle lighting for a more ambient feel. Schneider Electric also has a full line of stylish Square D™ X Series Z-Wave and Wi-Fi-enabled switches that put even more control and monitoring capabilities into the hands of homeowners.

With voice commands or control via the app, owners can remotely operate appliances and fixtures, create custom lighting scenes, monitor energy use at the plug level, and much more.

Space-saving features include single switches that can control a fan switch, humidity sensor, and occupancy sensor all in one.

When choosing outlets and switches, look for the Green Premium label, Schneider Electric’s best-in-class environmental performance products.

Homeowner Education

“A home will only run as efficiently as the owners operate and maintain it,” points out Winkelmann. That’s why homeowner education must be part of the handover process for your clients. Start by reiterating all the measures you took to make their home as energy efficient as possible. Then make sure they understand how to use their Wiser Energy Home Energy Monitor and offer advice on how they can adjust their lifestyle to reduce their energy consumption.

Whether it’s a desire to do your part to help reduce the impacts of climate change, energy independence or long-term financial savings, there are number of reasons why you should be building energy efficient homes for your clients.

Schneider Electric’s Wiser Energy Home Energy Monitors, along with their Wi-Fi-enabled and Green Premium products will help you achieve you and your clients’ energy efficiency goals.

Tags: energy efficient housing, Green Premium products, Home Energy Monitor, Net-Zero Homes, smart homes, Sustainable Homes, Wiser Energy

About Schneider Electric

Schneider’s purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.

Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.

We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.

We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values.

www.se.com/ca

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Contacts

Media Relations – Edelman on behalf of Schneider Electric, Juan Pablo Guerrero

Phone: +1 416 875 7173, Email: juan.guerrero@edelman.com

Redfin is the first real estate site to provide users with a detailed view of local zoning guidelines for almost every home in the U.S. and Canada

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–(NASDAQ: RDFN) — Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage, today added zoning and land use information to more than 70 million home description pages on its website. Powered by a partnership with Zoneomics, Redfin is the first real estate site to provide users with a detailed view that educates them on the implications of their local zoning guidelines for almost any home in the U.S. and Canada.

Zoning laws are critical for consumers to understand because they regulate how properties can and cannot be used. In addition to determining what property types and density are allowed in a neighborhood, land use laws dictate whether property owners can do things like build an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in their backyard, run a business out of their garage, have farm animals, or list their home as a vacation rental. These laws and regulations can be difficult for buyers to discern during the homebuying process since relevant information is often buried on government websites or in complex local zoning codes.

“Zoning is a defining characteristic of real estate in North America. It impacts everyone, and you shouldn’t need special research skills to find the information you need,” said Christian Taubman, Redfin’s chief growth officer. “Redfin users ask us every day whether a property can be rented out on Airbnb or whether building another living unit in the backyard is allowed, and now they can find answers directly on our home detail pages. We’re proud to be the first real estate website to make that information clear and easily accessible to consumers.”

Redfin detail pages for both for-sale and off-market homes now display a zoning summary for the property, including the zone code, name, type and description. Eligible properties also include a list of permitted, conditional and accessory land uses. Consumers who are interested in more comprehensive information have the option to purchase a variety of zoning reports from Zoneomics. The feature is available on Redfin.com for homes in nearly 3,900 cities across the U.S. and Canada. The company plans to launch the feature on iOS next week and Android next year.

“Zoning data has a unique and crucial position in the U.S. and Canada, where it is essential but also needlessly gate kept from the homebuyer,” said Matthew Player, Zoneomics’ chief executive officer. “This partnership with Redfin is exciting because it will help us provide important data and zoning reports to consumers without any hassle, effectively democratizing access to zoning data across North America.”

Adding zoning data is the most recent step toward Redfin’s goal of providing the most complete and relevant home information to consumers. This year, Redfin also added information about climate risk, school ratings, neighborhood amenities, public transit, internet service and speed, and down payment assistance programs to home detail pages.

About Redfin

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate company. We help people find a place to live with brokerage, rentals, lending, title insurance, and renovations services. We sell homes for more money and charge half the fee. We also run the country’s #1 real estate brokerage site. Our home-buying customers see homes first with on-demand tours, and our lending and title services help them close quickly. Customers selling a home can have our renovations crew fix up their home to sell for top dollar. Our rentals business empowers millions nationwide to find apartments and houses for rent. Since launching in 2006, we’ve saved customers more than $1 billion in commissions. We serve more than 100 markets across the U.S. and Canada and employ over 5,000 people.

For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin’s press release distribution list, email press@redfin.com. To view Redfin’s press center, click here.

Redfin-F

About Zoneomics

Zoneomics is a real estate intelligence platform powered by AI and machine learning that collects and puts crucial zoning data, land-use data and analysis into the hands of users at the click of a button. Built by experienced real estate professionals and technology experts, they understand the challenges faced by modern users when seeking this information for important decision-making. The Zoneomics platform extracts and standardizes the latest zoning data from thousands of sources around the clock and then delivers insights in multiple popular formats including a map-enabled web platform, a variety of zoning reports, zoning data APIs and bulk data. Visit www.zoneomics.com for more information.

Contacts

Contact Redfin
Redfin Journalist Services:
Erin Osgood, 206-588-6863

press@redfin.com

Millions of North American homeowners and businesses rely on Venstar technology for advanced comfort control and energy management

WALLER, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#HVAC–Daikin Comfort Technologies North America, Inc. (Daikin) has acquired Venstar, Inc. (Venstar), a prominent controls and energy management systems provider whose technology and indoor comfort solutions are used in millions of residences and light commercial applications across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The acquisition, announced today by Daikin – a subsidiary of Daikin Industries, Ltd. (DIL), the largest manufacturer of HVAC systems worldwide – complements the growing market for Daikin’s environmentally friendly indoor comfort technologies, including its high-performing inverter and heat pump solutions, and products featuring R-32, an open-source refrigerant with one-third the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of the most commonly used refrigerants in the U.S. and Canada.

Venstar, founded in 1992 and based in Southern California, designs and builds a broad variety of innovative thermostats with more than 10 million installed. The company’s Surveyor® Energy Management System allows retailers, restaurant chains and other multi-location businesses to remotely monitor, manage and control energy consumption while reducing maintenance expenses. Currently, Surveyor is used to control more than 100,000 HVAC systems and building lighting in more than 30,000 retail locations throughout North America. Venstar’s Skyport Cloud service provides businesses a secure and private powerful cloud service for command and control of HVAC systems from anywhere in the world.

Under the new ownership as a wholly owned business unit of Daikin Comfort Technologies North America, Inc., Venstar will continue to be led by Venstar’s existing management team with Steve Dushane, founder, president and CEO, as well as all current employees of Venstar. Venstar’s headquarters will remain in California and Daikin plans to maintain the strong recognition of the Venstar brand, along with maintaining all of Venstar’s successfully branded products.

“Venstar’s advanced smart thermostats, controls technology and outstanding energy management systems will help support Daikin’s leadership role in connected solutions, ensuring safe, environmentally friendly, peak performance operations of HVAC systems through cloud-connected monitoring and control,” said Takayuki Inoue, Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for Daikin. “We are committed to facilitating North America wide adoption of energy-efficient inverter, heat pump and R-32-based systems. These Daikin systems provide superior environmental benefits, energy savings and indoor comfort performance over traditional HVAC systems that currently cool and heat most North American homes and businesses.”

Steve Dushane, founder, president and CEO of Venstar, said “We are excited to join a company with a strong commitment to innovating indoor comfort and cultivating environmental sustainability. Daikin products are known for their technology leadership, energy efficiency, robust quality and high performance, all hallmarks of Venstar’s products and services that will further enhance our brand portfolio.”

“Venstar’s energy management expertise and smart, communicating controllers will help contractors, homeowners and businesses optimize the energy-saving and performance benefits of inverter-driven HVAC systems,” explained Dennis Thoren, Vice President of Controls and Solutions at Daikin.

“Smart thermostat and cloud service solutions represent the future of indoor comfort beyond controlling temperature and ventilation,” said Thoren. “Monitoring and controlling performance, indoor air quality, predictive maintenance, and optimizing service truck logistics are just a few of the benefits that innovative thermostats and cloud-based services can provide contractors and customers. It’s an effective, easy way to manage energy consumption remotely, even eventually collaborating with electric utilities to improve demand response. These are powerful benefits that provide value to utilities, contractors and customers.”

“For example, Venstar’s Surveyor typically saves small-box retailers 20 to 35 percent of their controlled energy costs,” said Dushane. “This translates to tens of millions of dollars in savings each year and dramatic reductions in CO2 emissions,” he explained.

The acquisition is one of several Daikin has completed during the past few years as it works to transform the North American HVAC industry. The $500 million Daikin Texas Technology Park (DTTP), located just northwest of Houston, now employs more than 7,000 people. At over 4 million square feet, DTTP is one of the largest manufacturing facilities in the world; 74 football fields can fit under its roof.

For more about Daikin Comfort Technologies, visit northamerica-daikin.com.

About Daikin

Daikin Industries, Ltd. (DIL) is a Fortune 1,000 company with more than 84,870 employees worldwide and is the world’s #1 indoor comfort solutions provider company. Daikin Comfort Technologies North America (DNA), Inc is a subsidiary of DIL, providing Daikin, Goodman, Amana^® and Quietflex brands products. DNA and its affiliates manufacture heating and cooling systems for residential, commercial and industrial use and are sold via independent HVAC contractors. DNA engineering and manufacturing is located at Daikin Texas Technology Park near Houston, Texas. For additional information, visit www.northamerica-daikin.com.

About Venstar Inc.

Venstar Inc. is a leading thermostat and energy management system (EMS) manufacturer, known for providing value to its customers via ease of use and installation, proven cost savings, improved energy efficiency, quality and reliability. Founded in 1992, Venstar is one of the largest thermostat suppliers in the world and designs and produces Venstar-branded products, as well as OEM thermostat products for the biggest names in HVAC. Venstar’s Surveyor is a leading energy management system, typically saving small-box retailers 20 to 35 percent of controlled energy costs, which translates to tens of millions of dollars in savings each year and dramatic reductions in CO2 emissions. Surveyor currently controls the energy usage of 30,000+ retail locations across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico. For more information, visit www.venstar.com.

Contacts

Marc Bellanger – Director of Marketing & Communications – 713.263.5505

Wendy Hall – Director of Communications – 713.232.9229

Whip Around developed the Whip Around Wallet to improve compliance and ensure their drivers are road ready at all times.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Whip Around launches new document management solution for Fleet Managers and Drivers, a move designed to improve compliance and ensure their drivers are road ready at all times.

Poorly managed or missing documentation consistently features in the top roadside enforcement violations each year with in-cab documents relating to the driver and asset prone to damage, expiration or misplacement. Companies are liable for the actions of their employees, and can be held accountable if a non-compliant driver is operating an asset or unable to produce the required paperwork during a roadside check. With so much paperwork involved, it’s a challenge for drivers to store and manage it easily on the go, often putting themselves under the risk of scrutiny.

Steve Keppler from Scopelitis Transportation Consulting emphasized the growing issue of paper-based record keeping and FMCSA compliance, “Fleets that use paper-based recordkeeping tend to have more challenges recording data, maintaining records, missing important deadlines, locating proper records on request, and easily identifying compliance gaps in documents and dates. Using an electronic system addresses all of these weaknesses. It helps carriers be proactive to keep them compliant and identify issues early on before they become a problem.”

Whip Around Wallet is available on web and mobile. Documents are safely stored in the cloud and they can be tagged, making it quick and easy for drivers to access all the documentation that they need while out on the road. Accessibility is critical to document management, but the real value of Wallet lies in the ability to set expiration dates, renewal notifications and retention sunset reminders on documents. This dramatically lowers the risk of not meeting compliance requirements and the cost that goes along with it.

“It definitely helps our drivers remain compliant. It’s really easy to use, and made us a lot more organised. We can check that we’ve got all the required paperwork, and if we’re missing something from one truck we can grab it ” – Ryan Weinstein from M&M Waste.

A range of documentation can be stored in Wallet so that it’s easily accessible during a roadside check or audit.

Some of these include:

• Vehicle permits and cab cards
• Carrier insurance policies
• Driver medical certificates
• Evidence of periodic inspections
• Period inspector credentials
• ELD documentation
• Trailer documents

“With Whip Around Wallet Fleet Managers can have peace of mind that they have set their team’s up for success. It’s another step towards Whip Around’s promise to help customers take control of their fleet maintenance processes, improve safety and compliance, and reduce costs and downtime” – Elizabeth Santorelly VP Product, Whip Around.

To learn more about the Whip Around Wallet, email sales@whiparound.com or call 704 489 3268. Existing customers should contact their Account Manager or email support@whiparound.com for further details.

About Whip Around

Whip Around is a powerful, yet easy-to-use fleet maintenance software solution that connects drivers, mechanics and fleet operators to improve the uptime across their fleet operations. Whip Around operates in North America and Australasia and serves hundreds of thousands of users and assets worldwide across all commercial fleet industry verticals. The company’s mission is to keep the world’s fleets moving by accelerating information.

Contacts

Lauren Yeoman

704.412.3986

Lauren.yeoman@whiparound.com