Welcome to our Sustainability Starts at Home series, which aims to help you live a more sustainable and eco-friendly life! We hope you’ve taken the time to read our most recent blog, What’s Behind the Walls of a Net Zero Ready Home? which shares how our construction methods and materials provide you with a more energy-efficient home.
When it comes to designing your home, choosing eco-conscious products can offer a huge benefit to the environment and your family’s health. That’s why we have curated a list of items you can upgrade to, that use environmentally-friendly materials, manufacturing, and sourcing. BONUS, they are beautiful and will look stunning in your home. Continue reading to learn about our top five eco-conscious products:
Mirage Hardwood Flooring
Want that “wow-factor” first impression the second you and your guests walk into your home? Mirage Structured Hardwood Flooring is proudly Canadian and can last up to 100 years. If you find potential imperfections, dents, or scratches over time, it can easily be touched up or sanded and refinished to look as good as new! This flooring is the best choice for the environment; over 85% of Mirage’s purchased volume of domestic species comes from sawmills within 500 miles to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Activa offers hardwood flooring as a standard in all Single Detached Homes, and an upgrade in all Multi-Residential Homes.
To learn more about Mirage Hardwood Flooring, click here.
Cambria Quartz Countertops
Cambria is at the forefront of innovation in quartz products and employs sustainable best practices in their operations. They mine quartz particles through crushed stone instead of extracting full slabs from the earth, and 100% of the power used to mine is hydroelectric. Cambria uses rail when transporting raw materials to limit their carbon footprint and 100% of the water used for production is recycled, saving 1.6 billion gallons of water annually. All diamond-metal tooling is refurbished and reused, and the remaining is repurposed for community road materials and construction needs!
A quartz countertop is harder than granite and marble, making it less likely to scratch, chip, or stain over its lifetime. PLUS, the surface is nonabsorbent and won’t draw moisture from raw or leftover food, which can harbour harmful bacteria. Activa is proud to offer Cambria quartz countertops as an upgrade option in our Design Studio – whether you place it in the kitchen, bathroom or as an accent somewhere else, it’s bound to create a lasting look that is tactile, modern, and stunningly unique.
To learn more about Cambria’s commitment to sustainability, click here.
Moen Smart Faucets
Like a piece of jewelry for your kitchen, a beautifully polished faucet instantly elevates the space. Moen Smart Faucets offer convenience, precision, and intuitive voice-activation technology to help complete tasks in the kitchen. Saving you up to 32% on your water usage, these faucets are designed to conserve water and ensure water is used only when needed. All of Activa’s homes allow for an upgrade to a smart faucet in the kitchen or bath, bringing an unmatched touchless experience that is both fun and practical.
To learn more about Moen Smart Faucets, click here.
Dual-Flush Toilets
Whether you’re concerned about your water consumption because of its impact on the environment or how it affects your monthly bill, choosing the right toilet can dramatically reduce your home’s water use. In fact, upgrading to a dual-flush toilet can cut the water used by 50%, making it both more eco-friendly and kinder to your wallet. A dual-flush toilet has two flush options, allowing you to choose the amount of water used. You can select the partial flush button for liquid waste or the full flush button for solid waste. By not using the same amount each time, you have a toilet that saves a significant amount of water over the course of each day. All Activa homes offer low-flow toilets as standard and you can upgrade to a dual-flush toilet to further reduce your water consumption.
Reverse osmosis
Protecting your water quality might just be one of the most important things you’ll ever do for your wellness, your family and even the planet. Installing a reverse osmosis system in your home provides fresh, filtered water right from your kitchen sink. Unlike other forms of water filtration, reverse osmosis is considered one of the most all-around effective ways of eliminating water contaminants. Residential-grade reverse osmosis filters can remove up to 99% of lead, asbestos, and 82 other additional contaminants. Reverse osmosis systems have ended boil water advisories in communities across the world by safely treating the drinking water where traditional water filtration systems did not work.
To learn more about reverse osmosis, click here.
Ready to take the next step towards an eco-friendly home?
Invest in an ENERGY STAR® Certified, Net Zero Ready or Net Zero home in the Waterloo Region!
At Activa, all Townhomes are ENERGY STAR® certified so that your home is designed to be as much as 20% more energy-efficient than those built to minimum building code requirements. They feature energy-saving measures, such as insulation upgrades, higher-performance windows, better draft proofing and more efficient heating, hot water and air conditioning systems, for increased savings and comfort.
Net Zero Ready comes standard in all single detached homes so that your home is optimized to generate as much energy as an average family consumes annually– all it needs post-closing is energy-producing technology like solar panels to be installed! To take energy efficiency to the next level, you can upgrade your home to Net Zero with built-in and ready-to-use solar panels installed on the rooftop. This renewable energy source provides low-carbon, sustainable energy by generating electricity from the sun, saving you money over time.
To learn more about our ENERGY STAR® certified homes, click here.
To learn more about our Net Zero Ready homes, click here.
Looking for more eco-friendly tips?
Check out our blog post, 21 Tips to Live More Sustainably at Home, to learn more! Have a tip for us that we haven’t mentioned? Send a DM to @BuiltByActiva on Facebook or Instagram to share with us!