A $25 investment in 1963 for extra-fat insulation batts was the smartest decision Harold Orr has ever made.
Almost five decades ago, the man behind Canada's respected R-2000 program hired a Saskatoon contractor to build a modest 1,100-square-foot bungalow for him, his wife, Mary, and a young family that would eventually grow to include four sons, four daughters and a number of foster children.
It was a full house, but also a warm one that operated on a slim budget.
"I don't remember exactly what I saved that first year, but it was at least $25. Now I estimate I save $400 to $500 a year on heating with natural gas," says the 80-year-old internationally recognized environmental engineer.
Orr is the principal brain behind the Saskatchewan Conservation House, an 1,800-square-foot two-storey built in Regina in 1977 by a team of leading energy professionals. It was the first R-2000 home built in North America and it was crafted from suggestions Orr made to the organizing committee the year before — 13 years after he customized his family's three-bedroom bungalow.
A respected graduate of the National Research Council in Ottawa and then the NRC's Saskatoon offices, Orr was asked for suggestions but cautioned against offering anything experimental or crazy. He came back with a seven-point building plan that became the blueprint for the Conservation House and, later, Canada's successful R-2000 program.
Even more important, his recommendations were, and remain, the foundation of sweeping changes to green the building code, which was just updated this month in four provinces — Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and British Columbia.
There are some differences between the 2012 building code changes and his own green menu:
- Orr suggested no basement, because they were too expensive to insulate and prone to water leaks.
- Most of the windows should be on the south side of the house to capture the warmth of the sun and limited to smaller dimensions on the east, north and west side of the home to prevent heat loss.
- Shutters would be less expensive than opting for triple-glazed windows and do the same job of saving energy, he reasoned.
- Finally, walls should be 12 inches thick to accommodate extra insulation and there should be 20 inches of insulation in the roof.
The Conservation House created a furor among a concerned minority of environmental leaders who wanted to create an energy-efficient home in the years following the OPEC oil crisis in the '70s. Oil prices that almost tripled in two months, from $3.56 a barrel in October 1973 to a record $11.65 by January 1974.
A year later, the Danes built a zero-energy house in Lyngby, Denmark, that utilized some of Orr's R-2000 components and operated on less than $40 a year.
Americans were going in similar green directions, pushing R-2000 standards and super-insulated homes, while sliding away from stingier passive solar-heated homes because they were more expensive to build.
Orr used many of the same R-2000 building techniques in retrofitting older homes, turning energy gobblers into energy misers.
Yet the drive to build more R-2000 homes and homes with environmental benefits crashed when the price of oil tumbled from $32 a barrel in 1982 to $11 a barrel in '86, prompting then U.S. president Ronald Reagan to slash funding to innovative energy-saving programs.
There were similar spending cuts by former Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney, including trims to NRC staff and programs, prompting Orr to take a buyout when he was 55.
In Saskatoon, Orr continues to consult in the energy sector and continues to pocket energy savings based on the $25 investment in extra-fat insulation batts. His brick bungalow cost $13,890 at the time. He spent an extra $500 for brick siding, another $100 on operating windows to allow summer breezes to cool the inside of the home and another bit of money for a second, smaller bathroom on the main floor.
Before finishing the basement — adding two bedrooms, a family room and a bathroom — Orr personally installed a tight vapour barrier to keep out moisture and keep in heat. "I didn't trust the contractor to do a good, tight job. So I did it with a friend from work on the weekend."
Over the years, the Orrs have replaced the original windows with triple-glazed models containing low-E argon gas, traded wooden slab doors for insulated metal options and upgraded the furnace.
But those fat insulation batts, which improved the R-7 factor up to R-10, are still in the walls, paying back dividends far better than any mutual fund.
In fact, a mathematician might say Harold Orr's $25 investment and lower energy bills have more than recouped the price tag of his Saskatoon home.