The Landmark Group of Builders (“Landmark”), a private company with offices in Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer regions, was founded in 1977 and has grown into a multi-divisional organization that provides high quality housing solutions to all segments of the new home market. As one of the largest homebuilders in Alberta, Landmark produces, on average, 1,000 dwelling units per year and in 2012, over 88% of Landmark houses achieved an EnerGuide rating of 82 or higher.
About 70% of Landmark’s products are built using a unique panelized construction system in their manufacturing facility in Edmonton.
Micro-photovoltaic systems have been considered the most promising reusable energy solution for housing, however, high initial cost, impact on building aesthetics and lack of stakeholder participation impede its market diffusion. The goal of the proposed renewable energy project is to develop, validate and demonstrate a cost-effective solution and business model for integrating solar PV into production housing.
The success of the project will help the Alberta homebuilding industry break the existing barriers impeding the adoption of solar PV. The technical solutions and operation models developed in the project have the potential to significantly reduce solar PV’s installation costs to an affordable level and thus become the start point of the market diffusion of solar PV technology in Alberta’s new home market.
The work under this project includes the installation of 200 – 8kW solar PV systems on NetZero Ready homes across the province. Once installed, these systems will generate 2,032 MWh of electricity annually and directly reduce GHG emissions by over 42.4 kilotonnes in their 25+ year life span.