Students at the Endeavour Centre, a not-for-profit sustainable building school in Peterborough, Ontario, are currently undertaking a five-month-long project to build what they call “Canada’s Greenest Home.” The project is part of the school’s Sustainable New Construction: Building a New Future program, and students will be working on-site with a team of instructors to create the two-storey home that they hope will meet with the stringent Living Building Challenge certification from the International Living Future Institute.

The hands-on work will also be supplemented with in-class lessons on building science theory and knowledge of construction business. Along the way, staff and students at the Centre will be blogging about the experience of building Canada’s Greenest Home on their official website.

When completed, the home will boast net-zero energy, producing as much power as it uses. It will also recycle and treat rainwater and greywater, as well as use composting toilets to turn waste into useful compost. The home will be built with locally-harvested materials, and will use straw bale wall panels for their great insulating value and small environmental footprint. The fully-accessible design will be completed with non-toxic interior finishes, and a full ventilation system.

Once finished, the school plans to sell the home on the open market, with the sale price helping to offset tuition costs for the students. Chris Magwood, Executive Director of The Endeavour Centre, hopes that “the sale of this house on the open market will be an indication to other builders that there are buyers hungry for this level of environmental performance in a new home purchase,” he explained in a statement.

“We hope to generate a lot of interest in Canada’s Greenest Home,” added Magwood. “A lot of people think we’re far from being able to live lightly and comfortably on the planet. We’d like this project to show that it’s a goal well within reach.”