It's way past time for housing designed and built for the issues facing Canadians today, but a new federal initiative hopes to encourage developers and builders to shift into fast-forward and "construct the next generation of Canadian housing" now.

As Canadians grow increasingly interested in healthy, accessible housing at all stages of life, their determination that this housing will be constructed with minimal environmental impact and will support renewable energy resources is gaining strength. Housing that has low-impact on its environment and is constructed from environmentally-friendly materials is an essential step towards sustainable communities. To encourage real estate, construction and related industries in meeting these emerging demands -- and perhaps speeding up the process -- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has created a high-profile, practical demonstration of what can and must be achieved to properly house Canadians in the twenty-first century.

CMHC, Canada's federal housing agency, is extending an invitation "to forward-thinking builder- and developer-led teams" to participate in its Net Zero Energy Healthy Housing (NZEHH) initiative intended to "demonstrate that housing can be built to meet these societal and environmental needs, and set a new standard for Canadian and international housing in the near future."

CMHC explains its Net Zero Energy Healthy Housing concept this way:

• NZEHH involves a sustainable housing and community design solution that combines passive solar, energy efficient design, construction and appliances.

• NZEHH homes are grid connected with commercially available integrated renewable energy systems designed to achieve net zero energy consumption on an annual basis.

• The NZEHH approach also addresses issues involving occupant health, resource conservation, environmental impact, and affordability, resulting in significantly reduced green house gas emissions, and low or no environmental impacts to water, land and air.

CMHC acknowledges that although NZEHH is technically feasible, bringing all the elements together and building this housing may be challenging -- hence the invitation to create practical solutions to speed the emergence of this essential variation on Canadian housing. CMHC will provide technical and financial support to selected builder/developer-led multi-disciplinary design and development teams and will promote this housing innovation and the leading builders/developers and suppliers who step forward to create it. CMHC sees the stakeholders as the Net Zero Energy Home Coalition, Canadian solar and renewable energy industries, developers, manufacturers, homebuilders, architects, engineers, integrated design experts, researchers and government departments at all levels, but community-based organizations should consider presenting their group's contributions to this people-oriented construction initiative.

Intended to include everything from single detached homes to multi-units, the NZEHH Pilot Demonstration initiative involves three separate stages:

• Phase I -- Request for Expressions of Interest (May 15 - June 30, 2006): Project teams will be formed from the NZEHH visions submitted. A CMHC selection committee will nominate up to 20 projects based on the quality and quantity of submissions received. These competition winners will receive national recognition and financial support of between C$50,000 and C$100,000.

• Phase II -- Design Development (July 24 - October 30, 2006): The winning Phase I team submissions will develop detailed design proposals for their NZEHH projects with the appropriate technical, research, marketing and financial support. The resulting design submissions will be evaluated, with 6 to 12 projects selected from across Canada for further development.

• Phase III -- Construction Demonstration Monitoring (December 2006 - July 2009): Once selected teams construct their projects, these Net Zero Energy Healthy homes and the development teams will be available to 1 year to local, national and international audiences for a demonstration period of 6 months. CMHC will coordinate technical, marketing and financial support to ensure success for NZEHH teams.

After the demonstration, the homes will be sold and then monitored for energy and water consumption, indoor air quality and other performance indicators for a minimum of one year.

CMHC states the opportunity clearly: "Builders and developers participating in the NZEHH initiative will establish themselves as environmental leaders in the marketplace, enabling them to access opportunities for business growth within Canada and internationally."

Interested in participating? CMHC's deadline is June 30, 2006. To register to receive the Request for Expressions of Interest, call 1 800 668-2642 and you'll learn the details for submission of your NZEHH vision.