Riverview High School
Shop students at Riverview High School in New Brunswick are building an energy efficient and net-zero mini home to be used to address the housing shortage in their community.
Riverview High School
Shop students at Riverview High School in New Brunswick are building an energy efficient and net-zero mini home to be used to address the housing shortage in their community.
The Problem
The climate and affordability crises go hand in hand. Housing is an urgent need in many communities across the country, including in the Maritimes, with new builds starting every day. However, this housing needs to be built with sustainability in mind so it can be used for decades to come.
The Solution
Students in the carpentry and mechanics programs at Riverview High School in New Brunswick wanted to address both of these issues and built a net-zero mini home. The classes worked together under the guidance of the shop instructors and student foremen who graduated from the program. The carpentry class framed and built the structure of the house, while the mechanics class wired it and created and installed a wind and solar system to power it! Riverview High School’s shop program has built small structures in previous years, but this was their first time taking on a project of this size and learning how to build net-zero.
75
students and teachers worked on different parts of the project!
1,300
students were engaged in learning about the project and net-zero building principals, and their project was featured in a local paper which reached 3,300 community members.
Lessons Learned
“This program provided our school with a unique opportunity to create a real-world product while giving students hands-on training they wouldn’t typically receive at the school level. It’s inspiring to see young people take the lead, applying their creativity and skills to tackle real-world challenges like energy-efficient building and renewable energy integration.”
Brock Leaman, Carpentry Program Teacher
“It had a good team efficient impact on me, cause working by yourself is okay, but working with others you can get more done, more productive, and they might have different views or opinions on it.”
Jacob, Student
