Toasty warm inside a rammed earth home

The thermostat reads 18 C. The thermostat, it should be noted, is sitting on the windowsill of the bathroom. It should also be noted that, due to a faulty part, the heat pump has not been working for two weeks. And despite the recent above-zero temperatures, it is still January in Ontario.

“Let that resonate,” says Graham Cavalier, general manager of Aerecura Sustainable Builders, to the assembled crowd of about 65 people. “Please imagine what that would be like waking up in any of the homes that you live in if you did not have access to heat for two weeks.”