He has an architecture degree from Dalhousie University and dreams of housing his fellow humans in healthy, energy-efficient and environment friendly condos at  normal market prices.

As dreams go, it was tall order, but Christopher Holmes, the brains and the wallet behind EcoCite is dreaming big, and selling condos that dramatically cut energy and water use as fast as he can build them.

Using materials and techniques usually found in industrial buildings Holmes is building on the success of Habitat 1, an eight-unit building in the Lachine Canal district of southwest Montreal that uses 80 per cent less energy than a normal house, and half the water.

Habitat 2 a seven unit building is currently under construction in the Laurier East neighborhood of Montreal and Holmes is about to launch two more eco-condo projects in  that city and another in the Glebe area of Ottawa.

"The Eco-condo represents a revolution for the home-buying market," said Holmes who used his inheritance money and borrowed heavily from family and friends to finance his "green" development company. As Canada grapples with rising energy costs, environmental degradation and Kyoto protocol, Holmes said his company offers homeowner a way to take issue into their own hands.

The eco-units he built in Montreal ranged in price from $155,000 for 870 square feet to $210,00 for 1,200 square feet. They featured polished cement floors, exposed beams, patios or sky gardens. Recycled, reused and non-toxic materials were used in a blend of modern architecture and natural aesthetics.

Born in Montreal, Holmes, 28, grew up in Ottawa but returned to his hometown after university convinced it was the ideal Canadian city in which to start his urban eco-housing revolution.

Each new homeowner pays only about $75 a year for heating, cooling and hot water. The condo fees, of $85 a month are enough to make any conventional condominium owner recycle his own breath.

"The technology exists now to build buildings that consume about zero energy for heating," Holmes said adding that this is achieved with passive, solar and geothermal energy.

Nothing is wasted in a Holmes home, not even the waste.

"We recover energy from all the waste water that goes out, we recover energy from the waste air that goes out," Holmes said.

The ceiling in an EcoCite condo acts like a giant radiator, either circulating heat or cool, depending on the season, that's provided by a geothermal heat pump in the basement. "Geothermal energy is basically, we're stealing heat from the ground," Holmes explains. "It's always around 7 or 8 degrees Celsius in the ground and we can steal little bits of that heat out and heat the house that way."

Solar hot water heating is produced by 3-inch evacuated glass tubes. The solar panels, made of squares of 16 tubes are integrated into the vertical face of the southern façade of the building. Solar energy provides about 40 per cent of the hot water needs. The balance of the energy is provided by a drain water heat recovery system and the geothermal heat pump.

Cool water will circulate through the radiant floor system concealed in the concrete slabs to cool the building in summer. All units are supplied with fresh filtered air. Energy efficient appliances, round out these planet friendly condos.

Holmes comes by his vocation honestly. His father and uncles were builders and he grew up on construction sites in the Ottawa area. After obtaining a business degree from Carleton University he headed east to Halifax where he combined his passion for the environment with his skills as an architect.

But he needed his skills as a gifted communicator and his own manic energy to persuade his partners, backers and tradesman about the practicality and feasibility of these eco projects. " Yeah, some people thought I was crazy," the affable Holmes admitted. "But I know it works and I have top engineers and top notch architects to make sure that it does."

He believes the way to change things socially and environmentally is to come at them from an economic point of view. In other words, build envir on mentally friendly homes people want, at a price that is competitive  and makes money for the developer.

"I'm an environmentalist, but I'm a real estate developer," said Holmes adding that his company is showing that the two can coexist. He chooses his locations carefully making use of infill lots with easy access to parks, transportation, and shopping. " My philosophy is that a business can be a tool for social change. What I'm doing is far and away much better than what the typical real estate developer's doing."

"If you can make a good economic case for doing things that improve your community and improve the environment, then you are going to have people follow you-some who believe in the social environment aspect and some who just want to make money."

Holmes is one of the environment heroes featured in The Great Warming a three-part documentary on the devastating effects of climate change, which will premiere on the Discovery Channel on Earth Day, April 22, 2004.