EnerGuide for Houses Fact Sheet

Posted Saturday April 01, 2006
  • The EnerGuide for Houses service is a two-hour analysis that evaluates the energy profile of a home and gives the homeowner detailed recommendations on how to reduce energy use. A Certified Energy Advisor visits the home equipped with sophisticated measurement tools, including a blower door to test for air leaks. After all the information is collected, including number of air exchanges per hour, insulation levels, heating system efficiency, etc., the advisor creates a computer-generated report analyzing home energy use and detailing potential improvements. The report also includes the official EnerGuide rating on a scale of 1 to 100. The homeowner has up to 18 months to complete the recommended retrofits, at which time they contact the delivery agent to perform the post-retrofit evaluation to quantify the improvements, and issue a new rating. Provided they have improved their rating enough to qualify for a grant, the agent sends the incentive application to NRCan on the homeowner's behalf.
  • Federal administration costs for the EnerGuide for Houses program are low. In 2005-06, administration was less than 12 per cent, including toll free line, publications, technical and program staff, quality assurance, etc. A full 88% of federal program spending benefits householders directly, either through incentive grants (54%) or cost-sharing for EnerGuide for Houses evaluations (34%).
  • The Conservatives under Stephen Harper voted unanimously in favour of increased EGH funding as recently as November, 2005. They also unanimously supported Bill C-66, legislation that included $100 million a year over five years for a new program to improve the energy efficiency of Canada's low-income housing. This government should honour its commitments to these highly valuable services.
  • Personal greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by an average of 2 to 4 tonnes through home retrofits. Canadian homes are an important focus for emission reduction targets, given that the housing sector is responsible for 17 per cent of total secondary energy consumed in Canada.
  • Reducing residential energy consumption helps to improve our air quality, and home comfort, and contributes to global efforts to mitigate climate change.