EnerGuide for Houses Update
Five hundred tonnes. That's how much Hearthmakers' clients in Southeastern Ontario reduced their greenhouse gas emissions in 2004 by participating in the EnerGuide for Houses service. One Kingston homeowner who followed Hearthmakers retrofit advice reduced his greenhouse gas emissions by a whopping 38 tonnes! As a bonus, he will substantially reduce his heating bills and receive a grant of $938 from the federal government's EnerGuide for Houses Retrofit Incentive service.
EnerGuide for Houses has been in existence since 1998, and interest in the s has dramatically increased since Natural Resources Canada launched a grant s in October 2003, based on how much a homeowner increased their EnerGuide for Houses rating between a pre-retrofit and post-retrofit evaluation. The grant amount varies from $118 to $3348 depending on the improvement level. The federal government is funding the service with the goal of having 20% of Canadian homes upgraded by 2010, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping to meet their Kyoto emission reduction targets.
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 for Houses 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 us 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, we send the incentive application to Naturtal Resources Canada on the homeowner's behalf.
Hearthmakers has been a licensed delivery agent since 2000, and has completed over 1200 EnerGuide for Houses evaluations in the region, with over 800 completed in 2004 alone. Currently we have five Certified Energy Advisors, four based in Kingston, and one based in the Quinte region. Hearthmakers is the only not-for-profit delivery agent in the region.
For more information, visit our EnerGuide for Houses page, or contact us.
