Transcript
You’ve decided you’d like to make retrofits to your home to make it more comfortable, resilient, and energy efficient.
There are a number of eligible retrofits through the Canada Greener Homes Grant you might like to consider.
Energy advisors play an important role in the Grant process: they conduct an EnerGuide home evaluation before your retrofits and assess your home from attic to foundation.
Their report will help you understand how your home energy is used and prioritize retrofits with the most benefit for your home.
After you’ve completed your retrofits, they’ll return to measure the difference in energy efficiency you’ve achieved.
Your house is a system. All the parts work together.
The building envelope is an important part of that system—it keeps out extreme temperatures, moisture, dust, and wind. It includes all building components that separate the indoors from the outdoors: exterior walls, foundation, roof, windows, and doors. First, improving the building envelope is your most important task; it will last a long time and make your house much more energy efficient… not to mention more comfortable!
Next you can turn your attention to mechanical systems like those for heating, cooling, ventilation, and water heating.
You might want to consider installing solar panels, and consider resiliency measures.
Heat is easily lost in empty spaces in exterior walls. Insulation’s job is to divide that space into many small pockets of still air, which reduces heat transfer between the inside and the outside.
Insulation is rated by how well it resists the heat flow and is given an R-value. The higher the number, the better it insulates. To increase your home’s efficiency, you can add insulation to the roof, exterior wall, exposed floor, basement, and crawl space. You can also ensure that the entire building envelope is insulated without any rooms or areas left without insulation.
You can also replace your windows and doors with ENERGY STAR® certified models and make sure they are eligible for the grant. Professional window and door installers will apply insulating foam and caulking which will also reduce drafts and noise. These measures can lead to a reduction in drafts, as well as increasing heat retention and comfort.
Driven by electricity, a heat pump extracts heat from outside and delivers it inside the home.
The technology has similarities to how a fridge or air conditioner works. In summer it’s reversed so your home is cooled instead. Heat pumps have lower carbon emissions and can have lower running costs than other heating systems like fuel-fired furnaces. A number of heat pumps that extract heat from the air or ground, as well as heat pump water heaters, are eligible for the Grant. Speak to your energy advisor to determine if a heat pump is a good option for your home.
Solar panels collect sunlight and convert it into electric current. Installing solar panels can save money and reduce green house gas emissions.
Homeowners have always had to take steps to weather any natural disasters that may come. These are different depending on where you live—your risks could include flooding, hurricanes, ice storms, wildfires, and power outages. Climate change has now made these even more common.
As you plan your retrofits, consider these possibilities and how you might mitigate them.
For example, batteries connected to a solar system can be helpful during extended power outages. Or basement wall waterproofing can help keep your home impervious to water in storms.
Since your house functions as a system and all the parts work together, doing multiple retrofits enhances the effects of each one. This is the best way to maximize energy savings and increase the comfort of your home.
The Canada Greener Homes Loan offers interest-free financing in addition to the Grant
to help you complete some of the more major retrofits recommended by your energy advisor.
Once you’ve completed your retrofits, it’s time to enjoy the comfort of your greener home
and the peace of mind in knowing that you’re saving money and energy, while reducing your impact on climate change.
To get helpful, in-depth information on all the eligible retrofits or to learn more about the Canada Greener Homes Initiative visit Canada.ca/greener-homes-initiative
