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The EnerGuide for Houses Service
Within This Page
 What Is EnerGuide for Houses?
Developed by the Office of Energy Efficiency of Natural Resources Canada in cooperation with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca The EnerGuide for Houses evaluation service provides homeowners with information on energy-efficient improvements for their homes. Many service organizations across Canada offer this service. They can provide independent expert advice on the different systems of your home and what can be done to improve comfort and reduce energy bills. By assessing your home, an EnerGuide for Houses advisor can analyse how it uses energy and where energy is being wasted. The evaluation includes the following:
An EnerGuide for Houses Evaluation Is Not a Home InspectionAn energy efficiency evaluation and a home inspection are different kinds of house assessments. EnerGuide for Houses evaluations focus on how a house can be improved in order to reduce energy costs and increase comfort. EnerGuide for Houses advisors make their assessments by using energy analysis software to model a home's energy systems, evaluate its energy performance and calculate an EnerGuide for Houses rating. Home inspectors are generally called upon to assess homes after buyers have made an offer to purchase a property or before closing the deal. Home inspectors check the exterior, foundation, basement and above-ground structure for defects. They also check the plumbing, electrical, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems for mechanical problems. Home inspectors produce written reports or checklists of their findings to homeowners. Like home inspectors, EnerGuide for Houses advisors identify problems by conducting visual inspections and produce written reports or checklists of their findings for homeowners. Professionals in each field have strong backgrounds in all areas of residential construction and provide unbiased opinions based on their expertise. EnerGuide for Houses advisors are professionally affiliated with EnerGuide for Houses, and home inspectors who operate in Canada are affiliated with professional associations, such as the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors An EnerGuide for Houses energy evaluation is provided as a stand-alone service. Some home inspectors may offer home inspections and energy efficiency evaluations. To make sure that the advisor you choose is certified by EnerGuide for Houses, check the service organization listing on this Web site. Cost of the EnerGuide for Houses EvaluationAn EnerGuide for Houses evaluation is a professional service. It is valued at between $300 and $350, but support from the Government of Canada and the industry allows many regions to offer the service for less. Whatever the cost in your area, the initial investment is easily recovered in savings after you implement the home improvements outlined in the evaluator's customized EnerGuide for Houses report. Contact an EnerGuide for Houses energy advisor. Find out how you can improve the energy efficiency of your home, save money on your energy bills, be more comfortable and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Financial HelpThe Government of Canada now provides grants to homeowners who complete energy efficiency retrofits based on EnerGuide for Houses advisors' recommendations. The grant amount will depend on a comparison of the pre-retrofit and post-retrofit EnerGuide for Houses rating of the home. Only homes that have been evaluated using the EnerGuide for Houses service are eligible for grants. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) offers a 10 percent refund on its mortgage loan insurance premium for homeowners who borrow money to build or buy an energy-efficient home or renovate an existing one. Starting January 1, 2005, homebuyers also have the flexibility of extending the amount of time required to repay their mortgage from 25 years to a maximum of 35 years. To qualify for this refund, the home's energy efficiency must be rated using the EnerGuide for Houses rating system or be R-2000* certified and meet certain minimum requirements. Visit CMHC's Web site *R-2000 is an official mark of Natural Resources Canada. What to Do After the EvaluationWhen you have carried out the recommended improvements, you can request a follow-up visit to re-evaluate your home and update your EnerGuide for Houses report and label. If you have followed a number of the recommendations, you could be eligible for a grant. Be sure to book a follow-up evaluation with your energy advisor as soon as possible after your energy upgrades are complete, as your advisor must submit your grant application within 18 months of your home's initial evaluation. Building a New HomeSome new home tract builders (i.e., builders who construct entire subdivisions) now offer one or even two levels of energy upgrade packages for their different models. These upgrade packages have been prepared by the builder working with the EnerGuide for New Houses service to assess their building plans, predict energy costs and recommend ways to increase the energy performance of their houses. These packages are offered to customers for a fee, just like any other upgrade. Many of the most valuable energy improvements are easier and cheaper to install while a house is being built. The energy advisor can also introduce you to the R-2000 professional community. R-2000 homes are efficient to operate and comfortable to live in. Houses built to the R-2000 Standard must achieve high energy-performance goals, be mechanically ventilated for excellent air quality and use environmentally friendly products and practices during construction. You Can Help the EnvironmentToday, 17 percent of all energy use in Canada goes toward running our homes. Every time we use energy from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, we produce greenhouse gas emissions. By using less energy in our homes, we help reduce the production of the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change and harm our environment. Homes that are more than 25 years old have the potential to save an average of 35 percent of their energy use. Homes that are more than 50 years old could achieve even greater savings – an average of 38 percent. So far, more than 130 000 homeowners have used EnerGuide for Houses to help identify and solve home comfort problems and plan their energy efficiency retrofits. Natural Resources Canada data shows that if these homeowners undertook all the retrofits recommended, they would reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by almost 4.6 tonnes per year, per house. They would also have a head start in meeting Canada's One-Tonne Challenge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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