Recently I was talking to my friend Peggy Raymer from Madre Bello about the environment and how we can make a difference. Peggy has a company called Madre Bello which sells organic and all natural products. She has amazing products from soaps to shampoos, to baby products. Check out her site. Anyway…I diverted a bit, but there is a point. She wanted to know how to make her house more energy efficient and how to make a difference at home.
I told her about a program called the Eco Energy Retrofit For Homes Program. This program provides home owners with grants of up to $5,000 to offset the cost of making energy improvements to their homes.
This grant is based on how effective the upgrade is in saving energy, not on the cost of the upgrade.
So how does this program work? The first step is to go to the Natural Resource Canada web-site. This web-site will direct you to an Energy Advisor by using your postal code. When I called I spoke to Wayne Rowbotham of Ener Test Corporation. He was very helpful in explaining the process. The cost of the energy advisor to go to your home depends on the square footage. The cost starts at $300.00 and goes up from there. On a 1200 square foot house it usually takes 2 hours. Once the Energy advisor does his evaluation he goes back to his office and uses the Natural Resource software and using their guidelines he receives an Ener Guide Rating. The ratings go from 0 (Barn) to 100 ( which would be a house with renewable energy). A score is usually not posted until the home owner does the work from the report. Once the work is complete the energy advisor comes back for a second visit and re-inputs the new information into the software from Natural Resources. One this information is entered the report will give an Ener Guide Rating. The home owner usually place this label on his electrical panel. The score does not affect the sale of the house in the future, it is more for the home owners information and to help the home owner be more energy efficient.
The maximum grant you can receive per home or multi–unit residential building is $5,000; whereas the total grant amount available to one individual or entity for eligible properties over the life of the programs is $500,000. The average grant is expected to be more than $1000 and will yield an average 25% reduction in energy use and cost.
Homeowners participating in the Eco Energy Retrofit-Homes program are eligible to receive the temporary Home Renovation Tax Credit (HRTC) in addition to the Eco Energy Retrofit-Homes grant for some of the improvements made.
Want more information go to the Natural Resource Canada
I told her about a program called the Eco Energy Retrofit For Homes Program. This program provides home owners with grants of up to $5,000 to offset the cost of making energy improvements to their homes.
This grant is based on how effective the upgrade is in saving energy, not on the cost of the upgrade.
So how does this program work? The first step is to go to the Natural Resource Canada web-site. This web-site will direct you to an Energy Advisor by using your postal code. When I called I spoke to Wayne Rowbotham of Ener Test Corporation. He was very helpful in explaining the process. The cost of the energy advisor to go to your home depends on the square footage. The cost starts at $300.00 and goes up from there. On a 1200 square foot house it usually takes 2 hours. Once the Energy advisor does his evaluation he goes back to his office and uses the Natural Resource software and using their guidelines he receives an Ener Guide Rating. The ratings go from 0 (Barn) to 100 ( which would be a house with renewable energy). A score is usually not posted until the home owner does the work from the report. Once the work is complete the energy advisor comes back for a second visit and re-inputs the new information into the software from Natural Resources. One this information is entered the report will give an Ener Guide Rating. The home owner usually place this label on his electrical panel. The score does not affect the sale of the house in the future, it is more for the home owners information and to help the home owner be more energy efficient.
The maximum grant you can receive per home or multi–unit residential building is $5,000; whereas the total grant amount available to one individual or entity for eligible properties over the life of the programs is $500,000. The average grant is expected to be more than $1000 and will yield an average 25% reduction in energy use and cost.
Homeowners participating in the Eco Energy Retrofit-Homes program are eligible to receive the temporary Home Renovation Tax Credit (HRTC) in addition to the Eco Energy Retrofit-Homes grant for some of the improvements made.
Want more information go to the Natural Resource Canada
