Don't Give Harper Too Much Credit For the New EcoENERGY Program

I was sitting next to the programmable thermostat in my dining room when I heard the news: the Harper government announced that they were investing $220 million over 4 years to help Canadians retrofit their homes to make them more energy efficient. I am a huge supporter of energy conservation, so I was very happy to hear that they had finally brought back the program that Harper had cancelled on May 12, 2006.

In December 2005, I wrote all about my introduction to the EnerGuide for Houses program. It is a brilliant way to incent people to invest in making their homes more energy efficient. The initial evaluation, partially subsidized by the program, was the biggest education that I've ever had as a homeowner. We learned what improvements would give us the best overall efficiency, so that we wouldn't waste money. Plus, we learned how to do it properly. Needless to say, I was crushed when the Harper team announced the program's demise. I had vowed to write to Stephen Harper and tell him exactly what I thought of his short sighted plan for the environment. But while rushing to get my retrofit work done before the deadline to qualify for the rebate, I realized that of course, they quietly cancelled the program (along with the One Tonne Challenge) so that they could relaunch a similar program and re-brand it with a blue Tory stamp. This way they can have a big press launch and tell everybody what they are doing for the environment. But, they don't tell you that they simply took the program from the Liberals and renamed it.

Yes the EcoENEGY program is very similar to the ENERGuide program, with one major change: they are no longer subsidizing the initial evaluation. I read online that the Tory's are not funding it because it "devoured" the program's budget, since only 30% of people who underwent the initial evaluation went on to apply for the retrofits rebate. I paid $175 for my initial evaluation, which was a very thorough 4 hour consultation with an energy efficiency expert. There is no way that his time is only worth that for four hours! I was happy that the government subsidy for the objective evaluation was subsidized. Had it been $300, I likely would not have done it. And in reality, the $2000 that we spent on insulating our house, and then the $50 final evaluation, will not be covered by the $605 rebate that we will be getting this year. It does not even come close. But it was a good incentive for us to do something about the energy efficiency of our house. Yes, we will save on energy every year which will slowly pay off the investment in the house. But even better, we are saving 1.5 tonnes of green house gas emissions every year by reducing our home's energy consumption. It is a win-win situation.

I am thrilled that the Tory's brought back the program. I'm even happy that it is making the news, because hopefully more people will hear about it as a result and they will jump on the retrofit bandwagon with me. But it annoys me that they have to trash one program and rename it, just to make themselves look good in the eyes of the voters. Imagine the wasted money on administration. They had to fire all the competent people who were running the old EnerGuide program, giving them generous severance packages. And then they had to hire new people who need to be trained to understand all about running such a program. Maybe they are even hiring the same experts back, so those individuals will be paid both the severance plus their new salaries. And I don't even want to get started about all the paper materials that were printed with the EnerGuide name and logo. I received numerous pamphlets and books that explain how homes are heated and insulated, all produced for the EnerGuide program. All the leftovers will be sent to recycling while graphic designers and copy writers will get to work preparing all the printed materials, with the new logos and name. Get those presses rolling. Is this really saving the environment?

All programs are riddled with overhead costs that eat into the program's real goals. I guess that is a fact of life that I need to accept. I just hope that when the Liberals take over from the Tory's next, they don't continue the waste by cancelling and renaming the program again, just so that they can hold a press conference. I really hope that the next government will create and fund a truly unique initiative that they can be proud to call their own. Hopefully Stéphane Dion and his dog Kyoto can come up with a program that justifies the overhead investment and expensive press conferences, and really makes an impact on energy conservation in Canada.

Insulation: The Day Has Finally Arrived!

Eleven months ago we had our first energy audit done by Greensaver. We had a work plan with recommendations to make our house more energy efficient and more comfortable. We followed that with quotes from contractors but before we could begin work, we had to have any electrical work done first. When we were finally ready in August, I called Greensaver, and their first available appointment was Nov. 20 & 21. So we waited. It got colder. The Conservative government cancelled the EnerGuide for Houses (EGH) program. (Thank you Mr. Harper! The environment and future generations who must suffer the consequences of our energy wasting ways really appreciate it.) But finally, the day arrived.

The work consisted of sprayfoam insulation in the headers of the crawl space (which required removing the sub floor) & basement, blown cellulose insulation in the front wall of the house (both floors) and blown cellulose insulation in the attic. They also recommended filling the north wall of the house, since it is a hollow frame, but the previous owner put rigid foam insulation on the exterior wall before he had the siding installed.

The guys came in and did the spraying yesterday and the blowing today. It was extremely disruptive as we had to tear up the kitchen floor and move all the furniture away for the exterior walls in all the spaces that were going to be insulated - on all 3 levels. And to blow insulation into the wall, they had to drill a bunch of 2" holes into the plaster & lathe, every 16"or less, to access the cavities. But they guys patched them all. We are left with the task of sanding and repainting all the patches in the living room & upstairs bedroom. Plus now we can put everything back against the wall in the basement.

But what are we going to do about that kitchen floor? For now, we are covering the holes with pieces of the old kitchen cupboards and scraps of plywood. We need to get the floor in so that we can plug the stove back in. While we are making do with the toaster oven & microwave for now, it is not a long term solution. It is hard to believe that my desire to insulate the front wall has lead to a full on kitchen reno. I'm still exhausted from Sunday, and I'm freezing from being in an unheated house for two days.

We have our final energy audit on December 6. Hopefully our efforts will be rewarded with a better EnerGuide score a maybe even some $$ from the now defunct government program.

Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

I am a conservationist and I want my home to be as energy efficient as possible, plus I like to save money. When we tore down the wall between the front room & hallway, we could see into the exterior wall - no insulation. Not even some old newspapers, just air blowing around. I called a bunch of folks from the yellow pages, but could not get somebody to do just that one wall (below the minimum charge), plus we'd have to wait a few weeks, and we'd already booked the drywaller. My friend Matthew suggested Greensaver, and told me all about the EnerGuide for Houses (EGH) program offered through the federal government. What a brilliant idea. Our government sponsors a program to help Canadians make their homes more energy efficient by getting an unbiased energy audit and work plan, plus you can qualify for a grant based on the improvements that you make.

Patrick, a consultant from Greensaver, came to do our audit. He did all kinds of poking and prodding to determine the amount of insulation in the walls & ceilings, but most exciting was the door blower test. He fit our front door with a giant fan that sucked all the air out of the house, creating negative pressure, which emphasized the cold air leaking into the house. It is a particularly cold day, so it was easy to feel the drafts. Patrick gave us a list of recommendations for retrofits, draft proofing, etc. And he told us that our house rated a 51/100 on the EnerGuide for Houses. That is pretty good for a house that is over 100 years old, but there is obviously ways to make it another 49% better. Patrick's model of our house showed that if we did all of his recommendations, we could get up to a 67, which would qualify us for a grant of over $900, and would cut our annual green house gas emissions by 3.9 tonnes. Something to consider.

I highly recommend the EnerGuide program. Canada is full of beautiful old houses that have zero insulation and can benefit from a program like this. Until the 70s, oil & gas were so cheap that nobody cared about efficiency. It is too bad that it takes an energy crisis before we care about conservation but necessity is the mother of invention, and possibly intention too.