Canmore residents have the opportunity to evaluate their homes to increase energy efficiency thanks to a rebate program involving multiple government and non-profit agencies.
Climate Change Central, in partnership with Natural Resources Canada, has offered $150 to homeowners throughout Alberta who sign up for a home electricity use evaluation through a pilot rebate program.
In order to promote the program locally, the Town of Canmore (TOC) is offering an additional rebate of $100, with the assistance of the Biosphere Institute, for homeowners who sign up for the evaluation.
“It is a direct-to-the-consumer program and we don’t have very many of those in Alberta, so it is great to be able to offer that,” said TOC sustainability co-ordinator Lori Rissling Wynn. “We had some money set aside in the 2013 budget for doing community engagement specifically related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
But it isn’t just the audit the local rebate program applies to. The Town is also offering a $75 rebate for homeowners who implement changes after the evaluation.
Rissling Wynn said the two-phase rebate is expected to cover the average price of the $325 evaluation and promotes changing behaviour to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“We really wanted people to actually implement what the report describes for them to do, so there would be some recommended behaviour changes and then some efficiencies in terms of appliances and other fixtures in the home,” she said. “That was just our way to give people a bit more incentive to implement some of the recommendations of the report.”
The Biosphere Institute is administrating the rebate program under the umbrella of its Sustainable Action Canmore Program.
“I think it is a really terrific program because anything that gets people more familiar with how they use resources will help them save those resources,” said Biosphere Institute executive director Melanie Watt. “I am expecting all the rebates to be used up.”
The evaluation will look at things like appliances to see if they are working efficiently and a year’s worth of electricity bills. The recommendations will help homeowners receive a 20 to 30 per cent reduction in electricity use and that is an ongoing savings on their bills as well.
Watt added with a significant percentage of Alberta’s electricity being generated with coal, reductions will affect the amount of greenhouse gases produced by residents in the community.
“I think this program is also really relevant to businesses that are home-based, because if you are working in your home you tend to use more electricity and you might not think of it the same way,” she said.
Rissling Wynn said reducing greenhouse gases ties into several of the municipality’s policy documents and its commitment to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Partners for Climate Protection program.
That program expects member communities to conduct an inventory of energy consumption, set targets to reduce greenhouse gases and implement actions to meet those targets. With its Environmental Sustainability Action Plan, the Town of Canmore has done that. The plan sets out a reduction in community emissions to reduce GHG emissions to 50 per cent of 2007 levels – or 4.45 tonnes/person/year – by 2050 and a reduction in carbon dioxide levels to 2007 levels – or 8.8 tonnes/person/year – by 2020.
“We’re not achieving it yet, but the plan is for us to move in that direction,” Rissling Wynn said. “We can look at it from a discreet local perspective, but then globally we all have a responsibility to make sure we are reducing our GHG emissions to the best of our ability and something like a home energy use audit is a great way for individuals to be able to understand where their energy consumption is and they have the ability to influence it.”
To sign up for one of the rebates, or more information, go to www.biosphereinstitute.org or call 403-678-3445 extension 0.
