EnerGuide for Houses Retrofit Incentive Program: A Winning Strategy to Improve Energy Efficiency of Canadian Housing

Diane Francoeur, Louise Roux, and Anil Parekh, Natural Resources Canada

Keywords

Abstract

The federal department of Natural Resources Canada initiated the EnerGuide for Houses (EGH) program in April 1998 to promote energy efficiency retrofits in existing low-rise houses. In October 2003, the federal government added an incentive component to the EGH program for homeowners.

The EGH concepts incorporate principles of the home energy rating system. House as a system approach is the basis for the energy efficiency evaluation of homes. The EGH advisor investigates the energy related features of a house, estimates the home’s annual energy requirements, and provides a comparative energy efficiency rating as well as providing a comprehensive report including recommended retrofits. Once a homeowner implements retrofits, a second EGH evaluation is performed to measure improvement in energy efficiency. This difference in the pre- and post-renovation rating, an indicator of the improvement in energy efficiency, is the basis for the incentive.

The program is delivered on the basis of co-operation between the private and public sectors. Natural Resources Canada is primarily providing the assessment tools, the training program for energy advisors, marketing resources and technical support to the contractors. EGH contractors sell the evaluation service to homeowners in their designated territories and assume associated risks. Natural Resources Canada then buys the house data from the contractors for a fee of about C$150 per energy evaluation.

Since the program launch to the end of April 2006, over 252,000 houses (about 3.1% of the eligible housing stock across Canada) have received the initial rating. Currently, EGH evaluations are performed at a rate of about 7,000 houses per month. Typically, homeowners implement about two thirds of recommended measures. On average, the homeowner retrofit incentive is C$735 – which represents approximately 10% of the total retrofit costs. The success of the EGH and its incentive program has also influenced various utility and provincial government agencies to work together. These groups offer a matching incentive to the homeowner creating a winning strategy for promoting energy efficiency in existing houses.

Update: As part of a recent decision of the Government of Canada to reassess its climate change programs, the EGHRI program in being wound down in 2006-07. Pre-retrofit EnerGuide for Houses evaluations are no longer accepted as of May 13, 2006. Post-retrofit evaluations and grants will be funded until March 31st, 2007 at which time the program will be completed. This paper was completed before the program termination announcement.