Daily Home Renovation Tips

Last Monday we wrote an article entitled ecoENERGY Retrofit Grant Program - < 1% Participation to Date. In the article, we stated that, according to statistics from the Office of Energy Efficiency of Natural Resources Canada, less than 1% (0.86%) of homes built prior to 2000 had participated in the ecoENERGY Retrofit residential grant program since it began on April 1, 2007 (almost 11 months).

The Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources announced the $220.0 million ecoENERGY Retrofit program on January 21, 2007.

$220 million.

From April 1, 2007 to February 19, 2008 $9.6 million incentive / grant money has been paid to home owners (again, according to information we received from Natural Resources Canada with our thanks).

$220.0 vs $9.6 million.

We believe that these above numbers (especially the participation rate to date) is very disappointing and represents ineffective action on behalf of the Federal Conservative government to reduce CO2 emissions and non-renewable energy consumption by Canadian homes.

While our belief can be debated by those who feel that it does represent remarkable progress, we offer some suggestions which we believe, as an average home owner, could be taken to increase the participation of Canadian home owners.

First, increase publicity by local and national media outlets. When was the last time the Toronto Star or Globe and Mail had an article the ecoENERGY Retrofit program specifically as it relates to homes? When was the last time those in charge of the ecoENERGY Retrofit program proactively provided information to the media on the program’s progress?

A search on the web site of these two well respected daily newspapers revealed the following dates for the last 3 articles which included ‘ecoENERGY’:

• Toronto Star -  11-FEB-08; 05-JAN-08; 04-OCT-07
• Globe & Mail - 06-FEB-08; 26-OCT-07;  21-JUN-07

If this information is wrong, please leave a comment to this article or email us so we can update our information and visitors to DHRT (Daily Home Renovation Tips).

And, when was the last time you remember seeing an advertisement on TV, radio or print media from Natural Resources Canada on the ecoENEGY Retrofit program?

In our opinion, the government should be proactively doing more, much more, to gain the attention of, and to motivate, the average home owner, who has an already sufficiently busy life, to participate in the ecoENERGY Retrofit program .

Second, not all actions taken by a home owner are eligible for grant money under the ecoENERGY Retrofit program. While the link in our Blog Roll to the Government of Canada ecoENERGY Retrofit Grant provides the details of what retrofit actions are eligible for financial incentives within the program, in general only those actions or projects undertaken by the home owner relating to proven, off-the-shelf technologies which can be adopted in large numbers are eligible for grant money.

So, for example, a wind-power generation system, a solar wall system to supplement a home’s heating and photovoltaic (solar panels) system to supplement a home’s electricity are not currently covered by the ecoENERGY Retrofit program. Is it a coincidence that these are also amongst the most expensive energy conservation related renovations for a home owner?

$220.0 vs $9.6 million.

Third, one could ask why the home owner has to pay for the energy assessment of their home? The cost of the two assessments approximates $450 in total (reduced in some provinces where the Provincial government rebates part of the initial audit fee), which is less than most of the energy efficiency grant money available. Personally, I would rather see a story on the backlog of homeowners waiting for their home energy assessment than to see less than 1% participation.

Fourth, the average home owner is already stretched financially. If there is any money left over after the mortgage, car, food, clothing, utilities and other typical home owner expenses, for years the average home owner has been told to contribute to an RSP, and then to an RESP. Where are they going to find the money to (A) pay for the energy assessments and (B) to pay for the costs of the energy conservation related renovations without significant government assistance?

$220.0 vs $9.6 million.

Is it reasonable to think that the average home owner will be motivated to divert excess cash from their  day-to-day living expenses to home renovations where they will only receive an immediate 10 to 15% rebate under the ecoENERGY Retrofit grant program (the current target of the program) when they can receive anywhere between 30 and 45% income tax rebate from an RRSP contribution, depending on their marginal income tax rate?  In our opinion, the grant money should be doubled or tripled if the Federal Conservative government is serious about climate change issues.

The ecoENERGY Retrofit program has only paid $9.6 million from April 1, 2007 to February 19, 2008 per information provided by the Office of Energy Efficiency. Is doubling or tripling that number per year over the life of the ecoENERGY Retrofit program really going to impact the Federal Conservative Government’s financial position? I have no idea. But the question had to be asked and should be answered from someone who is more in the know.

However, in the proposed Federal budget of last week, I believe they announced the planned discontinuation of the $2,000 grant to purchasers of certain ‘eco friendly’ vehicles. Let’s take the savings from the discontinuation of that ‘eco friendly’ grant and use it to increase the size of grants under the ecoENERGY Retrofit grant program.

$220.0 vs $9.6 million

It sounds like election time may be just around the corner for our Federal government. Once can only hope that the media and all political parties pay more attention to the ecoENERGY Retrofit program for Canadian homes. At least the increased attention might make more Canadian home owners participate in what could potentially be a very good approach to energy conservation from both a global warming and a non-renewable energy resource conservation perspective.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we say a press release from Natural Resources Canada on April 1, 2008, the one year anniversary of the program, being pro-active and providing the various participation statistics?

Wouldn’t it be nice if the major national and local newspapers, television stations, radio stations, magazines and such media outlets gave front page status to a story on the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the ecoENERGY Retrofit grant program? Wouldn’t it be nice if one of them, even just one, ran a series of articles every three months on different home owners’ ecoENERGY Retrofit participation experiences?

From my research I can find very few such articles.

Another reason why we are publishing our own experiences.