Popular federal Greener Homes incentive program resulting in demand for energy auditors

Marshall Kruger has been so busy conducting home energy audits around Greater Sudbury he's finding it hard to keep up.

Since the federal government launched its Greener Homes program in the spring there's been a huge demand for registered energy advisors like Kruger.

"It seems like I'm answering the phone all the time. I'm always on site. I'm doing so many more assessments. Since June I would say I've done more assessments than I did probably from January to June," he said.

With winter coming, Canadians are looking to save on their home heating bills, and the new popular incentive program from Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) is helping.

Ruth Talbot, senior director of the Greener Homes division at NRCAN, said the program was created to support federal environmental objectives for Canada to reach net zero goals by 2050.

Greener Homes provides up to $5,000 in rebates to homeowners who make energy efficiency upgrades.

After an initial assessment of the home, the energy auditor will provide recommendations on retrofits to improve energy efficiency. At least one recommendation must be made to get the grant.

"We think it's a win-win situation for everyone," Talbot said. "You know it's been super popular; it's a bit of a no-brainer."

According to Talbot, since they launched the program at the end of May 2021, there have been 120,000 homeowners who've registered. Almost half of those — 46 per cent — are Ontarians.

"This program is very popular with Canadians who want to see energy savings, as well as just taking this opportunity to make their contributions to reducing emissions across the country," she said.

Greener Homes will run until March 2028. Once someone registers they have six years to make the energy retrofits to get their rebate.

"In a lot of ways and we're really excited about the amount of interest we're seeing from Canadians across the board," Talbot said.

Along with the grants, homeowners will likely also see savings on their home heating bills.

"These grants that are being provided so that homeowners can do these retrofits will certainly decrease the energy use by these homes, and hence decrease the energy that they're spending," she said.

What energy auditors are looking for

Kruger, who owns Rosewood Energy has been doing energy audits for the past eight years. 

He explains that when he goes through a home he's looking for how the air sealing, ventilation, insulation, and the heating/cooling mechanisms all work together and how they affect one another.

Recommendations could be as simple as adding more insulation to an attic, re-sealing around windows, or as costly as adding an air source heat pump.

The initial audit normally takes about three hours, while the follow-up visit takes a shorter amount of time.

Kruger said for clients he saw early on after the Greener Program launched, they should start to see savings on their energy bills this winter if they made the retrofits right away. 

If people decide to sign up for the program, Kruger suggests they contact the service organizations listed in their area, and ask when an energy auditor could come for a visit. He says choose one based on availability.

Greener Homes is also helping to recruit, train and mentor new energy advisors. 

"We're certainly seeing a lot of hiring going on out there and a lot of interest in this as a profession, as part of growing that green economy of skills that will be required in the future," Talbot said.

Kim Neale of Manitoulin Island is studying to be a registered energy advisor. Once her exams are completed in November she should be able to begin her profession at the beginning of 2022.

She said she has been working as an environmental engineer, and an expert in greenhouse gas emissions and environmental risk for a number of years now.

"I really believe with our homes contributing to about 50 per cent of the greenhouse gases, in general in Canada,, that's where you can make a ton of local impact for climate change mitigation."

"And I really believe that people can save a lot of money [on energy]."

Neale believes there is a demand for energy auditor professionals because more and more homeowners want to find energy efficiencies. 

"Obviously I think that more and more people are really taking climate change seriously and thinking about things they can do in their own home, and that I think is what's driving the demand here."